Avoidance is a gradient
For years I read a person where the readings held a direction and a rate. What gets called unused potential is that same reading flipped over the line, same size, other sign, and the size shows first in the edge
shared fog
Meaning
Collusive ambiguity maintained by mutual consent allows negotiating parties to postpone the explicit definition of contested terms. In co-founding arrangements, shared fog protects the early collaboration from fracturing over irreconcilable differences regarding equity, authority or work distribution. By tacitly agreeing to leave difficult subjects unresolved, participants purchase temporary unity at the expense of structural integrity.
The state dissipates abruptly when external pressure, such as an acquisition offer or financial insolvency, demands contractual finality.
Ambiguity Maintenance
Deliberate vagueness functions as a diplomatic tool that permits mismatched partners to work side by side without confrontation. When difficult topics arise, operators instinctively steer conversations back to harmless generalities and distant goals. This avoidance preserves the comfortable fiction of complete alignment.
Yet shared fog exacts a cumulative price in misdirected effort and mounting unexpressed resentment.
Evasion Cost
Working beneath a cloud of unresolved terms breeds deep strategic paralysis across the enterprise. Team members sense the unspoken tensions between founders and hesitate to make decisive operational commitments. Over time, reliance on shared fog creates a culture where avoidance of conflict takes precedence over execution excellence.
The venture stagnates while its leaders protect their fragile emotional armistice.
Clarity Boundary
Tactical vagueness inevitably shatters upon contact with binding legal or commercial milestones. The requirement to sign binding ownership documents or allocate scarce bonus funds forces hidden disagreements into open daylight. In that decisive hour, shared fog burns away completely, revealing either a durable partnership or an unbridgeable chasm.
The delayed confrontation proves far more destructive than early honesty would have been.