The Cost of Mediocrity

Path dependency is alive and well throughout businesses as mediocre, middle-of-the-road thinking doesn’t rock the boat, whether you are in product development or marketing. But, from what we see, this type of behaviour also doesn’t reap any great rewards. This is why Challenger brands question incumbency at every level of their organisation in orde

even as the most popular doll in the world, Mattel looked to confront the way they’d always done things. “We attacked every aspect of the business, from product to communication to content to social mission,” McKnight explained. This helped them ask more upstream questions about their own incumbency – challenging themselves to think about what Barb

In tough times, most brands will tend towards path dependency . A study published in the Academy of Management Review showed that good practice quickly becomes best practice, which becomes preferred practice, which becomes locked-in practice. This kind of incumbent thinking will perhaps be even more familiar to those working in an organisation with

In a world where it’s never been easier to get mediocre approved, Challengers raise their ambitions and create an internal culture of bravery, determined to guide their organisations to let go of their firm grip of the status quo.

in the face of uncertainty and constraints, Challengers don’t shrink back. They drive progress for their brand and beyond, into the categories they shape. And to realise those ambitions, they believe that success is predicated on creating an internal culture of bravery, as much as it is manifesting that bravery externally.