Some think "Beyond", others don't

OK, this is not strictly a B2B post, it's more an observation about people but I would argue it is still relevant.

Listening to Radio 5 this week there was a phone-in and the subject was "Are the UK's High Streets dying"? And, given the recent demise of such favorites as Woolies, Zavvi, Whittards etc, I wasn't surprised to hear that everyone that rang in, without exception, said that it was. But they didn't just blame the "Credit Crunch", they said it was the fault of the Supermarket giants and online shopping. To a man they called for the banning of both so that our High Streets could return as the true centres of our communities.

It struck me that they long for the past rather than longing for a better future. Why could they not see this as an opportunity? OK, so Tescos and Sainsburys' win and we all end up buying online, rather than going shopping. And the shops never return to the high street. What a great opportunity.

Why don't we change our town centres from being places where we go to feed our addiction to consumerism to being places we all go to meet each other, to take part in something creative, to just relax and drink coffee. I could see street entertainers, artists and buskers, poets performing live to groups of small children. Imagine?

The fact is, too often we don't imagine, we look back. Thinking "Beyond" on the other hand is about looking forward and imagining how we could do things. To do that we need to embrace change and look to exploit the opportunities it brings.