I’ve been around this industry long enough to hear every excuse under the sun:
“We can’t grow because of the economy.”
“Our competition is too cheap.”
“The big guys have all the advantages.”

Nonsense. Most of the time, you’re not losing to anyone else—you’re losing to yourself.

That’s right. Your biggest competitor isn’t the shop down the street, or the plant in Asia, or the OEM that keeps squeezing your margins. Your biggest competitor is complacency. It’s that warm, fuzzy blanket called comfort zone. And if you stay wrapped in it long enough, it will suffocate you.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard those words, I’d own a PCB factory on every continent. “That’s how we’ve always done it” should come printed on a tombstone, because it’s a eulogy for innovation, growth, and survival.

The world doesn’t care how you’ve always done it. Customers don’t care. Markets don’t care. Technology certainly doesn’t care. The pace of change is brutal, and it’s accelerating every day. If you’re standing still, you’re not holding your ground—you’re falling behind.

Think about it. The companies that dominate today didn’t get there by sticking with tradition. Apple didn’t cling to flip phones. Tesla didn’t keep making gas guzzlers. Amazon didn’t stop at selling books. They asked the hard question: What’s next?

If you’re not asking the same question, you’re already on life support.

Every time the ground shifts in this industry, people panic. Tariffs hit, supply chains dry up, a new technology emerges—and suddenly the handwringing begins. “This is going to kill us.”

No. It’s going to kill the complacent.

For the hungry, disruption is fuel. It’s a reset button. When the rules change, the nimble and the bold move first. They’re the ones who figure out how to design better boards for 5G, or how to turn sustainability into a selling point, or how to pivot into aerospace when automotive slows down.

Disruption doesn’t destroy companies. Complacency does. Disruption merely exposes who was awake and who was asleep at the wheel.

If you’re a leader, your number one job is to keep your company moving. That means pushing your people beyond what’s comfortable. That means asking them to learn new skills, try new processes, chase new markets—even when they resist.

And they will resist. Human beings are wired for comfort. Left to our own devices, we choose the path of least resistance every time. That’s why leadership is hard. That’s why it matters.

When was the last time you demanded your sales team pick up the phone instead of hiding behind email? When was the last time you told engineering to try a new material set, even if it meant headaches in the short term? When was the last time you looked at your website, your marketing, your message, and admitted, “This is stale—we need to change”?

If you’re not constantly pushing, you’re rusting. And rust spreads fast.

Here’s the ugly truth: complacency is just bankruptcy in slow motion.

It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s death by a thousand small surrenders. You stop calling prospects because business feels “steady.” You skip the trade show because budgets are tight. You pass on the new piece of equipment because the old one still “kind of” works.

And then one day, you wake up and realize your competitors outpaced you, your customers outgrew you, and your margins evaporated while you were snoozing.

You didn’t get beat. You got lazy.

Business is a street fight, but the enemy isn’t always across the street. Sometimes it’s in your own building. It’s the voice in your head telling you that yesterday’s success is good enough.

It isn’t.

The companies that thrive are the ones that refuse to coast. They treat every day like they’re one deal away from losing it all. They obsess over improvement. They demand more of themselves than the market demands of them.

That’s not paranoia. That’s survival. That’s leadership.

So here’s my challenge to you: the next time you want to point a finger at “competition,” take a hard look in the mirror. Ask yourself:

• Am I challenging the way we’ve always done it?
• Am I looking at disruption as a threat—or an opportunity?
• Am I pushing my people out of their comfort zones?
• Am I willing to scrap old habits before they scrap me?

Because if you’re not, then congratulations—you’ve found your fiercest competitor. And it’s you.

The graveyards of business are filled with companies that played it safe, clung to the past, and coasted on yesterday’s wins. Don’t join them.

Complacency may feel comfortable today, but it’s the slowest, surest path to irrelevance.

Common sense says it plain: Complacency is bankruptcy in slow motion.

So get uncomfortable. Push harder. Break habits. Take risks. And above all, never, ever let “that’s how we’ve always done it” be the last words your company speaks. It’s only common sense