Osobní stránka

Osobní stránka na adrese: webusiness-brain098.diskutuje.cz

What about the Hems and Haws:Osobní stránka na adrese: webusiness-brain098.diskutuje.cz

What about the Hems and Haws

He added, ’I wish my family had heard the Cheese story before this.’What happened?’ Jessica wanted to know.We just couldn’t compete with that.’I can see now that instead of being like Sniff and Scurry, we were like Hem.We stayed where we were and didn’t change.We tried to ignore what was happening and now we are in trouble.’I thought about the story this afternoon too,’she said.’I wondered how I could be more like Haw and see what I’m doing wrong, laugh at myself, change and do better.’She said, ’I’m curious.How many here are afraid of change?’ No one responded so she suggested, ’How about a show of hands?’Only one hand went up.’Well, it looks like we’ve got one honest person in our group!’ she said.And then continued, ’Maybe you’l like this next question better.How many here think other people are afraid of change?’Practically everyone raised their hands.Then they all started laughing.’What does that tell us?’’Denial,’ Nathan answered.’Sure,’ Michael admitted.’Sometimes we’re not even aware that we’re afraid.One person tried to tell us that we should put our whole encyclopedia on a single computer disk and sell it for a fraction of the cost.It would be easier to update, would cost us so much less to manufacture, and so many more people could afford it.But we all resisted.’’Why did you resist?’ Nathan asked.Keeping our sales force depended on the big commissions they earned from the high price of our product.We had been doing this successfully for a long time and thought it would go on forever.’Laura said, ’Maybe that’s what it meant in the story about Hem and Haw’s arrogance of success.They didn’t notice they needed to change what had once been working.’Nathan said, ’So you thought your old Cheese was your only Cheese.’’Yes, and we wanted to hang on to it.’When I think back on what happened to us, I see that it’s not just that they’moved the Cheese’ but that the ’Cheese’ has a life of its own and eventually runs out.’Anyway, we didn’t change.But a competitor did and our sales fell badly.We’ve been going through a difficult time.Now, another big technological change is happening in the industry and no one at the company seems to want to deal with it.It doesn’t look good.Everyone laughed, including Jessica.Carlos turned to Jessica and said, ’It’s good that you can laugh at yourself.’Frank offered, ’That’s what / got out of the story.I tend to take myself too seriously.I noticed how Haw changed when he could finally laugh at himself and at what he was doing.No wonder he was called Haw.’The group groaned at the obvious play on words.Angela asked, ’Do you think that Hem ever changed and found New Cheese?’Elaine said, ’I think he did.’’I don’t,’ Cory said.’Some people never change and they pay a price for it.I see people like Hem in my medical practice.They feel entitled to their’Cheese.’ They feel like victims when ifs taken away and blame others.They get sicker than people who let go and move on.’Then Nathan said quietly, as though he was talking to himself, ’I guess the question is, ’What do we need to let go of and what do we need to move on to?’’No one said anything for a while.’I must admit,’ Nathan said, ’I saw what was happening with stores like ours in other parts of the country, but I hoped it wouldn’t affect us.I guess it’s a lot better to initiate change while you can than it is to try to react and adjust to it.Maybe we should move our own Cheese.’’What do you mean?’ Frank asked.Nathan answered, ’I can’t help but wonder where we would be today if we had sold the real estate under all our old stores and built one great modern store to compete with the best of them.’Laura said, ’Maybe that’s what Haw meant when he wrote on the wall ’Savor the adventure and move with the Cheese.’’Frank said, ’I think some things shouldn’t change.For example, I want to hold on to my basic values.But I realize now that I would be better off if I had moved with the ’Cheese’ a lot sooner in my life.’’Wel , Michael, it was a nice little story, Richard, the class