Issue #174 | Dec. 19, 2008 | by Andy Kowl
As 2008 draws to a close the world's future seems dark or, at the least, uncertain. We look for shafts of light and hope in the current financial storm, because the alternative is more than unthinkable – it's unacceptable.
With every so-called expert proving to be charlatan or crook, why would anybody have confidence the next all-knowing pronouncement is any better than the last. Pete Townshend had it right in The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
If you have been doing your due diligence and researching how your organization can become more efficient with RFID, it is hard to imagine these last couple months felt like prime time to propose something new.
When people are worried about their jobs, it may not sound like a good idea: scaring the boss with wild-eyed tales of savings and efficiency. Some of you remember the old, but still telling statement: "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM." Play it safe.
But what is safe when all the geniuses, the Masters of the Universe, who looked like they were doing everything right, are proven wrong? Is there some part of the status quo that is looking especially attractive to you?
There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right.
Maybe 2009 is not such a bad year for change. Just writing that line brings a smile because the thought of doing anything but change is ludicrous. All bets are off, gang.
How is your company culture going to handle it?
What is "playing it safe" now?
"Hunkering down" can work for a month or two. If you don't stop to question what you and/or your organization are doing now, when will you ever? You had to take a pause. But as a strategy in business, "hunkering down" is death.
As we drift into 2009, it is a perfect and natural time for us to take a moment or two for reflection and review; for reassessment. It is a perfect time for evaluating the current and future possibilities of our professional and our personal lives.
Who will the winners be at the other end of this debacle? Try looking through your trusty telescope; all you've got is kaleidoscope. One thing is for sure; not doing everything in your power to make your company stronger puts your own future in jeopardy. There is a hunger for new leadership – you can taste it.
Liberate your organization
If you are in IT or Operations, as we know the majority of our readers are, it is your obligation to at least try to find some answers that will give your organization an advantage. Hell, that will allow it to survive. It may even be a unique opportunity. It is easier to recognize organizational stonewallers as just so many dunderheads when the world is busy reinventing itself. Anybody who belittles innovation now, because it is not in the organizational comfort zone, looks like someone on their way out.
The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
The economy may battered; but it is not defeated. It cannot be vanquished, because people like you and me have never stood for such nonsense.
Whether with RFID, or sensors, biometrics, mesh networks, ZigBee and/or other emerging information technologies, at the core of all this is enabling your organization to distribute data as if it is, well, the 21st Century.
You must define actionable data, which can cause things to turn off or on; to be made safer; to enable real time inventory; to plug operational leakages; to prevent waste; to save energy; to save money. If you are not using 21st Century technology to put data to work in a new way. . . asking the question is answering it.
If you are not considering every option to make your operation better, what are you thinking?!
The hidden obstacle within
One of the toughest challenges is making that leap – figuring out how to find efficiencies in places you think are already efficient. That is not an everyday feat. Are you up to the task? Here on RFID Switchboard you will meet some smart people who can help you consider the possibilities. I'm not saying they are as smart as the people running the Wall Street, the SEC, or the Treasury Department, or AIG or Merrill Lynch, or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – no, not that smart. But the people you'll meet here actually know how to make things work better than you may ever have seen them work before. This is the perfect year to find out what they have to say.
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again.
With a Happy New Year salute to the original Who, one of the greatest bands of rock & roll. "RFID Street" has the sawhorses out and is closing for the holidays. We'll see you next year. Let's surprise 'em all and make it a great one!
