Seth Godin had a great post today titled What's off the table? In it, he asks us not to consider what the possible options are, but what are the impossible options - those options that are absolutely off the table, not worthy of consideration, no way we should even be discussing.
When I was 17, I worked for a painting company for the first part of
the summer. We were on a job which entailed painting a waste disposal
plant with some kind of noxious paint. We were inside all day,
painting pipes alternating shades of gray, without proper ventilation.
After a few days of inhaling way too many chemicals, a coworker and I
decided to point out to our boss that the warning on the paint can was
very clear that we should have some kind of breathing apparatus. His
response, "If you don't like it, quit". So we did. Walked right off
the job and drove home and decided we would start our own painting
business. How hard could it be? A few of other coworkers laughed at
us and said you just can't start a painting company. Why not, are
there laws, will people die, will our parents force us to move out? We
were two 17 year olds, why not? Thus was hatched our first business, Sunbright Painting - Quality painting at affordable prices, only the finest in Benjamin Moore paints. (Actual text from our first pennysaver ad.)
As the CEO of Billtrust, I'm a huge believer that there are No Sacred Cows. As far as I'm concerned, everything reasonable is on the table whenever we're making decisions.
Current pricing plan not working, OK, let's blow it up. Customers don't like the User Interface of one of our systems, OK, let's fix it. Sure we have our problems like every other business, but the first step is admitting it and then the second step is getting down to fixing it in any way that is reasonable. As far as I'm concerned, everything is on the table.
Nice blog. I like the story about the paint business. If you don't like the current situation, make your own.
Yes, there are no sacred cows anymore. Capitalism is being attacked pretty bad right now. Unfortunately, there was either no regulation or people who looked the other way. The mantra is "well, the old way got us into this mess, so I have no problem with more regulation". We don't need any more "czars". That is double bureaucracy.
Posted by: Peter Bendoris | June 17, 2009 at 10:44 AM