Critique #2: Originality
October 28, 2025
Summary
Critique #2 focused on a concept many people claim to understand: ORIGINALITY. It sounded simple, but it wasn’t. The room circled it from different angles—whether it’s something you produce or something you practice, whether it still matters in a culture that rewards replication, whether leadership is even possible without it. Marty grounded the conversation in a clear definition: originality is first, new, seminal. From there, it became personal. People confronted pressures to play it safe, the pull of imitation, the quiet exhaustion that makes copying feel easier than creating.
As we went, originality started to feel less like a grand gesture and more like a daily discipline. A sliding scale. A lever you push as far as you can within real constraints. There were honest admissions about following competitors, reusing proven ideas, softening bold thinking for approval. There was also a shared recognition that aiming for originality changes you, even when you don’t reach it. The session didn’t chase a perfect answer. It left the room with a steadier question: if you care about shaping what comes next, how far are you willing to push the lever?
Selected Quotes
On the sliding scale
“There’s a sliding scale of originality… and the idea is to push that lever as far as you can toward the original all the time.”
On copying leaders
“You can’t be a leader by following a leader. It’s just impossible.”
On loneliness
“Originality is also a super lonely thing.”
On trying anyway
“If you think about the future as something you want to actively shape… then you have to at least try.”
The formula
“Here’s the formula for originality… it’s a combination of knowledge times imagination.”
On AI’s limit
“It can tell you what people have done before… but that’s not going to be original.”
About naturally original people
“They’re just different… they can’t be anything else and they’re not afraid to be themselves.”
On carving space
“What we’re trying to do is carve out a space in the market where there’s no competition for a long time.”
On imitation
“It makes them feel safe… but they’re never going to reach the top of their fields.”
On pushing beyond limits
“Can we go over the sun? Can we go around it? Can we use a different star?”
Level C is a school of brand and business design, offering Masterclasses and Critiques to shape the way we think and practice. Our current schedule, including links, can be found here.
