It starts with “just this one deal.”

A minor exception. A small stretch. A tweak.

Then it happens again.

And before long, exceptions become standard operating procedure—because the organization learns something:

If we push hard enough, the deal gets done.

This is how underwriting culture drifts.
This is how diligence standards erode.
This is how the market gets conditioned to expect flexibility.

Moral hazard isn’t a single choice.

It’s a pattern.

And patterns, over time, destroy value because they normalize decisions that aren’t priced for the risk they create.