I was recently involved in a creative project to support a bold new product in a saturated space. The initial direction and vision were dead on: Be bold, be disruptive. However, when the first concepts were presented people got scared, and instead of debating, we went down the easy path – we compromised: The competition isn’t doing this, let’s do more of what we did last time, lets add a tag line and another picture and a customer quote…
The end result? A creative project without an identity. A project which will neither annoy or delight. A project that won’t know what its like to ground into a double play or hit a grand slam.
When it was our turn to step up to the plate – we chose to leave the bat on our shoulders.
In Straight From the Gut, Jack Welsch talks about the importance of debate in business. He views it as a right of passage for good ideas: If an idea can’t survive a heated debate in the boardroom, the market will tear it apart.
In Good to Great, Jim Collins found that all of the companies he studied that made the leap from good to great, embraced debate as the most direct line to good decision making.
The problem with debate is that its hard. Unless debate is encouraged and rewarded from the highest ranks of the business, people won’t do it. Instead, they’ll lay low, go along with the status quo and try not to disturb the peace – they’ll compromise.
Compromise is a wonderful thing in many areas of life, but when it comes to business decision making and strategy, compromise thwarts passion, waters down strategy and invites internal politics.
Disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts.