When to keep a tradition, when to change it

So this weekend summer finally arrived in the UK. I put a hammock up and deeply enjoyed lying in it for a time to relax.

To me I’ve always loved hammocks, always loved lying in them to celebrate summer weather (or, tbh, “christmas breeze” weather in Cayman when it is cool enough to lie in a hammock!)

This, to me, is a tradition worth keeping. People have lain in hammocks for thousands of years in many cultures and locations. Hammocks are timeless, I see no need to innovate in that area.

However, a tradition can also be something that we hold onto for too long. Another way of saying this is that I consider the “six most dangerous words in business” to be:

• We’ve
• Always
• Done
• It
• This
• Way

As an example, another thing I did over the weekend was submit an application to be a board director of a public body.

It is noteworthy that I only heard about this as it was brought to my attention by several people within a day or so, along with a photo of an advertisement in a newspaper. I then went to the websites of two relevant public bodies involved in this and found what? Zero mention of this board opening on their websites. It…