Zach Janicello

You either have it or you don’t.

And if you do, I hope you stop pretending you don’t know what is and isn’t beautiful.
Find your spine.
Taste breathes freely under a firm hand.
It's yours to steward.

Taste is not democratic.
It is not fair.
It does not care how you feel.

Taste is not born in a conference room.
It does not survive committee votes.
It dies the moment you pretend everyone’s opinion matters.
They don’t.
Nothing beautiful is made by consensus.
Taste-filled work is forced into existence by someone with vision — and the will to impose it.

Most have bad taste.
They can’t see it.
They can’t feel it.
They will stall, soil, and water it down.
Their instinct is safety.
Taste demands risk.

Taste is an opinion.
It is defined.
Sharp. Polarizing. Unapologetic.

If you have taste, it is your duty to lead.
Not ask. Not explain. Not negotiate.
Fight for your opinion, and lead.
This is your responsibility.

You don’t bargain with the Medici family.
You don’t collaborate with Frank Lloyd Wright.
The iPhone didn’t have a single focus group.

Taste requires force.
Taste requires courage.
Taste requires a point of view.
And it requires the balls to be called egotistical, pretentious, highbrow.
If you can’t endure the ridicule, you don’t have the guts to be great.

You know if this is you.
Do not doubt yourself.
That’s the whole game.