The cargo cult of "Enterprise"

The cargo cult of “Enterprise”. From Seattle to Bentonville, I keep hearing this phrase in meetings: “That’s how they do it at [insert Fortune 500 company].” " “It gets used like a trump card. Like the name itself is evidence. Like having worked somewhere successful means you understand why it was successful.” " “Here’s the problem. During and after World War II, some Pacific Island communities observed military planes landing with supplies. After the war ended and the planes stopped coming, they built wooden control towers and runways out of straw. They mimicked the forms they had seen, believing these structures would summon more planes. They didn’t understand logistics, manufacturing, or global supply chains. They just knew what it looked like when planes showed up.” " “We do the same thing in technology.” " “Someone spent five years at a massive retailer or a Fortune 100 manufacturer. They saw org charts, tools, processes. They participated in initiatives. Now they’re at your company, and they want to recreate what they saw. Not because they understand why it worked there, but because it’s what they know. The structure becomes the strategy.” " “This isn’t malicious. It’s human. We pattern match. We default to the familiar. But “Enterprise” isn’t a body of knowledge. It’s a collection of individual career experiences dressed up as universal truth.” " “Now, I’m not saying experience has no value. Of course it does. Someone who has been through a major ERP implementation or a security incident at scale brings hard-won lessons. The problem is when we confuse exposure with expertise. When “I saw it done this way” becomes “This is the right way.” " “The companies we admire built their practices to solve their specific problems at their specific scale with their specific constraints. They didn’t copy someone else’s homework. They figured it out.” " “Next time someone invokes a big name as evidence, try this question: “What problem did that solve for them, and do we actually have that problem?” " “You might be surprised how often the answer is no.