Recession/Depression or Innovation/Opportunity?

One of my favorite books of all time is “Atlas Shrugged.”  Although I don’t agree with all of her philosophical & political views, Ayn Rand’s examples of the need for personal responsibility seem very timely right now.  There is one brief scene in the book that really made an impression on me. The main character, Dagny, goes to a little market in the mountains.  She asks the very downtrodden storeowner why she does not move the produce out of the sun where it is rotting & into the shade.  The storeowner responds “that’s where it has always been.”

Everyday when you turn out the news right now, another company seems to be on the brink of financial collapse, in need of a government bailout.   What is ironic to me is that those that seem to continue failing are those that do not want to change, to innovate, to find a way to make a better, more cost effective product.  The past year I have flown a great deal on different airlines and have seen some really great examples of both types of behavior.

About a month ago, I wrote about my “flight from hell” on US Airways. Many of the workers seemed angry & resistant to change. They seemed frustrated with their situation & seemed to blame the passengers.  My experience was that this airline’s way of dealing with change in this changing economy was to find ways to charge for incidentals that used to be included in the basic fare.  This would seem to make sense if their fares had been reduced, but they have not been. Instead they have repackaged the same thing and are calling it something different so they don’t have to make changes. When I contacted customer service after the flight to give my feedback, they promised to “get back to me in 48 hours.”  When they did not do so, I called again. Their attitude was “well that’s the best we can do.”  Definitely not a way to win over passengers.

Unfortunately this seems to be the attitude of many of the industries that are failing in this country, such as the auto industry—they feel a sense of entitlement.  A couple weeks ago I was listening to a discussion about the bailout of the auto industry on Larry King Live.  It was pointed out by someone who opposed the bailout that when a company goes into Chapter 11 that it is an opportunity to restructure—a chance to figure out a way to make a better product, perhaps one more in line with consumer needs & demand.  However both the executives & the union workers in the US auto industry only seemed to be concerned about “what they’re going to get”, rather than “what they have to offer.”  I hope they wake up, as this type of thinking will only cause their continued failure to provide a competitive product.

At Christmas I flew on Delta to Atlanta which I have done many times over the years. They have really been a “phoenix” & have risen from the ashes of Chapter 11 from the past few years.  The service was flawless, the crew was very pleasant, there were no extra charges for incidentals (they’d actually added some), the fare was more than competitive—in short, they had chosen to innovate, to focus on what they could “give”, not what they could “get.”.  As I spoke to the ground crew, they told me that they are in the process of bringing all the customer service jobs that they had outsourced to other countries back to the US. They have seen that the monies that have saved through outsourcing have cost them in goodwill with their customers.  Delta appears to have taken a much more reflective approach, which is paying off for them.  They see the need to be competitive in the 21^st Century, not trying to stay in the 20^th Century. 

Fortunately the other airlines I have flown on this past year—Jet Blue, Frontier, Southwest & Northwest all have a philosophy similar to Delta’s. They are looking to provide the best product they can to their customers at the most competitive price.  Hopefully those airlines that recently decided to charge for any checked bag will quickly see the folly in this, as now most people try to carry all their bags on board, which results in delayed boarding times and bags gate checked at no charge at the last minute due to lack of space. Having run my own business, I realize the need to be constantly looking at what works & what doesn’t work.

In today’s world economy, everyone must learn to participate, to take responsibility, to be a team player. There are just too many people in the world now. We have to learn to get along, to help each other out & be considerate of one another. That’s one of the keys to success now. An attitude of “that’s where it has always been” will no longer work. That type of thinking is what has caused this drastic need for change in so many industries at this moment in history.

As I enter 2009, I have decided to have an attitude of innovation/opportunity, rather than depression/recession. The old cliche that "change is the only thing we can count on" is true. It’s best to just clean up that spilled milk now.