If you want this you can't have that. Life is a perpetual trade-off. And with the introduction of the microwave we were introduced to yet another one of these trade-offs. Fast versus tasty.
We may prefer tasty but we settle for fast.
A microwave meal may lack the taste of something that has been lovingly prepared for hours in a slow cooker or on the grill. But it's fast.
It may lack the forethought, the creative inspiration, and the complex combinations of herbs and spices that tickle the palate and induce groans of total culinary satisfaction. But it's fast.
It may reduce the time we spend thinking about quality ingredients that provide us nutrients, vitality, energy, and pleasure. But it's fast.
The microwave has taught us terrible habits. And these habits are killing us and our businesses too. Wait, how does this affect our businesses?
Because we've begun thinking fast. We've begun thinking that marketing is advertising and nothing more. We've begun plotting how to make sales, meet quotas, and serve the shareholders rather than plotting on how to build lifelong relationships with our clients.
We've begun thinking about the quickest path to our success rather than the longer, more laborious path to building trust.
We build businesses like microwaves. We want the fastest way to a bad meal without making us actually do any work. This is why you call any large company and you get recorded robot voices telling you how much they care about you.
Liars. Stop advertising to me. Start serving me.
Oh, and to all you shareholders out there holding your little pieces of the pie - stop talking out of both sides of your mouth. You willingly push for short-term gain and ignore the long-term inevitability of hitting the iceberg and sinking. P/E ratios are less important than the philosophy of the company.
Deep down you know this. Start buying Crock Pots and get some time perspective.
Stop acting like a selfish 5 year-old - it's not all about you.
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