Why ‘Best Practices’ Pause Growth

Here’s a truth you already know but might not often consider: best practices are designed to be reliable, but they rarely spark innovation. Why follow the same rules as everyone else?

You’ve seen it yourself—teams that lean too heavily on the playbook often end up stuck in the same cycle. Their marketing looks like everyone else’s. Their product roadmap feels predictable.

Best practices are a starting point, not a strategy.

They give you a structure to build on, a way to navigate unknown territory without constantly reinventing things. They’re helpful when you’re scaling your team, standardizing processes, or trying to establish a baseline.

But best practices are not where differentiation happens.

When you’re trying to lead your industry, drive innovation, or create something genuinely unique, following the same steps as everyone else will only keep you in traffic.

Think about Billy Beane’s approach in Moneyball played by Brad Pitt. Beane didn’t succeed because he had more resources—he had fewer. His team wasn’t stacked with the league’s top talent. His success was from questioning the “best practices” of scouting and player evaluation.

While others focused on traditional stats like RBIs, Beane relied on analytics and data. He looked at on-base percentage, a stat most teams overlooked—and used it to build a competitive roster on a very small budget.

Your customers, clients, and partners aren’t looking for “best practices” from you. They’re not waiting for you to follow the industry-standard advice or implement a formulaic solution.

What they care about is whether you see their needs and problems. They’re looking for leadership that feels tailored, authentic, and relevant to their world.

You already have the knowledge and instincts to know what your audience needs better than any playbook. You’ve seen the data. You’ve felt the market shifts. You know your team’s strengths and your long-term vision.

Best practices might give you a starting point, but they’ll never account for the specifics of your situation. Only you can do that.

Where have you been relying on what works instead of what is possible? What’s one assumption you’re making about your business, market, or team that’s ready to be questioned?

Best practices aren’t the problem. The problem is stopping there.

It’s not about abandoning structure—it’s about building your own.