The Danger of the Status Quo
By Tim Violet
Director, Business Development, North America
“When you stop growing you start dying.”
— William S. Burroughs
I was pondering a number of comments from folks defending their current systems, technology, processes, and ultimately, their status quo.
I decided to take a deeper dive into this well-worn phrase and see what came up in a simple Google search. The results were even more strident than you might expect.
What does “status quo” mean?
It’s a Latin phrase meaning the “existing state of affairs,” or simply, the current way things are. In business, it describes the established norm: keeping things as they are rather than embracing change.
Does status quo mean no change?
Essentially, yes. Maintaining the status quo means preserving the current state rather than changing it.
What are the dangers of the status quo?
There’s even a term for our preference to keep things as they are: status quo bias.
It can lead to stagnation, missed opportunities, and poor decision-making. In business, that can mean decreased competitiveness, financial loss, and an inability to adapt as the marketplace changes.
In other words, maintaining the status quo isn't necessarily the safe choice it may appear to be.
I’ll end my search with a few chosen quotes:
“Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in.’”
— Ronald Reagan
“I’m not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.”
— Niccolò Machiavelli
“The status quo sucks.”
— George Carlin
“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.”
— Laurence J. Peter
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