Company Blog

Familiarity

by Adam Zack — October 8, 2026

“The real risk isn’t contempt. It’s blindness.”

Most everyone has heard the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt.” I have to admit, I never really

thought about what it meant. I used it, but not correctly. The idea behind it is that the better you get to know someone, the more of their shortcomings you see — and the easier it becomes to dislike them.

Personally, I have not found that to be true. For me, familiarity breeds comfort, trust and mutual

caring. But I can see where in some relationships, personal and business, familiarity leads to jealousy, resentment and a lack of appreciation — all such negative emotions.

But that is not where this started. I was thinking about how familiarity — seeing the same thing every

day, like the entrance to your store, the display cases, the restrooms — breeds blindness. See the same thing every day and you actually stop seeing it. It takes real effort to look at the familiar with new eyes each time, and it is not easy.

I get to see a lot of stores. When I notice things like dirty restroom vents, old faded signs taped up crookedly in storefronts, or hand baskets carrying a year’s worth of grime, my first thought is always the same: why does the owner or manager not see these plainly obvious things to fix? The customers certainly see them. Then I realize it is familiarity at work.

I remember leaving a mess as a kid for days on end, until my mom finally asked how many times I was going to walk past it before cleaning it up. “If it was a snake, it would have bit you.” That was familiarity at work too. And laziness, I am sure.

So the real challenge is to see the familiar through new eyes. Does your media convey your brand? Is your attention to detail better than your customers’?

Familiarity may breed contempt. It definitely breeds blinders. And if you do not see the snake, it will bite.