Why Too Much Familiarity Can Lead to Disastrous Results

As humans, we tend to gravitate towards familiarity; the comfort and security it brings. We surround ourselves with familiar people, routines and environments. However, research has shown that familiarity can lead to disastrous consequences in both personal and professional settings. In this article, we will explore the reasons behind this phenomenon and review examples of where too much familiarity has led to undesirable outcomes.

The Curse of Familiarity

The curse of familiarity can be defined as the situation where individuals become over-reliant on routine, predictable patterns of behaviour and thinking. This over-dependence on the known can create a myopic view of the world which can inhibit creativity and growth. When people are too familiar with a situation, they may start overlooking important details or taking critical components for granted. This leads to complacency which may lead to costly mistakes.

In professional settings, familiarity can make teams redundant when they fail to expand their knowledge, technologies and/ or processes, succumbing to routine. Innovation is a critical factor in driving growth; however, too much familiarity can stifle it. As stakeholders become accustomed to a particular way of thinking, it leads to entropy – a phenomenon that results in systems (even living things) becoming less ordered over time. This decreases their overall capacity to adapt and innovate.

The Downside of Over-Familiarity

It’s worth noting that familiarity is not all negative. Choosing between the safe and unknown can result in a lack of growth. In overly familiar scenarios, innovation can result in addressing systemic barriers for instance, it may be top-down innovation which is more qualitative than quantitative. However, too much familiarity can lead to situations where those with authority, in the hope of avoiding change, may ignore important indicators of loss or inconsistency. This brings forth a need for change which often falls on deaf ears.

For example, Kodak was once a household name in the photography industry. The company had an almost 75% market share in a market it created. It became complacent in the success of its products and failed to innovate. Kodak did not take digital cameras seriously, and by the time it did, it was too late. The company experienced massive losses and eventually filed for bankruptcy. The over-reliance on a familiar product blinded the company to the possibility of capturing new markets, leading to their ultimate demise.

Another example of the disastrous effect of familiarity was the crash of the Boeing 737 Max in 2018 and 2019. The aviation giant assumed that pilots, who were used to flying the previous model, would be comfortable with flying the latest version without proper training. As a result, the planes’ anti-stall system failed, resulting in two catastrophic accidents killing a total of 346 people. Complacency can lower standards, lead to shortcuts and even have life-threatening consequences.

Conclusion

Familiarity is a double-edged sword. While it provides comfort and security, too much of it can lead to complacency, limiting growth and sometimes disastrous outcomes. The key is to be aware of the dangers of familiarity, and its downsides, and to continue to push the boundaries to reach greater heights. Comfort zones can lead to entropic systems if there is no effort to inject distributed innovation. For instance, the decentralisation of decision making and working across silos. In personal and professional settings, it’s essential to keep an open mind, challenge the status quo by seeking new experiences, learning new skills, and embracing new technologies. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Familiarity breeds contempt,” let this be a reminder to avoid the fallacy of over-familiarity.

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