The One Who Makes Things Worse

Every committee or organization has at least one well-meaning person who is pushing to make things more average.

“On behalf of the masses, the uncommitted, the ones who don’t care, we need to dumb this down, smooth out the edges and make it more average. We need to oversimplify it, make it a bit banal, stupid even. If we don’t, then some people won’t get the joke, won’t be satisfied, or worse, complain.”

And, by amplifying the voice of the lizard brain, he gets under our skin and we back off, at least a little. We make the work a little more average and a little worse.

This is the studio executive who demands a trite plot, with the usual stereotypes and tropes, played by the usual reliable actor types.

This is the record producer who wants the new song to sound a whole lot like the last song.

This is the NGO executive who fears that the new campaign will offend some minor donors…

Yes, it’s true that the remarkable, edgy stuff we wanted to make wasn’t going to be embraced by everyone. But everyone is rarely the point any more.

In the service of honest communication, perhaps the one who makes things worse should acknowledge that this is what he does for a living. That way, if we want things to be a little more average, we’ll know who to ask.