Habits feel safe. Habits are not strategy.
Twenty years ago, I worked for a company that had a list of five core guiding principles. If you asked me to recite all five today, I’d probably give you a blank stare. But one of them stuck. In fact, it didn't just stick—it became a cornerstone of how I view business and leadership:
"There is always a better way."
It’s easy to fall into the comfortable trap of “Well, that’s just how we’ve always done it.” But habit isn't strategy. Just because a process worked in the past doesn't mean it’s the only way, the right way, or even the best way. True leadership requires a continuous appetite for better processes and fresh perspectives.
Why We Ban Wallflowers
At The Small Marketing Agency, we take this principle seriously—especially when onboarding new talent.
When someone joins our team, we tell them two things right upfront:
- We do great work for our clients.
- We can always do better.
That’s why we explicitly ask new team members not to be wallflowers. We don't hire smart people just to tell them how we operate; we hire them so they can teach us things too. We want their past experiences, their fresh eyes, and their willingness to challenge our status quo. It’s a two-way street: we teach them our playbook and they help us refine it.
Looking Three Years Ahead
That give-and-take is what keeps a workplace energized. It’s what drives real innovation. Improvement isn’t a dirty word.
The strategy or workflow we relied on three years ago isn't adequate for today's market—and what works today won't be enough three years from now. To keep our clients ahead of the curve and continuously growing, we have to keep moving, creating, and adapting.
At the end of the day, this is what makes business exciting. It’s the constant pursuit of the next breakthrough, the refined process, and the realization that no matter how good you are today, there’s always a better way.