The one thing organizations should fear.

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Fear is a powerful thing.

Within the context of business, we talk ad nauseam about things like:

• fear of disruption

• fear of technology and AI

• fear of competition

• fear of change

• fear of market shifts

Those things are all legitimate concerns!

If used positively, fear, at its core, creates energy. It at least sparks a response. And the most progressive organizations use that fear, or aspiration to rise above it, to drive meaningful progress.

There's something else that more organizations should be afraid of that they aren't...

Something more menacing and likely more disruptive.... something happening within every organization's own four walls.

Complacency.

Complacency is something every company should be afraid of. Here's why.

Why Complacency Is So Dangerous

Here’s what I’ve learned: firms don’t usually fail because of one catastrophic decision.

They fail because leaders allow complacency to creep in over time. They keep doing things the way they’ve always been done. They stick with models and processes long after they’ve stopped serving the business. They tolerate mediocrity in people or performance because confronting it feels uncomfortable.

Gradually, they start to fall behind.

Then, suddenly, one event occurs that firmly plants them on the outside looking in.

It appears that one thing caused it, but the reality is that it was happening slowly over time.

It’s the same in my personal life. My workouts, for example. About every six months, I blow up whatever routine I’ve built and start something new. Not because the old one isn’t “working,” but because I know if I don’t, I’ll stagnate. Routine can be valuable—but left unchecked, it becomes a rut. Firms are no different.

The costs of complacency are enormous:

• Relevance erodes. While you stand still, competitors and disruptors pass you by.

• Talent disengages. High performers don’t stick around in environments where coasting is acceptable.

• Innovation dies. When people believe “this is how we do things here,” creativity and differentiated thinking are often the first casualty.

• Growth stalls. Good luck growing and building scale in an organization that’s anchored to yesterday’s ideas.

Complacency is never neutral. It’s an active decline that shows up gradually, then suddenly all at once.

Signs You’re Slipping Into Complacency

The danger with complacency is that it rarely announces itself. It hides behind routine, comfort, and familiarity, and it convinces leaders and organizations that “good enough” is good enough. And that—more than fear—is the real killer of progress.

But if you look closely, the signs are always there:

• Familiarity becomes the excuse. “I don’t like the compensation model, but it’s familiar and comfortable. So let's keep it as is.”

• Decisions are delayed. Leaders drag their feet, waiting for the “perfect time” that never comes.

• Accountability slips. Underperformance is tolerated because it feels easier than having the hard conversation.

• Success is assumed. People rely on yesterday’s wins as if they guarantee tomorrow’s results.

• Energy flatlines. Meetings feel routine. Goals feel recycled. Progress feels incremental instead of bold.

If any of these feel familiar, you have a complacency problem.

And I'd caution you to be very careful to allow that culture of complacency to exist and permeate throughout the organization.

Because complacency is like a virus that spreads—quickly. But you can do something about it.

Moving People Out of Complacency

The good news is complacency isn’t permanent, and it can be thwarted. But it does require intentional effort to shake people out of it and move them toward progress and innovation.

Here’s how leaders can do it:

1. Shine a light on it. Call it out directly. Complacency thrives in the shadows.

2. Make the cost visible. Connect complacency to lost growth, disengaged talent, and decreased relevance and sustainability.

3. Revisit your strategy. Often, people become complacent because they aren't clear on the vision and direction we're headed in.

4. Raise expectations. Reset the bar. Intentionally challenge people. Complacency sets in when nobody pushes the collective forward.

5. Inject urgency. Break the rhythm. Ask the uncomfortable questions.

6. Model it yourself. Disrupt your own routines before you ask others to.

We're not trying to scare people into change. What we want to do is inspire action by communicating the fact that the path to relevance and sustainability is one built on constant progress and innovation.

We want to inspire action by painting a clear and compelling future state and ensuring that everyone on our leadership teams and beyond feels they play a role in helping us get there.

That's how we move people out of complacency and into progress.

The Bottom Line

Fear is a natural response. And while it may cause hesitation, it can also spur action. Leaders should be most afraid of complacency.

Complacency often goes unnoticed, and when it does, it leads to a gradual, then often sudden decline.

If you’re leading a firm, it's likely that your biggest threat isn’t the competitor across the street or the technology you haven’t adopted yet. It’s the belief that “what got us here will get us to where we need to go."

So ask yourself:

• Where has complacency crept into your firm?

• Where are routines quietly becoming ruts?

• Where are you tolerating “good enough is good enough”?

What's one thing you can do this week to disrupt the status quo and move people into forming new habits and patterns?

If you’re not actively fighting against complacency, you’re already losing ground.

With intention,
Alan D. Whitman