Let me tell you about the moment that changed how I think about business growth.
I was sitting in a product planning meeting when someone declared, “We can’t launch that refrigerator model without a water dispenser, nobody buys mid-tier refrigerators without one.” Everyone nodded. It was accepted truth.
Except it wasn’t true. It was an orthodoxy, an unquestioned assumption that had hardened into fake fact.
We launched that refrigerator without the dispenser at $999. It became one of our most profitable products ever. Removing the dispenser saved $73 in cost but only reduced the price by $70, which actually meant we could make more money per unit at a lower price point. Not just higher margin, more actual dollars per unit.. Better yet, warranty claims dropped 40% because dispensers were our number one service issue.
That single decision to question “the way things are done” added millions in profit. And it started with someone having the courage to ask: What if everyone is wrong?
The Hidden Tax on Your Business
Every small business operates under a set of invisible rules. These aren’t laws or regulations, they’re assumptions you’ve absorbed from your industry, your competitors, and your own experience. You follow them without questioning whether they still make sense.
These orthodoxies are costing you money, time, and growth opportunities every single day.
The good news? Breaking them doesn’t require massive investment or revolutionary innovation. It requires asking better questions.
Here are seven questions that can help you identify and shatter the assumptions limiting your business. (For the complete 20-question checklist I use with Fortune 500 teams, visit my full orthodoxy-breaking guide.)
Question 1: What do we do because “that’s how it’s always been done” rather than because customers actually value it?
This is the mother of all orthodoxy-breaking questions.
In one business I worked with, we floored washing machines exclusively in white because “that’s what retailers advertise.” We tested chrome and black instead. Industry veterans said retailers would never feature colored appliances.
They were wrong. Attachment rates hit 100% because customers don’t mix colored washers with white dryers, they buy the matching set.
Take 30 minutes this week to audit your processes and offerings. For each one, ask: “Would customers pay extra for this?” If the answer is no, why are you doing it?
Question 2: What customer need do we dismiss as “too small” without actually quantifying it?
That refrigerator without a dispenser? Everyone told me the non-dispense market was “negligible.” Nobody had actually measured it.
Turns out that “negligible” market generated our highest margins. Customers who wanted simplicity and reliability over features existed, they just weren’t being served.
What opportunities have you dismissed because someone once said the market was too small? When was the last time you verified that assumption with actual numbers?
Question 3: What are we not offering because we assume customers won’t pay for it?
I worked with a company that believed customers would never pay premium prices for faster delivery on industrial products. “It’s not like consumer goods,” they said.
We tested rush delivery options at 10-25% premiums. The result? Five percent incremental margin with zero customer pushback. The people who truly needed speed were happy to pay for it.
What premium services have you never offered because you assumed the answer would be no? You can’t sell what you won’t offer.
Question 4: What customer behavior do we penalize instead of accommodate?
Minimum order quantities feel logical—they reduce complexity and processing costs. But every penalty is an orthodoxy waiting to be broken.
One company I advised eliminated minimums but charged appropriately for small orders. Revenue increased 20% from previously rejected customers who were willing to pay a small-order premium.
Where are you saying “no” when you could be saying “yes, and here’s the price”?
Question 5: Which of our “best practices” haven’t been questioned in over three years?
Markets change faster than practices. If you haven’t challenged a process, pricing model, or policy in three years, it’s almost certainly costing you money.
We once eliminated five approval layers that had been instituted after a problem in 1995. Decision speed increased fivefold with no increase in errors. The original problem no longer existed, but the bureaucracy lived on.
Age-date your major practices. Anything over three years old deserves scrutiny.
Question 6: What “efficiency” actually creates massive hidden costs?
This one catches almost everyone.
A manufacturing operation I worked with ran at 100% utilization because maximizing output seemed obviously efficient. But that “efficiency” created chronic overtime, quality issues, and employee burnout.
We reduced utilization to 85%. Overtime vanished. Quality improved. Margins increased 8%.
What looks efficient on a spreadsheet but creates chaos in reality? Local optimization often creates global waste.
Question 7: What “impossible” timeline have we never actually tested?
Before COVID, product development at one company I worked with took 18 months minimum. That was the accepted timeline, until a crisis forced us to do it in six months.
We succeeded. The “impossible” was just an untested orthodoxy.
When you cut timelines in half, you’re forced to eliminate waste, focus on what matters, and make faster decisions. The constraints force innovation.
What would happen if you cut your standard timeline in half? What would you do differently?
From Questions to Profit
Breaking orthodoxies isn’t comfortable. You’ll face resistance from people who say “we’ve always done it this way” or “the market won’t accept it” or “we tried that before.”
Your response should always be: Show me the data.
Most orthodoxies are opinions masquerading as facts. Facts have data. Opinions have defenders.
Start with one question from this list. Challenge one assumption. Run one small experiment. The companies that win, whether Fortune 500 giants or growing small businesses, are those with the courage to question everything.
The most damaging phrase in business is “We’ve always done it this way.” The most profitable phrase? “What if everyone is wrong?”
Which orthodoxy will you break first?
About the Author: Todd Hagopian is a Fortune 500 executive, corporate turnaround specialist, and author of the upcoming book The Unfair Advantage: Weaponizing the Hypomanic Toolbox (Koehler Books, January 2026). Known as “The Stagnation Assassin,” Todd has generated over $2 billion in shareholder value through systematic business transformations. His work has been featured in Forbes, The Washington Post, and NPR. For more breakthrough strategies, visit toddhagopian.com.
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