The Seven Most Expensive Words in Business:

We are successful despite ourselves.” It’s a phrase we hear too often—a backhanded brag that hides a costly truth. Companies may profit and deliver, but at what expense? Endless stress, manual workarounds, and untapped potential pile up while leaders shrug, “We have always done it that way.” These seven words are the most expensive in business—locking organizations into survival mode when they could soar.

Transformation, Not Tweaks

Too often, companies respond with “transformational projects”—a buzzword for disjointed fixes that rarely deliver. True transformation isn’t a quick patch; it’s a dramatic, holistic shift. Think of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly (metamorphosis). The caterpillar survives just fine, blending into twigs with clever camouflage. But survival isn’t the same as thriving. Inside the chrysalis, it reorganizes entirely—emerging as something new. Businesses stuck saying “we have always done it that way” are caterpillars: functional, but far from their potential.

Why Small Improvements Fall Short

A dictionary defines transformation as “a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.” It’s not a series of tweaks—new software here, a process tweak there. It’s a top-to-bottom reinvention. That means leadership must champion the vision with unwavering commitment, while teams embrace a cultural shift from the ground up and top down. Both must align, or the effort collapses. Hollow promises from the top breed cynicism; resistance below stalls progress. Either way, the company stays a caterpillar—surviving, not soaring.

The Cost of Stagnation

Those seven words—“We have always done it that way”—cost more than you think. They justify outdated systems, siloed teams, and reactive firefighting. They block the leap to efficiency, innovation, and growth. Contrast this with companies that shed their old skins: a retailer slashing order delays by syncing its supply chain, or a manufacturer ditching spreadsheets for real-time data. These aren’t patches—they’re transformations, driven by leaders and teams rejecting the status quo.

In the business world, this kind of transformational change in an organization requires top-down belief and leadership to accomplish holistic change. It also takes a cultural shift in how it does business. It also requires a bottom-up belief in the vision for change and most importantly, a complete follow-through to succeed. The organization will succeed only if the change is occurring simultaneously in both directions. If the leadership’s commitment to the change amounts to hollow words, it very quickly will become visible to all involved. If the heavy cultural shift is not actively carried out, the company will remain the business equivalent of a caterpillar: surviving by staying in business, but never achieving the full potential of what it could be – never truly transforming.

Breaking free starts with recognizing those expensive words in your own halls. It takes courage to rethink habits, align strategy with execution, and commit to change that sticks. Want proof it works? Explore our client's successes that transformed from within—turning chaos into clarity and potential into results. Ready to shed the caterpillar mindset? Let’s talk about your next step.