Of course, dangerous habits didn’t just happen in hospitals. Destructive organizational habits can be found in hundreds of industries and at thousands of firms. And almost always, they are the products of thoughtlessness, of leaders who avoid thinking about the culture and so let it develop on its own. Organizational habits exist at every company. Sometimes they are created in a deliberative fashion—like Alcoa’s safety focus. Other times, they are the result of rivalries or fear.

But executives who understand how to seize an opportunity can change destructive habits.

Charles Duhigg, “The Power of Habit”