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At some point, though, process starts to take over. It becomes so entrenched that it can trump common sense and cause executives to, as our head of business operations, Kristen Gil, says, “lose muscle memory.” People stop thinking and instead just depend on the process to make decisions for them. As process gets better, judgment can weaken. It’s like there is a big pendulum in companies, swinging from centralized control and consistency on one side to decentralized chaos on the other. In a big company, that pendulum always pulls toward the control side. But a start-up, or any new venture that is trying to do something big and new, favors the chaos. Start-ups don’t run on process, they run on ideas, passion, and a common set of goals. They don’t wait for the meeting to make decisions. Dependence on process, no matter how well intentioned, squelches start-ups and the start-up spirit.
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