You get an overseas call from a potential client asking if you would participate in a design competition and he says, “Do not worry, everybody who has been invited will be of the same caliber as your esteemed company. The evaluation criteria will be fair, and we will have a competent set of highly respectable jurors, the decision will be quick, and it will all be above the table.”

It is a big project, and you have eager staff that have been chomping at the bit to get the opportunity to show what they could do. So, you decide to move forward. A high degree of excitement engulfs the studio that is working on it. You go as far as diverting people that are billable to work on this competition.