In the story of Barnes & Noble's rise and near-fall, there is a lesson every product leader should heed: compliance and tradition can quietly become liabilities when customer obsession fades.
When Amazon first emerged, Barnes & Noble leadership focused on defending their traditional retail empire — building more stores, negotiating vendor deals, emphasizing their legacy brand. They treated Amazon as a side project. They framed the problem as "build a website too," not "reimagine how customers want to buy books."
We see the same mistake today, especially in healthcare IT.
Many healthcare organizations spend enormous energy on compliance—meeting ONC, CMS, or interoperability standards. That is necessary. But it often becomes the roadmap. Instead of asking, "How are our users' needs changing?" they ask, "How do we check the regulatory box?"
It is important to note that compliance is not inherently bad. In highly regulated industries like healthcare, it is crucial for patient safety and maintaining public trust. However, the danger arises when compliance becomes the primary focus, overshadowing the needs and experiences of the users.
This opens massive opportunities for disruptors like Spring Health, Amazon Pharmacy, and nimble startups. Spring Health, for example, has focused 100% on delivering a modern, frictionless, and human customer experience in mental healthcare. They have demonstrated strong clinical outcomes and high member satisfaction, indicating that their focus on user needs is returning positive results.
At the same time, legacy systems like EHRs struggle because they must cater to compliance, hospital executives, and an ecosystem of users who never fully bought into the technology in the first place. The original vision—to empower patients—got lost.
As product leaders, we must recognize the signals that our organizations are slipping into tradition:
- If your roadmap is already decided without needing fresh customer research,
- If you can predict the next 18-24 months without market discovery,
- If delivery is optimized but discovery is an afterthought,
You are managing traditions, not leading change.
Barnes & Noble nearly collapsed by relying on tradition. They only revived by re-centering on customer experience—letting local stores decide layouts, killing rigid vendor deals, and embracing flexibility.
In healthcare and beyond, product leaders must balance compliance with bold customer obsession. Because traditions do not defend themselves forever—and neither will your users.