The case for transforming Park City

In just reporting how the last ski season ended, The Park Record, our local paper announced an overall 22.5% decline in sales tax receipts from the year before. This, by the way, is what I had predicted in November 2009. What is remarkable, however is that the season got worse as it went on. Consider this: December only showed a 5.5% decline, while January was at 18.8%, February 28.4% and March 33.4%! The trend is bad and doesn't bode well for the upcoming ski season.

Now there's something, our community could do about, it's re-invent itself, offer visitors a much improved product by beginning to link two of its three resorts and making a statement to the industry that it will pursue a full-blown interconnect between the seven contiguous Wasatch mountain resorts. This would create a formidable buzz, capable of lifting up sales in anticipation of the this transforming event. That's a no-risk innovation that has been in use and fully tested for almost 40 years in the Alps and is capable of doubling our on-snow visitations when the full linkage is completed. Local resorts shouldn't increase rates as it's rumored they'll do, instead they should enhance their creativity by linking up and only then, will they win big!

A matter of cut...

Yesterday has been rather eventful; first, Evelyne saw a pine tree being cut and immediately thought that our son Thomas could use the wood. We hitched our trailer, picked up the pieces and drove to Salt Lake to deliver the fuel. While we were there, we picked up some rabbit at the butcher, that we had reserved in the morning. Usually, when we call for rabbit, the meat is prepared and bagged for us when we come to pick it up. This time it wasn't, and one of the butcher asked me if I wanted the two animals cut or not; as a clueless macho in a hurry I simply said “don't bother.”

The following day when Evelyne opened the packets to prepare our favorite meat, she went ballistics as she discovered that the animals were dead alright but whole. While I took the blame for the “uncut rabbit,” I proceeded to play butcher and hash down the two bunnies into a multitude of tiny pieces not so much by choice, but as a direct result of my first “practice run.” At first, my spouse wasn't too impressed with the job, that she considered rather “unprofessional,” but later on admitted that the smaller morsels I had produced worked better in her preparation. I felt like an accomplished master-butcher!

Waking up...

I never take waking up in the morning for granted. Without that simple but so crucial step there's no today and everything comes to a screeching halt. If you know my life philosophy, you already know that for me, death is like sleep, and vice-versa. As a result, waking up in the morning isn't something trivial that I take for granted; it's a big deal; it's in fact a daily resurrection! By my book, folks who died in their sleep are some of the luckiest on earth. They don't see it coming and they don't have to fear anything. Sure, when that happens it's better to have your “house in order” an be ready for the sudden departure, but in living life as we should and with a bit of organization a hasty take off should never be such a big problem. So from that day on, don't just enjoy waking up in the morning; treasure it!

What can we learn from GM failure?

Lots of things... First and foremost, no one, how big it becomes, is immune. I would never have thought that this giant could crumble and do it as fast as it did. Second, it's always necessary to remain well grounded, humble and nimble. Finally, becoming too large leads often to deadly problems, not just for people and dinosaurs, but also for companies... With that in mind, I will now look at huge institutions with a more skeptical eye. Starting with “big governments” and their “big programs,” and of course moving on to giant companies like Walmart, Microsoft and Google. This guys had better be keenly aware that they are on walking on the edge of inertia and paralysis, and they must keep on re-inventing themselves as fast as they can... Those in the extractive business, like Exxon-Mobil can can get some assurance that as long as there's oil to pump out and that no one comes up with a compelling alternative they'll last. As for us, little humans, we've have never “arrived,” there always lots of pesky little things that will remind us that we are as frail as we are limited in power and time and, we better re-invent ourselves too on a continuous basis.

Difficulties teach us...

Do you want to learn something new? Embrace a difficult endeavor and you'll find a great teacher. The harder the task is, the more you'll learn and the more creative ways you'll find around difficulties. Last weekend, we watched our grandson Finn and this little guy - almost ready to walk - is relentless in his way to discover new things around the house, experience new situations and always find a path to what he wants. It's the embodiment of the innate ability we all have to overcome adversity and conquer the unknown.

The good news is that for him, it's just a game, an endless way to play. For us, difficulties stand as obstacles we simply don't deserve because we're too good for them and we've already pay our dues. Please, do me a favor, try to get back into your inner child, take a fresh look at what surrounds you and begin finding your way around “insurmountable” issues. You'll discover that you can conquer most of them because each hold the key to its secret, and given enough determination and work on your part, they'll be willing to hand it to you!

The "Detroit syndrome"

Choosing not to change in the face of compelling evidence to do so, is akin of self-inflicting damage or committing suicide. Typically, the accident occurs while the actors know full-well they're controlling the process, time is then running in slow motion, details are crystal-clear and yet they feel paralyzed and do strictly nothing to address a situation that is turning bad. This is in many ways what happened to our Detroit automakers that have known since 1973 that fuel efficiency would become a crucial issue, but chose to ignore it, while fighting “Cafe” standards as hard as they possibly could.

That syndrome exists in organizations, companies, governments and even families... So what is that “mental block” that stay in the way of change. Is it, as we often suspect, fear or is it also denial, disbelief, inertia, laziness or a huge ego and a sense of entitlement? I'd vote for a combination of all these factors with most of the weight placed on the latter. Now, the big challenge remains in circumventing this typical blockage and finding effective ways to move toward a goal that makes obvious sense for all stakeholders.

Starting a revolution

Last Friday, we went out to see “Che – Part I” about my friend's Ernesto forays into the Cuban jungle half a century ago. Our patience was used up long before the end of that armed-trekking movie and we finally left just before the closing credits. This said, I still believe that some “revolutions” remain necessary to change minds and advance issues. They don't have to be armed or violent though, and the best ones are generally short on arm-twisting and long on persuasion.

When paradigms become too fat, slow or comfortable to be removed and when "lowly people" have little control on big decision-makers asleep at the wheel, revolution is the only way. We could call it a sudden groundswell of “consumer demand” or a tectonic shift in mass-habits, but when the number of highly opinionated folks is large enough, it becomes hard to ignored and is eventually taken into consideration. I'm in the midst of starting a revolution, I am aware it will take some time, but when the new idea will be getting traction, change will flood without shedding a single drop of blood!