They Don't Want To Change!

Several years back, I visited a client. This company possessed a 90% Organic Percentage ... high by any standards. Essentially the company could discontinue all catalog marketing activities and sales would decline by 10% and ad-to-sales would decrease by 30% and the whole business would be wildly profitable.

It's the best possible problem a company can have.

One problem.

The Chief Merchandising Officer.

This individual said something very interesting.

• "If we discontinued the catalog, then what the heck do I do?"

I responded that his job would not change ... one bit. He would still be responsible for merchandising strategy. The individual stared at me and offered this tidbit.

• "But how do I do my job if I don't have a catalog to merchandise?"

There you go.

I'm not convinced people "don't want to change".

I am convinced people (me included) don't know "how" to change.

If you offer your Executive Team an idea and you don't teach your Executive Team how to change, your Executive Team may not change.

Think of it this way ... if you were an analyst who used SAS for twenty years and then somebody demands that you use R and Python immediately, how would you respond, especially if the company keeps their SAS license? Be honest!

It isn't that people don't want to change ... people may not know "how" to change. Provide a roadmap for "how" somebody changes, and the likelihood of change may "change"!