A Culture of Change

We have become a culture of change and, in my opinion, this mindset is quite possibly the cause of so many of our problems and social ills. Before you start warming up your keyboards to call me an "old fogey" give me a chance to explain. Most of what I know I learned from my dad. Dad has been my spiritual leader as well as my mentor in business and he is great at both. As an entrepreneur, dad has made some pretty bold decisions and was never afraid to make a change when warranted. Dad's motto has been "never change simply for the sake of change." In other words, if you believe you need to make a change make sure you are changing for the right reasons.

I can remember, soon after graduating college and joining dad in the family business, a man calling on me wanting to become our new wholesale supplier. He made a good pitch and I, in turn, pitched it to dad. His first bit of advice was to wait, if it's worth doing today it will still be worth doing tomorrow. Well you can just imagine how I felt about that, I was upset! Here I had come to him with this great deal, sure to lower our costs and increase the bottom line and all he can say is wait! So I waited. After a week the man who wanted to get our business called to see where we stood, I told him that we were stll considering but not quite ready to move. Guess what this guy does the next day? He calls and sweetens the deal! Well I was sure dad was going to be so proud of me! When I told dad the good news he still wasn't impressed, he liked the idea of saving money but at what cost? We had been with our current supplier for fifteen years ond until this new company put themselves in the mix we were satisfied. At dads direction I called our current supplier and talked to them about the situation, not wanting to lose our business and to reward our loyalty they beat the new companies proposal and we have been with them for thirty years now.

Another personal example just came to fruition today. Our convenience store has proudly sold Amoco fuel since day one. Thirty years ago my dad "inked" a deal with the local Amoco jobber with a handshake. (Back then a handshake was much stronger than ink, but that's for another post.) Over the years, the oil and gasoline business has changed, Amoco being bought by BP several years ago had, by far, the biggest effect on our business. This year the changes began to pile up, we were no longer satisfied with BP as a company, however, we faced a serious decision. Would changing to a different supplier solve our problems or simply move them? After many phone calls and meetings with people on each side of the equation we decided a change was in order. Today the BP sign came down as we welcomed Texaco to our family business.

So how do you know when change is good or not? Typically, change for the sake of change is a bad idea, you end up moving into a situation worse than where you started. Take my dad's advice, if it is good today, it will still be good tomorrow. Change should be something you direct, not something you allow to forced upon you. When considering change actually take the time, do the homework and make an informed choice. Never, never, not ever, should you make a change when you are too angry or too emotional.

Our culture today is loaded with people who are victims of the poor choices they made when seeking change. The boss makes you mad, well I'll show him, I quit! (Never mind that you don't have another job to go to, you had to prove a point.) Another company offers you a little more money to work for them and you jump at it without even talking to your current employer. (Don't forget all the little things your employer does or has done for you. Loyalty is important. There might me a reason why this job is open to begin with!) The preacher, elder, or a member at church offends you so to prove a point you quit going to church there and go somewhere else. (Don't talk to them about it, you have a point to make!) Some people at church are clamouring for certain things to change because "it's time for a change." You decide to join them in their crusade because we've done things this way for a long time, lets try something new.

If you get nothing else from this, Get This! Don't change for the sake of change. Change should be led by reason and fueled with knowledge.

I want your input on this. When is change good? When is it inevitably? How can one know it's time for chamge?