When you first join a small startup, decisions feel sharp. A few people sit around a table, argue, and then do something. There’s no need to “socialize the idea” or “align stakeholders.” Everyone knows what needs to happen, and if they don’t, they’ll find out quickly when it fails.
But as companies grow, consensus starts to creep in. At first it seems harmless, even healthy. More voices, more perspectives. We tell ourselves it’s better to be inclusive. But eventually consensus becomes gravity. It pulls every decision toward the safe, the obvious, the least controversial option.
The danger is not that consensus leads to bad ideas. It’s that it prevents bold ones. Bold ideas by definition look strange, even risky, to most people. If every decision has to survive a gauntlet of approvals and nods, the only ideas that make it through are those bland enough to offend no one.
This is why big companies rarely invent things. It’s not that they lack talent. It’s that their culture rewards harmony over insight. The easiest way to kill a good idea is to force it through a room of ten smart people. Each one chips away a little — “Have you thought about X?” “What about Y?” “Could we make it safer if…” Until what comes out isn’t bold anymore. It’s toothpaste. Safe, useful, and forgettable.
Consensus also makes people lazy. If a decision is shared by the group, no one owns the outcome. When it fails, blame gets diffused. When it succeeds, credit gets shared. In this way, consensus not only flattens ideas, it flattens accountability.
So what’s the alternative? Dictatorship? Not exactly. The best organizations create a culture where disagreement is welcome, but ownership is clear. One person can listen to others, argue their case, and then decide. That person succeeds or fails, and everyone else learns something either way.
Consensus feels comforting. It feels like progress. But comfort is dangerous fuel for innovation. The teams that build great things aren’t the ones who all agree. They’re the ones who argue, commit, and let the best ideas prove themselves in the real world.
The trick is remembering: consensus is not alignment. Consensus is gravity. And if you’re not careful, it will drag your team into mediocrity long before you notice.