To be; or not to be?

Food for thought: Change is inevitable, but growth is optional. What a concept! We all sure know about the change part. But is growth an option (in this case, growth meaning development, evolution, progress…a future)? Indeed, that is the question at hand. Is growth 'optional?' The answer, we submit, is—in a word—yes. Growth is an option; it's a choice, a decision, and an opportunity.

When economist Don Reynolds offered the observation during the Toy and Games Summit (TAG) in Pasadena last month, he was talking to a conference of toy industry professionals—mostly manufacturers, with a smattering of service providers and retailers.

But, we suppose, the growth ideology likely applies to every commercial endeavor.

The growing part of any business actually is at the discretion of its employees, especially management. Talk about responsibility and accountability!

With the velocity of change accelerating—another of the economist's observations—growth may no longer be optional. It might become a do-or-die situation. The current retail environment is a prime example, Ames being one of the latest casualties among reaction-oriented businesses. Just how many copy-cat super-stores can the market accommodate? Guess we are going to find out soon enough.

But it's not only retailers that are reactive. How about all those look-alike toys out there today? Not to mention all the 'revivals?' It just may be that our industry has fathomed a whole nostalgia trend just by pulling old product out of the closet, dusting it off and re-introducing it—instead of creating new stuff.

The process gives a whole new meaning to 'reinventing the wheel.' Or in some cases, 'throwing good money after bad.'

If ever there were a time for our industry to be proactive, it is now. The day of 'seat-of-the-pants management' is definitely over. Owners and managers alike, whether their businesses are large or small, local or global, need to have that vision thing.

Yes, it takes some imagination to stay alive as a business; something we'd think shouldn't be too difficult in our industry. After all, we've all built ourselves out of, and around imagination, literally.

Maybe it's time to get the old imagination out of the closet and dust it off.

It may prove to be the best 'option' for growth—again.