The Alliance: Joining Forces to Survive
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin.
Nothing can be truer than the current situation in the printing industry. Our industry is having to reinvent itself daily with the pressures of the challenging economic climate and the push to become cross-media providers.
The purpose of this column is to help you deal with this change, not so much technically, but through a change of thought, a look at the Big Picture...thought that will help you position your company, help you market and operate it, and, most of all, help you help your clients.
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Changes in environment often require changes in thinking. Nothing can be truer than the current situation in the printing industry. Our industry is having to reinvent itself daily with the pressures of the challenging economic climate and the push to become cross-media providers.
In 1876, two mortal enemies found that the differences they had between them paled in comparison to the a threat both of them encountered. After the Civil War, the U.S. government turned its attention to the Wild West and the fight against the Indians—or as they were called then, “savages.”
Two warring tribes, the Lakota Sioux and the Cheyenne were being relentlessly pursued by the U.S. Army, and specifically, General Armstrong Custer. After numerous skirmishes with minor military leaders, they learned of Custer’s intention of attacking them in Southern Montana.
Neither the Sioux nor the Cheyenne would have had the upper hand separately, but together the result could very well be different. The Lakota chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull met secretly with Cheyenne chief Gall and devised a plan for their survival.
The Sioux set up their encampment of 20,000 plus on the banks of the Little Big Horn river. Sitting Bull moved the women and children down river while Crazy Horse amassed the Sioux warriors in the cover of brush. As the Army moved in to attack, they were surprised from the rear by Gall and his Cheyenne. Outnumbered by the Cheyenne alone, Custer retreated towards the banks of the Little Big Horn only to come face to face with the Sioux.
