When I was in grad school, I remember pointing out to my office mate one day the piece of porcelain glassware I was using was made by Coors. Seriously? The makers of the Silver Bullet with temperature-responsive color changing ink on the cans also made my mortar and pestle?!? I told everyone, and I'm here to say that not one person cared about it as much as me. Generally people shrugged with indifference or gave me an "oh...cool." I was finally told that Coors went into business making porcelain glassware during prohibition.
When prohibition started in 1920, an entire (successful) industrial sector had to find a way to weather the storm. When beer bottles were no longer necessary, Coors started supplying the burgeoning chemical and pharmaceutical industries with needed supplies. And they weren't the only ones. Anheuser-Busch and Yuengling put their fleet of refrigerated trucks to use and started selling ice cream. In fact, America's oldest brewery was so successful, they re-branded themselves Yuengling Dairy Products Corporation, and continued selling ice cream until 1985! These household names were faced with tremendous challenges during the prohibition years (1920-1933), and would no doubt have failed if not for being adaptable.
Leading change is hard. People resist it like it's a disease. Asking people to step outside their comfort zones and embrace change is a challenge. Imagine what the discussions around the Coors board room table in 1919 must've been like? Amidst panic (and no doubt clouds of smoke), someone had to say, "hey let's make ceramic crucibles." Or in the case of Yeungling, some brave soul pitched ice cream! These foward-thinking, adaptable individuals laid the groundwork for the continued existence of some of the oldest companies in the country. And we're all the better for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment