If you ever had this sort of conversation with your parents while growing up, you have a perfect understanding of what compliance means.
Kid: Mum, why do we do things the way we do them?
Mum: Because that’s the way we do things.
Kid: But why can’t we do it the other way?
Mum: Because it’s not done the other way…
Dad tells his son to never wear shoes because his father told him so. His father got that instruction from his grandfather because that’s what his great-grandfather did in his days. This is how ideals, cultures and many other elements that shape the way we do things today have been passed down from one generation.
That’s just a literal demonstration of how compliance works in the real world, but it goes deeper than that. Compliance in this context refers to ‘conforming or yielding’ to conventional approaches or methods. To a very large extent, people are daily encouraged to do “business as usual”. For instance, the gap between what is being taught in school and what obtains in the real world is so great that it takes another round of training for graduates to function properly in the workplace. Most leaders and superiors rose to the top of their careers on the back of these systems, so it feels correct and convenient to keep doing the same thing. If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
A popular mantra says “innovate or die.” Looks like we prefer the grim reaper when it comes to looking for new ways of doing things. There is no drive to break the status quo and do what few have dared to do. Contentment in many cases is just a product of laziness in thinking out of the frame. This is the secret behind success and failure. Only the few that are willing to get out of the mold truly break free from the vicious cycle.
Kodak had essentially owned consumer photography for a hundred years. They clung too closely to the chemistry-based business that had been so successful for them in the twentieth century, under-investing in the digital world of the twenty-first century. As a result, one of the most powerful brands in America lost its market share. Their compliance with the ingredients that gave them the early lead clouded their vision and they failed to see the future.
One of the major reasons why people prefer to comply is that they don’t want to look stupid and clueless. Innovation comes from a place of not knowing the answers up front. Before anything truly becomes a breakthrough, it’s first a crazy idea. Mobile phone manufacturers said nothing new could be added to the device until Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone and revolutionized the entire industry.
Non-compliance will make you uncomfortable, but it allows you to explore a myriad of ideas and be more creative. Innovation looks risky, but the riskiest thing we can do is to maintain status quo and remain stagnant. When a plant refuses to grow, it eventually withers away and die.
It is important that we constantly evaluate ourselves and make efforts to reinvent in as many ways as possible in order to achieve the progress that we seek. Remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different result. Compliance kills innovation. Try something new.
