The Most Dangerous Sentence in Business

There’s a sentence I’ve heard in every industry I’ve ever worked in.

It’s short.

It sounds harmless.

And it’s responsible for more organizational decay than almost anything else.

Here it is:

“That’s the way we’ve always done it.”

If you hear that sentence, treat it like a fire alarm. It’s never a good sign.

Comfort Is the Enemy of Excellence

Most companies don’t fall behind because of a single catastrophic failure.

They fall behind because they stop asking one simple question:

“Why do we do it this way?”

People cling to familiar processes because it protects their ego.

If their idea, or their department, or their system is the default, they feel validated.

The problem?

Ego is the single most reliable way to kill innovation.

Ray Dalio talks about this in Principles: in a true meritocracy, nobody cares where the best idea comes from. Only that the best idea wins.

And yet in most organizations, the “old way” wins simply because it’s old.

The Pace of Change Isn’t Slowing

Every year, technology cycles get shorter.

Markets shift faster.

Competitors adapt quicker.

But many companies still operate with outdated processes from:

• a previous leader

• a previous market

• a previous era

And the marketplace is becoming increasingly unforgiving.

If you’re slow to adapt today, you won’t get gently outpaced.

You’ll get erased.

Elon Musk’s “Delete First” Rule

One of the most fascinating things in Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk is how he approaches broken systems.

He doesn’t tweak them.

He doesn’t form a committee.

He doesn’t consult a dozen experts.

He deletes.

If a process can’t be justified immediately, it’s gone.

Is that dangerous? Sure.

Will some things need to be added back later? Absolutely.

But the default posture is:

“Prove this deserves to exist.”

Most companies do the opposite.

They cling to outdated steps long after they’ve stopped creating value.

A Word of Caution: Don’t Weaponize This at Home

There’s one place this mindset doesn’t belong:

Your marriage and your family.

Asking “Why do we do it this way?” every time your wife or kids do something is a great way to turn your household into a constant performance review!

Trust me.

The Lesson

If you want to build an effective team (one that adapts, grows, and competes at the highest level) you have to be willing to challenge the defaults.

The next time someone says:

“That’s the way we’ve always done it,” treat it as an invitation.

An invitation to rethink.

To redesign.

To remove the unnecessary.

To build something worthy of the future, not protected by the past.

The best organizations don’t cling to yesterday.

They question it.

Don’t settle. Be relentless.

— Hunter