The Trouble with Management by Committee
When you invest in a typical corporation, you’re backing a committee. Decisions are filtered through layers of management, risk assessments, and focus groups. The result is often a watered down strategy designed to offend the fewest people possible. A professional CEO answers to shareholders who demand smooth, predictable earnings every ninety days. This structure is fundamentally opposed to taking the kind of wild, company-defining risks that lead to genuine innovation.
A founder, on the other hand, often answers to their own conviction. Think of Elon Musk in the early days of Tesla. Any sane, professional manager would have looked at the numbers, the manufacturing hurdles, and the sheer audacity of taking on the global automotive industry, and run a mile. Musk, however, was driven by a vision, not a quarterly target. This long term, almost parental devotion to a company’s future is something you simply cannot replicate with a hired gun, no matter how impressive their CV.