Image Credit: Andy Rogers / AP Images

Here’s the irony of innovation: The moment you succeed is the moment you risk becoming irrelevant.

Companies that disrupt their industries often stop innovating once they reach the top. Why? Because they shift from risk-taking to risk-avoidance.

I mean, does anyone think the iPhone 17 is a raging breakthrough? Gen Z sees Apple’s “innovation” as table stakes, having never seen a foldable phone or crazy zooms and filters on their iPhone cameras. It’s iteration, not innovation. 

Amazon’s solution? The “Day One” Mindset.

Jeff Bezos famously said, “It’s always Day One at Amazon.” Why? Because acting like a startup—even when you’re huge—is the only way to keep innovating.

Relatable Problem: Your company is doing well, but innovation is slowing because teams are playing it too safe.

Pro Tip: Use the Day One Mindset to keep your team innovating:

  1. Ask: “If we were a startup entering this space today, what would we do differently?” This one question shatters legacy thinking. It forces teams to imagine the company they’d build from scratch—not just maintain.
  2. Encourage disruptive thinking. Let people question the sacred cows and the “we’ve always done it this way” processes. Challenge teams to question legacy processes—even the ones that “work.”
  3. Give small teams autonomy to experiment. Some of the biggest innovations (AWS, Gmail, and yes, the iPhone) came from small, scrappy teams operating like startups inside big companies.

Example:

One manufacturing client I worked with was losing ground to digital-first competitors. Instead of playing defense, they built an internal innovation lab and told a cross-functional team, “Reinvent us—no limits.”

A year later, that team launched a subscription-based model that became their fastest-growing revenue stream.

Winning today doesn’t guarantee success tomorrow. Stay in Day One.