Yes, Tradition And Change Are Compatible
It all began September 29, 1923. Actually, it began before that date - at least in the mind of Willard, the founder - but that is the official date of the very first model presented to a customer.Willard's idea was to publish and distribute to business managers a report about what's happening, as well as what's coming down the pike, on topics like public policy, the marketplace, international issues, and trends. And all of this would be presented in a writing style that Willard's son, Austin, told me his dad called "snippets." Short and sweet - tight and tidy. As Detective Sgt. Joe Friday would later be famous for saying on the television series, Dragnet, "Just the facts, ma'am."
With that vision and his just-the-facts approach, Willard created and launched what became a journalistic standard: The Kiplinger Letter. If you want a comfortable chair, you're looking for the form-follows-function pub chair. If you're looking for cut-to-the-chase information, you want the form-follows-content Kiplinger Letter.
For almost 80 years, millions of owners, managers, and others who make things happen have been treated to the fruits of Willard's vision and the stewardship of two generations of successive Kiplingers: first Austin, still ramrod straight and sharp as a quill at almost 84; and the current helmsman, grandson Knight.
A Letter By Any Other Name
In the intervening four score years, any changes in The Kiplinger Letter have been virtually imperceptible. The original single-sheet Letter soon became a two-sheet folio. The original name, The Kiplinger Washington Agency, became The Kiplinger Washington Letter, and now is simply The Kiplinger Letter. Tiny changes when taken from an 80-year perspective.
Industry editions have also been added, plus a magazine. And of course, nowadays, you must have an Internet presence. But through all of this, Willard's original style of the Letter remained. Like a rose, a Kiplinger Letter by any other name is still a Kiplinger Letter.
Heresy At Kiplinger?
Recently, the Kiplinger crew decided to do something radical - at least compared to past nano-changes - when they made what are arguably the most dramatic changes ever to The Kiplinger Letter.
Actually, what they changed is not important. (For the record, they added a splash of blue to an instrument that has been B&W for 4130 issues, plus they applied some navigation and orientation features. Don't worry: Willard's snippet style wasn't changed; these guys are innovators, not heretics.) The real story is why they changed, and how they came to do it.
Change Is Constant
Show me an industry that hasn't been turned on its ear in the past 15 years by technology, globalization, commoditization, and/or deregulation, and I'll show you an industry next in line to be turned on its ear. And few industries have felt the heavy hand of change more than the periodical publishing industry. From perennial paper and postage increases, to technological innovations creating both cool opportunities and chilling challenges, to an adverse ad sales environment brought on by bearish economic forces and unprecedented new placement options for advertisers, this is a rude industry.
So when I asked my friend, Knight Kiplinger, why he changed the Letter he said, "Change is the one constant. If you don't change you will die."
When a war hero tells you "War is hell," it doesn't sound cliché. When the current steward of a standard in an industry that has been arguably one of the most changed in recent years says, "If you don't change you will die," it doesn't sound cliché.
Millions of Kiplingers
Change the name and a few details and the Kiplinger story is legion. There are literally millions of family-owned businesses that operated for decades comfortably positioned with dependable products, reasonable pricing power, and predictable distribution channels. But that was the ante-Internet, pre-deregulation, non-globalized marketplace. Today, the only standards that haven't been challenged are the navy suit and basic black and pearls.
So what should the stewards of family business traditions and industry standards do when change is swirling rudely all around them? Knight warns, "Don't change for change's sake."
I've seen this happen too many times: Managers get so caught up in the "new economy" that they fall prey to fad and fancy. As a child, when my mother wouldn't let me do something and my argument was, "Everybody else is doing it," she would nail me with, "Would you jump off a bridge if everybody else was doing it?"
Left Or Right?
Still, even though you shouldn't impulsively jump off the bridge, the time will come in every family business when you must at least exit it. If you are the steward of a family tradition, perhaps the only thing worse than not taking the exit when it's warranted is taking the wrong one. So how do you inoculate yourself from this? Knight says, "Do your research."
The good news is that the greatest change agent since the asteroid that hit Earth and killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago - the Internet - also puts valuable research tools and content conveniently and inexpensively at the fingertips of small business owners. That kind of information power historically was available only to CEOs of Fortune's finest, and only after spending millions.
Just as it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness, light up the Internet instead of cursing the challenges it has created.
Vacuums Are For Cleaning, Not Decision-Making
One of the advantages of being at the helm of a family business is that you probably have some pretty good minds around you. Don't waste all that brainpower by making decisions in a vacuum. Knight told me that the key to any successful change is in harnessing all of the capability and brainpower of your staff.
One of the classic mistakes small business owners make is sequestering their decision-making process from key stakeholders in their organization. Not only do you need their input and counsel, but they're the folks who will have to carry out the new direction. New directions work best with multiple investors. Make sure your staff feels they have ownership in any changes.
Knight also says to ask customers what they think about proposed changes. Customers are often your best advisors. And don't forget to notify customers that changes are coming. Many a tradition has ended abruptly by committing the sin of surprising and confusing customers.
Tradition Still Has Value
Knight says making changes doesn't preclude maintaining respect for tradition. When the folks at Kiplinger decided to make the Letter available on the Internet and by email, they didn't change what Willard had wrought, they merely added new ways to deliver it.
Don't throw the baby out with the dishwater. If you are the steward of an industry or market tradition, making changes doesn't mean you have to abandon the essence of what customers crave.
Write this on a rock... Tradition and change are not mutually exclusive. But tradition is incompatible with denial, arrogance, ignorance, indecisiveness, and a poor decision-making process. You can find a way to successfully value tradition while embracing change. Ask Knight Kiplinger.
