Ban best practices, standards, and benchmarks?

"Companies have defined so much 'best practice' that they are now more or less identical." - Jesper Kunde, author of Unique Now ... or Never.

Leading a team that I wanted to be innovative, I once emailed team members "Let's ban best practices, standards, and benchmarks. There isn't much value in best practices even though other companies may in fact brag about following them. We’re not followers. We’re innovators, leaders, and pioneers!"

We went on to successfully institutionalize a process-centric design method in a challenging culture. The new method differentiated the software company and gave it a strong competitive advantage.

Organizations pursuing growth through innovation and differentiation should -- obviously -- consider going slow on practices that every other company follows.