No matter their strengths, businesses—like people—are always at risk.

Some dangers are blatant, while others are far less obvious and can cause untold—even fatal—damage. These under-the-radar dangers can undermine a company’s best efforts, all without anyone breaking a sweat.

Here are nine subtle but common behaviors that may indicate your business may be in trouble:

1) Wearing blinders. Business people don’t like bad news. They reject it as they would an unwanted solicitor, quickly adding, “I want to be around positive people.”

Jim Holt comes close to the truth in his review of Chuck Kloserman’s book “But What If We’re Wrong” when he says, “Most of what we believe is likely to be wrong.” If that’s true, then doubt—not certainty—is the only positive action.

2) Ignoring details. Many of us assume that someone else will come along and clean up our messes. But that’s not the Apple way, as Michael Gartenberg discovered on his first day with the company. After sending someone an email, “I got it back, and at the end, it said, ‘P.S. spelling counts here.’”

Gartenberg had mistyped “the” as “hte.” The way we view details reveals the way we regard others and what we think is important.

3) Making opinion-based decisions. Many business owners and managers believe it’s their role to be “decider-in-chief.” They have firm opinions about almost everything. Research, surveys, studies, facts, knowledge and the experience of others don’t count to these kinds of leaders. Instead, they proudly trust their gut.

In this type of environment, employees learn quickly that discussion is useless, and new ideas land on the “unwanted” list. It’s a perfect way to strangle a business.

4) Poor planning. Sure, it’s fun to talk about great ideas—they create excitement and lots of energy. But usually, people take little or no action, even though that’s what it takes to make a difference. Everyone leaves the meeting and nothing happens, and the same thing happens next time.

To keep a business on track, there’s only one question that gets the wheels moving: “Who’s going to do what, why and when?” Nothing else matters. Call it responsibility or call it accountability—it’s all the same, and it’s what it’s all about.

5) Suffering from data blindness. When asked why his insurance agency couldn’t launch an e-newsletter, a smart, client-oriented and capable principal said, “We can’t do it until we get our database straightened out.”

He’s not alone. Good businesses fall behind, and others die or merge because they’re gridlocked, unable to develop and implement a means of gathering relevant information. Too many managers suffer from a debilitating case of data blindness: the inability to recognize that their survival depends on the accuracy and completeness of updated, relevant, reliable and accessible information.

6) Failing to adapt. After launching the long-awaited Nest Cam, Nest found that many customers were pointing the cameras out the window to keep track of what was going on outside, according to IoT Daily. Rather than let a competitor run with the idea, Nest launched a weatherproof outdoor version to give customers what they wanted.

That’s the smart approach. Unfortunately, “Maybe we should wait and see what happens” is a much more common reaction—and it’s usually followed by “Why didn’t we do that?” when it’s too late.

7) Maintaining a confusing culture. It seems to happen at entrepreneurial-type companies where management is highly motivated. Along with all that drive comes a laissez-faire attitude if you just leave everyone alone, they will simply take the initiative to do their jobs well. When that doesn’t happen, leadership is disappointed that people didn’t live up to the challenge.

Instead of having a direction and agreed-upon expectations, employees in this environment are adrift. And all the while, they think they're doing what’s required. A confusing culture causes havoc.

8) Failing to educate customers. A recent American Consumer Satisfaction Index indicates that consumers now view Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn “more negatively” than they did in the past. The news first set off alarms at Twitter when the company found that 90% of people worldwide know the Twitter name, but only those who use it get what it’s all about—resulting in a 40-point gap. In response, Twitter launched a campaign to educate people on how the platform works and the benefits of using it.

Every company faces the same problem. Satisfied to drink their own Kool-Aid, they fail, often miserably, at telling their story clearly and consistently. And it always catches up with them.

9) Misunderstanding branding. The usual focus of branding is a logo and a tagline. Yet, as one mother reminded her son, “Clothes don’t make the man.” Similarly, a new logo and a tagline don’t make a brand—that’s just putting on a new suit.

Branding is about questions: Why are we doing this? What do we value, and how do we show it? Who are our customers? What do we offer them that makes a difference? What sets us apart from our competitors? The answers to these questions are your brand.

Messing up a business is easy—it doesn’t take any effort. We should never drink our own Kool-Aid, because it puts us to sleep. But the antidote is simple: Look over your shoulder, and never get too comfortable.

John Graham of GrahamComm is a marketing and sales strategy consultant and business writer.