The Saturday Morning Post - Who Moved My Cheese

One of my favorite "business books" is a little volume titled "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson.  It is a book about change.  And those who refuse to accept change, who insist what the world can't change, wither and die a bitter death.  I keep a stack of the book in my office, and share it with anyone who wants to read it. I reread the book every few years.  Infamously, Jay and I were trapped in Lexington in an ice storm about 15 years ago, the power was off, we were huddled around the gas fireplace in the living room and I read the book aloud one evening.  

My office is undergoing change.  A new director, who has some new ideas and who is trying to free others to think new ideas.  We are largely reliant on project funding, and I use the message in the book, that if you keep going to the same sources of work that you have always gone to, and that source changes, and you don't keep looking for new sources, you will die.  Our cheese gets moved or runs out, we need to constantly be on the search for new cheese.  

Being inside the DC bubble, we hear the appeals for things to stay the same from the oil industry.  That moving away from oil to new sources of energy will destroy the world.  Guess what, it is too late, that ship has sailed, people are plugging their Audis and Fords into recharge rather than pulling up the pump.  They are still using the cheese, but it is new cheese, from new sources.  Build windmills, harness the currents and tides, capture energy from new sources. Don't fear the change.  

I was in a workshop recently and the trainer pointed out that all change results in loss for someone, we need to guide that person through the loss and grief or they will fight the change.  

The pharmaceutical industry is fighting back against change, saying it will kill innovation.  The dirty little secret they don't want you to know, is nearly all of research and innovation is federally funded, what change will change is the obscene profits in the first decade a new drug is being flogged in the US market.  Drug prices are unregulated in the USA, we are one of the few places in the world that allows this. Massive profits are made, on drugs developed and tested largely on the public dime, then once the drug passes into generic formulary, prices plummet to the point some pharmacies give the drug away to draw you in the door.  The insurance and health care industry, have a louder voice than consumers, we need to turn that on its head.  We need to move the cheese. The rest of the world has.   

Oh, and if you are looking for cheese in my refrigerator, look in the big bin on the door.  If it is not there, look in the pull out drawer, or next to it on the shelf, or on the top shelf behind the jar of pickles, there has to be new cheese in their someplace. 

I Went Shopping At My Local Russian Market On Friday

There are a couple of local markets, small specialty shops that feature eastern and central European foods, and a few restaurants in the area. The businesses are run by economic or political refugees who are most likely as appalled and horrified by what is happening in Ukraine as you and I. They left behind the people, the country and the language of their birth. That is not easy to do, things must be pretty terrible to leave behind everything you have ever known.  

The local market is run by a sweet lady of a certain age (my guess is that she is 70.) She uses the skills and talents she has in food, and culture to run a small business, a shop that is 400 or 500 sq. ft. that supports her family.   The products she sells are sourced from around the world, but to fill the tastes of a large expat community, and anyone who has an interest in amazing fish, pickles, preserves, sweets, bakery, and deli items.  Some of the candies are out of this world.  

I thought about shopping there. Yes, part of the money I spent went to businesses in Russia.  What I bought today was shipped and paid for months ago.  The suppliers in Russia will suffer when she can’t restock, to the extent she can she will find alternate suppliers, hopefully the suppliers in Russia will put pressure on the government. 

I do hope that people don’t take out on these local businesses their anger at the country the owners left.  The thank you has never been warmer or more sincere for shopping there.