Sabtu, 02 September 2006

History CAN repeat itself... even for stagers

I love the staging industry... but sometimes I am dismayed by it.
I can't help but compare what I see happening in this industry to what has happened to the auto industry.

Years ago (back in the 60's) my father bought a Toyota. People laughed, ridiculed, and dismissed these cars by calling them names like "rice burners". No one thought GM (and even Ford) would ever have anything to worry about from this small manufacturer way over on the other side of the world. So GM went about its ways, doing what it wanted to do, THINKING it was an untouchable "star" and professed to know it all.

Last weekend... when I went car shopping with my in-laws (both retired factory workers from Wisconsin farm country and in their 70's). They bought a Toyota! After years and years of buying American cars, they decided to buy what they KNEW was a better product.
Today it is indisputable that Toyota has raised the bar in THAT industry... so high now that GM now is scampering to keep up with it.

Sad part is that GM could have maintained its leading role in the industry if it didn't spend so much time investing in its own righteousness and spent more time listening to the consumer and leading the industry in quality and innovation.

Mark my words, if things don't change in the staging industry the same will happen to those who profess to be leaders... but now are becoming more petty and self absorbed. AND, because of the internet it will not take 40 years.

I see and have been told by others in this industry of those who spend more time and energy holding tightly to what they say is theirs. They put more energy into holding on tight that they miss seeing new innovative ideas & creativity and they loose respect of those who once looked to them as leaders.

People might think and say I am ignorant & naïve... but like Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of Toyota, I believe much more is possible.

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