Eastman Kodak Company has filed for bankruptcy protection. The iconic company was founded by George Eastman, a high-school dropout from upstate New York, in 1880. Like so many American icons, the beginning was humble enough … a modest investment of $125 … Kodak went on to produce the first hand-held camera and totally dominate the industry. Ironically, Kodak invented the first digital camera as well but, unfortunately, chose to sit on the technology while its competitors ran with it. The end.
I’m not a business person, but I’m going to make an observation. Although there were undoubtedly many factors leading to this moment, it seems to me that this one simple (colossal) mistake may have made the largest contribution to the ultimate demise of the company. How did it happen? The company heads perceived the discovery as a threat rather than seeing it as an opportunity.
How often does this happen? I remember reading years ago how the Chinese word for crisis consists of two characters (compound word) with one meaning 'danger' and the other meaning 'opportunity'. Interesting eh!? There is in every danger an opportunity and in every opportunity a danger.
There is always a danger. There is always a risk. Staying in bed won’t protect you either. You wouldn’t be the first person to die in your sleep! Just when you think that things couldn’t get worse, guess what? They can! But there is always an opportunity. All of the great success stories have their beginnings in times of adversity. No one ever became great without suffering. Necessity is the mother of invention.
The reality is no different for one person (or company) than it is for another. So what makes the difference between those who cave and those who capitalize? It’s not just WHAT we see but HOW we see it.
I'm not just talking business here, I'm talking life. And for us who know that God is for us (and if God is for us, who can be against us?) this should transform the way we see life. And with the way we see life transformed, transformed should be the way we DO life.
Sure, there is always a risk that we will fail, that we will be misunderstood, that our good intentions will not produce the kind of results we are looking for…
“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” Hebrews 10:39
Absolute truth. Well said.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing. It is true that all of the great success stories have their struggles in the beginning and we can look at our own life and see the marks along our journey. I learned to look at the times that are hard and am encouraged because I see there must be an opportunity in it and there usually is!
ReplyDeleteI have been unable to either read a comment or post a comment for several days until just now. Interestingly, now that it is letting me in to do so, the look of the comments section has changed considerably. I can only surmise that they (blogger.com) have made some changes and in the process created a glitch for me that has now been corrected somehow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Buck and Geoff but sorry to anyone who has tried since then to post a comment. Hopefully the problem is all in the past.