The Need for Change Should be Obvious

The Need for Change Should be Obvious

The Need for Change Should be Obvious

The Need for Change Should be Obvious

A patient buying cigarettes from his hospital bed in the 1950s

Check out this photo. It shows a patient buying cigarettes from his hospital bed in the 1950s.

I saw this picture and thought. When did patients stop smoking in hospital beds?

Then I thought – Obviously, everyone saw that coming. Thanks for speaking up!

“I Wish I could!”

Guess what! Unfortunately, I hear this way too much!

When did entrepreneurism become entre-wimp-ism?

There once was a business on the edge of the proverbial cliff. For over a decade, the owners knew that selling cigarettes to patients in bed in a hospital was against all future realities.

However, the business owners were distracted by the efforts of those awarding the outdated concepts of sick people smoking in bed!

Like all industries, the cigarette peddlers in the hallways of the hospitals had their annual conventions and best-in-class trophies. I can imagine the booths showing off the latest gear to carry around cigarettes, matches, and of course, the Zippo lighter and its tin can of fuel.

However, screaming from a future place called “reality”, you could hear the cries warning that smoking in hospital beds would soon become obsolete.

The Need for Change Should be ObviousUnfortunately, at the same time, with the warnings of coming obsolescence, the industry had many more distracting those realities through industry awards and doctored-up patient surveys highlighting how important smoking is for a patient’s recovery.

Soon came the day smoking in hospital beds was determined to be insane! The businesses that listened to the warnings realigned and stopped participating in the activities distracting from those realities.

One day someone will write an article showing a picture of your business’s core deliverable, as for my friends in the business print industry regarding the giant copy machine in the hallway. First, the reader will say people used to copy and print business documents. Then they will ask, “Why?”

Don’t be the leader who gets distracted by those rewarding all the reasons the status quo will remain relevant. Instead, look into the common sense reasons why the status quo won’t make sense much longer.

I will remind you, as I always do as I wind up, that status quo is the killer of all that will be invented. Don’t get stuck in the status quo.



Have you found this article, “The Need for Change Should be Obvious” insightful?

Ray Stasieczko is a forward-thinking and often controversial writer and speaker. You may not want to agree with everything he says, but you are compelled to read and listen. To do otherwise could spell doom.

He has called the imaging channel home for 30 years and served in various roles and has contributed nearly 100 articles to the industry’s publications. Ray has also spoken at the RT Media Summits in Cairo, South America and China. You can contact him and watch him on LinkedIn.

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