When “No Left Turns” Becomes Your Competitive Advantage
“That will never work…” might be the most expensive sentence in your business.
Maybe you’ve heard the story about a big brown delivery company that told its drivers to avoid left turns?
The first time people heard it, they laugh. “That sounds crazy. Won’t the routes get longer?”
Please take a moment to grab this vital key in Curiosity (the last pillar in my E.P.I.C. framework) – are we asking the right question??
Here’s what actually happened.
UPS redesigned its routes so roughly 90% of turns are right turns. By spending less time stuck at left-hand turn lights and in cross-traffic, they now:
– Save about 10 million gallons of fuel every year
– Avoid roughly 20,000 tons of CO₂ emissions annually
– Deliver around 350,000 more packages per year
– Drove roughly 28.5 million fewer miles, even when routes look “longer” on a map
All because someone stopped asking, “What’s the shortest route?” and started asking, “Where are we wasting time sitting at lights?”
That’s the power of Curiosity over preconception.
The Question You’re Not Asking Is Costing You
Here’s the thing about UPS’s breakthrough: the data was always there.
Every driver knew left turns meant waiting. Everyone could see the idling trucks burning fuel at intersections.
But it took decades before someone questioned the assumption that the shortest distance was the best route.
Think about that.
How many times have you heard “that’s how we’ve always done it” in your business? How many processes are running on autopilot because no one’s stopped to ask, “Why are we doing this?”
This is part of what I call Performance Assumption gaps – the space between what you think is working and what’s actually driving results.
UPS closed that gap by getting curious. They didn’t accept the obvious answer. They asked a different question entirely.
And here’s what’s critical: the results you want are often hidden behind the questions you’ve never thought to ask.
Curiosity: The Last Pillar of E.P.I.C.
This brings us to Curiosity – the fourth and final pillar in my E.P.I.C. framework.
Excellence sets your standard. Presence keeps you engaged. Intentionality aligns your actions/words/experience wakes with your goals.
But Curiosity? Curiosity is what breaks you out of the box you didn’t even know you were in.
Leaders who embrace Curiosity don’t ask, “How do we do this faster?” They ask, “What if we’re solving the wrong problem?”
Research shows that curious leaders:
- Make fewer decision-making errors
- Drive more innovation
- Build higher-performing teams.
Organizations that embed curiosity into their culture see faster innovation, stronger customer relationships, and real competitive advantage.
But here’s the catch: only 24% of employees say they regularly feel curious in their jobs, and 70% say they face barriers to asking questions.
That’s not a curiosity problem. That’s a leadership problem.
What assumption are you making right now that could be costing you time, money, or opportunity?
What “left turn” are you taking every day because it’s always been done that way without ever stopping to ask if there’s a better route?
Here are 2 Ways to Unleash Curiosity for You and Your Team This Week!
1. Start Here: Pick one process, strategy, or decision your team has been running on autopilot. Ask yourself: “What question haven’t we asked about this?”
Example: Instead of “How do we close more deals?” ask “What’s causing deals to stall in the first place?”
Audit Your Curiosity: Pull your leadership team together and ask: “What’s one thing we’ve stopped questioning that we should revisit?” Then go deeper: “What would we do differently if we weren’t constrained by how we’ve always done it?”
2. Run a “No Left Turns” Exercise: Identify one area where your team is underperforming. Then ask:
- What’s the shortest path we’ve been taking?
- What’s costing us the most time while we wait?
- If we couldn’t do it the way we’ve always done it, what would we try instead?
Pick one idea (even if it sounds crazy) and test it for 30 days.
That’s how breakthroughs happen. Not by doing more of what’s always worked. By getting curious about what you’ve never tried.
The question is: Are you curious enough to find it?
Mike Mooney
Helping leaders and teams close the performance gap.