The Attributes of Change.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about the attributes of change.

As soon as the word "change" leaves your lips, people within earshot of your voice may double over to cringe, dogs may start barking incessantly at the moon, cows will lay down, and glass may spontaneously shatter. One may argue that change can be good, and I would agree. However, even though there have been many amazing innovations, life-changing advancements, and incredible improvements in our lifetime, you still have to break eggs to make fluffy omelets. Every benefit has a cost, and as good as a change may be, someone, somewhere, somehow will always be adversely affected by the introduction of change.

The effects of change: I recently lost thirty pounds in four months by giving up all forms of sugar and starch and by basically eating only salads. Being thirty pounds lighter is a BIG change, but not nearly as big as the changes I had to make to get there... and I'm not the only one who had to make big changes to obtain such a big change. Since I did not force my family to eat salad with me, I ate alone and disrupted our dinner time rituals. I also discontinued the incredible calorie-rich coaching sessions I enjoy with my boss over yummy bagels in the morning, which created a subtle void in our business. So the effects of a change, even as positive as eating healthily and losing weight, can be a detriment to your life and to others.

The catalysts of change: The only thing more difficult to survive than the effects of change and harder to deal with than the act of making change may be the catalyst. There are many cases where a company has refused to make changes—until there is absolutely no other choice. Eroding market share, rising costs, dwindling sales, sinking morale, and massive customer attrition are all painful, gut-wrenching catalysts for change, and eventually, the pain of not changing becomes more unbearable than the act or predicted result of making the change.

The benefits of change: I remember sitting in the living room on Sundays, listening to my father read various articles to us from the Boston Globe. He once read an unforgettable interview with the oldest living woman in Massachusetts. She was celebrating her one hundred and ninth birthday, and the reporter asked what she considered the greatest invention of her lifetime. Having been born in the 1870s, she had seen the invention of the light bulb, telephone, radio, record player, movies, television, automobiles, tanks, planes, jets, rockets, spaceships, refrigeration, and even the microwave oven. Although she had seen all forms of amazing human ingenuity, she responded to the question without hesitation, saying only, "the match".

Really? Can you imagine such a simple thing made such a difference?

She explained, "Having fire on a stick changed my life." She recounted how they had to always keep a fire going in the stove, otherwise they couldn't cook their food during the day or turn on their oil lamps to see at night. If their fire went out, they would have to walk to the neighbor's to retrieve some hot coals and restart their fire. The alternative, of course, is to try and generate a spark with flint and steel; the proposition of which not many would enjoy.

Whether change is forced or desired, there will be both a cost and a benefit to consider. So, make sure to calculate the investment carefully. There's almost always winners and losers, as well as victors and victims whenever a change takes place. So, make sure you can live with the outcome. Whether change has created innovations like "the match", revived a suffering business, or taken a few inches off your waistline, it is important to remember what today's fortune says, "Change has both physical and psychological attributes." ...the result of which can be well, life-changing.