Golden Hammer

Let’s say that, when we were young, our dad taught us how to hang pictures by using a screwdriver to pound nails into the wall. Clearly Dad wasn’t that great of a handyman, but despite growing up and learning that there are other more effective tools out there for this kind of job, we still use screwdrivers to pound nails into walls. It’s silly, and we’re definitely wasting all kinds of time doing things this way, but it’s what we know, so it’s what we do.

In fact, we use screwdrivers for everything: hanging pictures, scraping off old paint, even cleaning the gutters and spreading frosting on cupcakes. Bottom line, our screwdriver has become a golden hammer: a tool we use to accomplish things, even though it’s totally not the best tool for the job. We’ve become so comfortable with screwdrivers, so reliant on them, that we just don’t want to do things using any other tool.

The business world is not immune to the appeal of the golden hammer. For example, let’s say that Benjamin’s Bagpipe Barn started out life tracking all of its income and expenses via Microsoft Excel. This worked out so well when BBB was a small firm that, even though it’s grown exponentially and expanded into new geographical markets, Benjamin et al are still tracking their cash flow in Excel. Not only that, they’re also using it to manage R&D projects, format business letters, and track their client accounts. Excel has become Benjamin’s Bagpipe Barn’s golden hammer: it’s the wrong tool, and there are clearly much better ones available, but they’re sticking to what they know and love, potentially to the detriment of the business.