We maintain that conventional wisdom is an oxymoron, and nowhere do we find more supporting evidence for our assertion than in the auto business. Other marketing universes, from shampoo to mutual funds, are infected with the same tried—and rarely true—bromides that plague our industry. You will recognize most of them.

In the car business, the appalling thing about hiding behind conventional wisdom is the money at stake. When British Aerospace owned Land Rover, its chairman had extensive experience in a conglomerate that specialized in commodity products like bricks. He once asked: “Who in their right mind would invest a billion dollars in a new product without knowing the outcome?” Good question. Without knowing who you are as a company—and who wants what you stand for—investments of that magnitude are terrifying. If the market is ignorant of what you stand for or, worse yet, you are ignorant of what you stand for, the investments are downright suicidal.

Which is why executives grow fearful and seek the safety of conventional wisdom. If the company fails, an executive who used methods and marketing that worked for other companies in the past can hardly be blamed. Right? Wrong. Anyone who believes blindly in the following conventional wisdom deserves worse than blame.