Page 66 - Green Builder Magazine Nov-Dec 2017 Issue

FROM THE TAILGATE

New Offerings for the Sustainable Minded By Ron Jones

Thinking ‘About’ the Box,

Not Outside It

IG IDEAS? Apparently, everybody has them. All you have to
do is listen to their messaging. It seems the killer business
strategy nowadays is to latch onto the latest buzzword and
ride that baby until the wheels fall off, or at least until it
Bis replaced by whatever comes next.
Let’s get real. How many truly new variations of burgers, pizzas
or tacos are in that magical, irresistible cornucopia we have paraded
in front of us week after week? Not many, but the “idea guys” would
have us believe that they have turned the food industry upside down
every time they come up with another hokey combination of the
same old ingredients. Let’s wrap it in an egg! Right.
Equally laughable is the lack of originality offered by the talking
heads. If you watch sports on television you know how rapidly,
and annoyingly, sportscasters everywhere glommed onto the
dreamt-up term “physicality.” Can somebody please come up with
a replacement for that one? Careful, though. Recently, listeners
were treated to another jewel that rolled off the tongue of a color
analyst. He referred to a team’s “intentionality,” and said it with a
straight face. Seriously?
The big idea term du jour in the homebuilding industry, and many
others, is some variation of the word “disrupt.” Disruptive. Disruption.
Disrupters. Disrupted. The marketing gurus are giddy with all the
possibilities…disruptive technologies, disruptive systems, disruptive
strategies, disruptive policies.
The good news is that the trade associations, along with the
predictable gaggle of consultants and the traditional industry
publications, have already started wearing this one out, a sure sign
that the use of these will soon be considered too passé for the truly
innovative communicators.
But in fairness, at least it has given the industry dinosaurs If the industry finds itself on a new course, it will be because
something to write and talk about other than millennials! We can a relatively small number of builders are successful in taking
be thankful for that. meaningful market share away from those entrenched in the current
Sorry folks. The homebuilding industry is not going to undergo model. Nothing succeeds like success. When a new generation of
the badly overdue makeover the disrupter crowd is crowing about innovative builders—who are determined to deliver the homes
as a result of outside pressure from a combination of new products, we’re all capable of—can demonstrate that their products will
building systems, advances in performance or brilliant new strategies. outsell the mediocre, predictable offerings that dominate the
Sure, these are all essential ingredients in the recipe, but they’re not current choices homebuyers are stuck with, the disruption will take
going to make a meal by themselves. You can pour on all the secret place from within. Protectors of the status quo will do whatever it
sauce you want, but if it starts out as junk food it’s going to end up takes to escape the drain they’re currently circling, and grab a seat
that way when it hits the plate. on the bandwagon. GB

64 GREEN BUILDER November/December 2017 www.greenbuildermedia.com

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