SKUNK WORKERS RISE UP
2026 is the year of fewer and better
My friend goes golfing with a marketing exec at a very large corporation. His very large corporation is partnered with a very large creative agency, and this is a major topic of complaint during those golf sessions.
Why?
Because [redacted corp] pays [redacted agency] $30MM a year on retainer. In exchange, the agency brings 50 people to every zoom call, makes decisions by committee, moves slow, plays it safe, and delivers perfectly average creative ideas showcased in 80-page decks.
“I wish they’d show up with 4 people and get shit done. I’d pay them twice as much.”
This exec is going to make a big change soon, and you can guess what type of agency he will hire next.
Many such anecdotes presented themselves to Intro Limited in 2025. When a company hires a recruiting firm like us, it’s for one of three reasons:
They’re growing and need to make new hires
They need to replace somebody they lost
They already have plenty of people, but not the right people
Successful companies are either growing, replacing, or improving.
We did more business than ever last year, and a growing percentage of it was focused on that last one: helping companies upgrade to fewer, better people.
We are in a new era of skunk works. Lean teams of autonomous performers firing on all 12 cylinders.
In a recent piece about 1943’s original Skunk Works team, Atlantic Saints defined the scenario as “capable individuals, given real authority, working shoulder to shoulder with others who understood the whole of the problem.”
No silos, no 50-person zooms, no excuses. No handing off your work to be edited by someone you’ve never met. And no layers of process to hide your mistakes.
The next wave of high caliber creatives will be able to do what a select few have done all along:
Generalize. Facilitate. Understand the jobs on both sides of them, and sometimes do those jobs. Get others excited. Persuade. Bring fewer people to the Zoom. Shorten an 80-page deck to 7. See a vision and get to the point. Sell a simple solution, then deliver it.
Working this way is hard, and “most organizations desire its results without paying its price.” But more and more, we see organizations of every size adopting its principles.
Fewer. Better. Less rules. More accountability. Less ruminating. More doing. Every person has a purpose.
The future belongs to Skunk Workers.