I Won’t Change, Don’t Make Me…
By Ken DiPrimaEvery time, that I hear someone say, “I don’t need to change what I’m doing, even though, I’m not succeeding,” I think about the southern Illinois town of Shawneetown. You’ve heard the clichéd definition that insanity is doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting different results.
Here’s an example of how intransigence can destroy lives, communities and, literally, break the bank.
Past Success Does Not Predict Future Performance
Shawneetown, Illinois, one of the oldest towns in the state, is located on the shore of the Ohio River. Early residents established a ferry service across the river and Shawneetown became the main gateway to the Illinois Territory.
The first bank in the state was chartered in Shawneetown and the community soon flourished. The establishment of a federal land office in 1812, along with profitable salt-mining operations, quickly led to the town’s emergence as the commercial center of the state. Other industries, including a tannery, distillery, and a spinning wheel plant, also fueled the local economy.
The bank prospered throughout the early 19th century, despite the nasty habit of being overcome by the flooding of the Ohio River, due to swelling waters of its tributaries.
The Ohio River played the most important role in the growth of Shawneetown, making it an important trading center in the west. Keelboats transported goods up and down the river. The river kept Shawneetown in touch with the world. As a result, it advanced much faster than those villages that were landlocked. Shawneetown remained one of the most prosperous and important ports, until the building of the railroad.
Residents tell a story of when several businessmen rode on horseback into Shawneetown, looking for a loan of a few thousand dollars to help their struggling village of Chicago. Chicago was not a river town and it was not directly accessible to Shawneetown. The bank directors met and refused the loan, saying, “Chicago is too far from Shawneetown to ever amount to anything.”
The ‘new’ bank, built in 1839.
In 1839, a grand new bank was built in a Greek Revival style with majestic Doric columns and massive wooden doors. For close to one hundred years, Shawneetown, and its famous bank, saw times of great economic and financial turmoil, all accompanied by seasonal high waters levels. Finally, in 1937, a great flood hit Shawneetown and southeastern Illinois, forcing an evacuation of the town.
Much of the town was destroyed and the federal government decided to relocate what was left. Through the Works Progress Administration, the town was moved to higher ground, three miles west.
This became Shawneetown, while the old site then became known as Old Shawneetown.
Ignore Red Flags at Your Peril
While walking through the streets of Old Shawneetown, during my only visit there, I climbed up the steps of that formerly proud bank and I was overwhelmed at the markings that I found on its once magnificent columns.
Dozens of water level lines were visible, dramatic reminders of the water’s highest levels.
Year after year, the river took its toll on the bank as well as the citizens of Shawneetown, yet, they stayed in place, unwilling to change, for over one hundred years! I always look at this depressing sight, the water stained columns, as the ultimate monument to intransigence.
Old Shawneetown is now just a relic of the past with less than 200 residents. New Shawneetown (population 1,200) survives as nothing more than a small rural town in southern Illinois with median household income of only half the U.S. average.
What started out as a great opportunity for the town and the bank, ultimately, developed into a series of chronic setbacks.
Due primarily to the river’s predictable swelling every year as well as the bank’s unwillingness to recognize the changes being forged by the industrial revolution taking place throughout the country, the residents were left holding an empty bag. They bet on the river leaving them alone and that their bank customers would ignore the call for change.
Every year, however, the river level rose. At the same time, the country found more economical and efficient ways to transport industrial goods to market. Faith that their town would be spared from the next flood turned out to be nothing but vain blinders, shutting out their inevitable self destruction.
Many businesses today, face similar conditions.
After a great start and some immediate success, evolving business conditions or advances in technology, often, make the original concept of the business either obsolete or severely limited. How business owners react determines their survival. The important take-away is that change is a necessity and it must be faced without fear.
Don’t Become a Shawneetown!
Change has always been extremely hard to accomplish and even harder to accept, especially, if no imminent disaster is facing the party that needs to change. As long as there are a few reserve dollars, readily available to assuage any discomfort, people are reluctant to take a plunge into unknown waters. It’s very easy to ignore even obvious changes in market direction.
When recurring events become constant obstacles, when there is no money to comfort the pain, and it becomes plain to see that change is needed, however, there may be no time to look for alternate solutions.
Constant vigilance is required to make continued progress in our lives and our businesses.
