A skunk is a cat designed by committee

A skunk is a cat designed by committee I have watched it happen for forty years. A founder has a clear vision. The product works. The market responds. Then the committee forms. Marketing wants input. Sales wants a say. The board wants to weigh in. Finance needs to approve. Legal has concerns. HR wants alignment with company values. Six months later, the thing that made you different is gone. The pattern I keep seeing A client comes to me burned. They have been through two agencies, maybe three. The first one promised the moon and delivered templates. The second one had great ideas but no follow-through. The third one was actually offshore labor branded as local talent. I ask them what happened to their original concept. They tell me it got “refined.” Translation: it got committee’d to death. The sharp edge that made people stop and look? Smoothed out because someone thought it was too aggressive. The bold claim that separated them from competitors? Watered down because legal was nervous. The personality that made the brand memorable? Removed because the VP of operations said it “wasn’t professional enough.” What you are left with is a skunk. It looks like a cat. It is supposed to act like a cat. But it stinks, and nobody wants to be near it. Why this keeps happening Committees do not create. They negotiate. When you put ten people in a room and ask them to agree on a direction, you do not get the best idea. You get the idea that offends the fewest people. You get compromise. You get safe. Safe does not convert. Safe does not build brands. Safe does not make people stop scrolling and pay attention. I have brought seven thousand items to market. I have built 850 websites. I…

Source: lbm demo