Hire mavericks: a classic piece of management advice, trotted out since at least the 1980s — and almost impossible to enact successfully. Still, big organisations continue to boast that they recruit and develop rule-breakers and renegades. “Status quo challenger” has even become a popular self-description on LinkedIn.

Leave aside the fact that a break-all-the-furniture disrupter is unlikely to spend much time updating his or her LinkedIn profile, let alone join the graduate trainee programme at a multinational: corporate success is often based on what already works.