Empty vessel

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Empty vessel or rather the "empty vessel approach" is a business term describing the negative effects of how one ends up with a worthless outcome when trying to please everyone. The term itself is more commonly used in psychology and behavioral analysis. Of course, worthlessness cannot be measured, but there will be consensus among the participants, that the end product does not even come close to the previously desired outcome by anybody.

The "empty vessel approach" can be characterized by lack of leadership and unwillingness for the members to take individual responsibility. Larger corporations with many mid-level managers are more easily trapped in this negative spiral where the company essentially becomes a "meeting company", where most of the company's time is wasted away in meetings instead of actually making products or providing services.

On a smaller scale, the empty vessel syndrome can be observed when ordering pizza. Everybody wants a different topping but there is no designated "pizza-master" that will ultimately choose what to order. You end up with one Cheese pizza and one Supreme pizza with everything on it. Nobody gets exactly what they wanted and would have to endure eating a plain pizza or picking off toppings they hate.

[edit] Empty vessel names

Empty vessel names are names of products, brands, or even companies that have been conjured up so as not to offend anybody. Usually, these names are not in the dictionary, but rather combinations derived from everyday words that allude to their meaning only by their similarity to the root words.

In the 21st century, with the explosive popularity of the World Wide Web, domain names, and trademark disputes, it has become important for companies to derive names that are easier to protect. Empty vessel names provide a unique moniker for products and companies that nobody can dispute. Unfortunately, because of this approach, the name usually does not describe the product or company, and is less recognizable at first instance.