A few days ago I heard from a disgruntled young professional about the imminent sale of his mother’s grocery store where he worked. “I have a life ahead of me,” he argued in opposition to the transaction, because in his view, the change would jeopardize his job stability and his future. Or should we refer to his comfort zone?
The security of her salary and lifestyle, as dictated by conventional thinking, would in this case come from maternal protection, the comfort of a distant partner, competition reduced by circumstances, a certain lack of controls, and the assumption that the future was secure in the family business.
The possibilities of turning that little business into a supermarket were not enough for her. The opportunity to grow with new experiences and learn new systems, technologies and resources was not enough to visualize his own immense potential for personal success. The advantages of protectionism, certain perks, privileges and comforts took precedence over free competition and once again, resistance to change prevailed.
The status quo fosters a false sense of security and generates a deceptive confidence in the familiar. Indeed, the new big factor is not change itself, but the speed with which everything is changing today, which is why many people are dizzy and nauseous in the face of this dizzying acceleration. They do not yet understand that this is how the new moves in the learning zone.
Only at the beginning of the last century, the president of a bank told Ford’s lawyer the following: “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is just a novelty, a passing fad”. This is what many believed about Amazon, Google, Apple or Expedia, when they thought that security would be in the known and that innovation would only be like a migratory bird. Those who defend their interests and with their forces try to stop the bullet train called innovation are wrong.
Today in Costa Rica, the debate has started with the imminent arrival of Uber, a great technological platform based on the most essential idea of collaboration between people and their resources. Blocking Uber will be an attempt in the panic zone for many, although it will be like trying to take our eyes off the screens of our smartphones or prevent us from using Waze.
Uber is a superb solution that I have used in many cities and delivers the ease of safe transportation at the click of a button. It includes service advantages and a refreshing option that I find my right as a free and independent citizen. For this reason, to the authorities and entities involved, I invite you to open minds and facilitate the positive and irreversible evolution of the times.
Like Airbnb, Spotify, Whastapp, Elance and thousands of other service and collaboration solutions, Uber will arrive to add an option and make our lives easier, although it seems that it will not be without suffering, this time, from a risky and possibly costly resistance to change.
Hopefully we will understand this in Costa Rica sooner and better than in other markets. Magic happens outside of comfort zones.
