Twenty-five years of building companies taught me that most business advice isn’t always wrong. Sometimes it’s deadly. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” “Focus on your strengths.” “The customer is always right.” These clichés sound smart. Sometimes they work. Other times, they quietly destroy businesses. This book breaks down 21 of the most popular business clichés and shows when they help and when they hurt. Not with theory, but with scars — real companies, real failures, real money lost. Each chapter explains why a cliché feels right, when it becomes dangerous, and what to do instead. No fluff. No corporate speak. Just direct lessons learned the expensive way. You’ll see why winning builds culture, not the other way around. Why weaknesses ruin you before strengths save you. Why “failure is not an option” makes more sense than “fail fast.” And why customers lying to you is far worse than customers complaining. This isn’t another business book written by consultants who’ve never built anything. It’s pattern recognition from the trenches — the mistakes that burned time and cash, and the contrarian moves that actually worked. If you’re tired of advice that sounds good but rarely holds up in reality, this book is for you. If you’re building something real and want to understand what truly matters, read on. Short. Direct. Opinionated.