When we succeed, we stop pushing boundaries. Our comfort sets a ceiling, with our frontiers shrinking rather than extending. Corporate executives are rarely punished for deviating from a historically successful strategy. But the risk of punishment is far greater if an executive abandons a successful strategy to pursue one that ends up failing. As a result, instead of risking something new, we maintain the same “proven” formula that led to our success. This tactic works well—until it doesn’t.
