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View from Across the Pond
By: John Strak
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Who moved my cheese?
(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)
My training in management has been almost as bad as my training for life – definitely a “suck it up and see” approach. But one or two attempts to improve my way of thinking about management (and life) have made an impact on me.
One of them was the (now) famous book “Who Moved My Cheese?” about how to deal with change written by Spencer Johnson in 1998. That book is the best-selling business book of all time. It's sold over 23 million copies world-wide and has been translated into 42 languages.
I was reminded of the messages in this book in the last few weeks when reflecting on what was on show at SIAL – the biannual food exhibition in Paris that has just finished. The show had almost 6,000 exhibitors from 106 countries and around 140,000 professional visitors from almost every country in the world. It is a mega show and a true indicator of what is going in all aspects of the meat and food industry – if you have the energy to get round all the trade stands (and past the French strikers).
One of the most popular halls at SIAL is the Trends & Innovations Observatory. The products in this hall are selected by agribusiness and innovation experts and 400 products were displayed there. Amongst the 15 innovation award winners were; a microwaveable rice sandwich and Croque Monsieur, tea liqueurs, truffle caviar, vegetable biscuits, and meat marinades. But in these awards and the Sial d’Or awards there was hardly a mention of the red meat industry. I found this worrying and it brought me back to Spencer Johnson.
Johnson’s message to businesses (and to individuals) was that change is something that we all have to accept and to react positively to when it occurs. That is often easier said than done but the “who moved my cheese?” story is enduring. My conclusion from SIAL 2010 is that the world’s red meat industry needs to think a lot more about innovation and about who has moved the cheese and where it is moving to. If someone can think of a vegetable biscuit and get a prize for it where is the bacon or beef equivalent? For pork producers this question is especially relevant because they are increasingly faced with a straight fight with poultry products.
Spencer Johnson didn’t quite say innovate or die. But if the cheese moves far enough and innovation doesn’t occur it will be life threatening.
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Who moved my cheese?
