Unwritten Rules in Business : Companies That Ignored Industry Norms and Won
Every industry claims to run on logic, data, and best practice. In reality, most industries are held together by something far less formal: the unwritten rules in business. These are the assumptions no one questions. The habits no one documents. The quiet agreements that shape how companies behave without ever appearing in a handbook.
You don’t learn these rules in business school. You absorb them by watching what gets rewarded, what gets punished, and what people say “can’t be done.” Most businesses obey them instinctively. A small number don’t. Those are usually the companies that end up reshaping the entire industry.
Netflix
and the Unwritten Rule of Punishing Customers
For decades, the home entertainment industry operated on a simple belief : Customers needed to be penalized to behave properly. Late fees weren’t a side effect of the business. They were a feature. Blockbuster and its peers depended on them.
Netflix removed late fees entirely. No penalties. No reminders. No friction.
Industry insiders warned that customers would take advantage. That DVDs wouldn’t come back. That trust at scale was unrealistic. What they missed was that late fees weren’t improving behavior. They were breeding resentment.
By breaking this unwritten rule, Netflix shifted the power dynamic. The customer relationship became cooperative instead of adversarial. Blockbuster eventually tried to follow, but the rule they had protected for so long had already eroded their relevance.
Tesla and the Unwritten Rules of Selling Cars
The automotive industry had long agreed on a quiet rule: manufacturers do not sell directly to consumers. Dealers controlled pricing, customer relationships, and the buying experience. Automakers stayed in the background.
Tesla ignored the entire structure.
They sold direct. They controlled pricing. They owned the showroom experience. They pushed software updates to cars long after purchase, something legacy manufacturers said customers didn’t want and regulators wouldn’t allow.
The resistance was intense. Dealer associations fought back. Lawsuits followed. Tesla wasn’t breaking laws. They were breaking norms that protected intermediaries more than buyers.
By rejecting those unwritten rules in business, Tesla gained control of the full customer journey. Traditional carmakers are still trying to dismantle a system Tesla never adopted.
Airbnb
and the Unwritten Rules of Trust in Hospitality
Hospitality relied on another assumption: trust had to be institutional. Hotels, uniforms, brands, and reception desks existed to reassure guests. The idea that people would stay in strangers’ homes at scale was considered unrealistic.
Airbnb was built on rejecting that belief.
Instead of centralized trust, Airbnb designed distributed trust. Reviews, profiles, photos, two-way accountability. Risk wasn’t eliminated, but it was made visible and manageable.
Hotels dismissed Airbnb early because it didn’t look like a hotel business. Regulators struggled to classify it. That ambiguity was the opportunity. Airbnb didn’t need to win within the existing rules. They questioned why those rules existed at all.
Spotify
and the Unwritten Rules of Music Ownership
For years, the music industry believed value came from ownership. Albums. CDs. Downloads. Access without ownership was viewed as inferior and dangerous to revenue.
Spotify broke that rule by making access the product.
Rather than fighting piracy through enforcement, Spotify competed on convenience. Unlimited music. Anywhere. Instantly. For a monthly fee. Labels resisted. Artists worried. Executives predicted collapse.
What collapsed was an outdated assumption. People didn’t want to own music. They wanted frictionless access. Spotify forced the industry to follow consumer behavior instead of trying to correct it.
Amazon
and the Unwritten Rule of Early Profitability
Retail has long followed a quiet rule: profit validates legitimacy. You grow carefully. You protect margins. You prove sustainability early.
Amazon ignored that logic for years.
They reinvested relentlessly. Warehouses before profits. Logistics before margins. Customer experience before short-term shareholder comfort. Critics called it reckless. Analysts questioned whether Amazon would ever make money.
Jeff Bezos understood that the rule existed to manage risk, not to build dominance. By refusing to follow it, Amazon built infrastructure competitors couldn’t replicate once it was complete.
The companies that obeyed the rule stayed safe. Amazon got scale.
IKEA
and the Unwritten Rules of Furniture Retail
The furniture industry once followed a rigid set of expectations. Furniture was sold assembled or mostly assembled. Stores were small or mid-sized. Prices were high because transport, storage, and labor costs were high. Customers accepted all of this as normal.
IKEA ignored almost every one of those assumptions.
They sold furniture flat-packed. They pushed assembly onto the customer. They built massive warehouse-style stores on city outskirts instead of premium retail locations. They turned the showroom into a guided, self-service experience.
Industry insiders saw this as lowering standards. Customers would never assemble furniture themselves. Quality would suffer. The shopping experience would feel cheap.
What IKEA understood was that customers were willing to trade effort for affordability, design, and access. Flat-packing wasn’t a compromise. It was a system-level advantage. Lower transport costs. Lower storage costs. Lower prices at scale.
IKEA didn’t just sell furniture differently. They redesigned the entire value chain by breaking the unwritten rule that furniture had to arrive finished and be sold through traditional retail formats.
What These Companies Really Understood
None of these businesses succeeded by being reckless. They were deliberate. Each one identified an unwritten rule and asked a dangerous question : Who does this actually serve? The difference wasn’t luck or timing, but knowing how to identify the unwritten rules in your industry before deciding which ones to ignore.
In most cases, the answer wasn’t the customer. It was intermediaries, legacy economics, or professional comfort.
Unwritten rules survive because they feel safe. Breaking them feels irresponsible before it feels obvious. That’s why the early reactions are often ridicule, legal resistance, or moral outrage rather than rational debate.
Takeouts Worth Keeping
The most powerful rules in your industry are rarely written down. Listen closely to phrases like “customers won’t,” “that’s not how it’s done,” and “we’ve always done it this way.” Those are signals, not truths.
Before breaking a rule, understand why it exists and who benefits from it staying in place. Rule-breaking without insight is just noise.
Watch customers more than competitors. When customers create workarounds, they’re telling you which rules no longer serve them.
Finally, remember this : Industries don’t change because someone breaks all the rules. They change because someone ignores one rule that never deserved to exist, and commits fully once they do.
Get your copy of NoRuleBook and No Rules Start-Up to further understand about the unwritten rules in society and business.
