If You Leave A Thing Alone.....

By John Frost,
Goodratings Strategic Service

Change is difficult, they say. We don't want to learn new things I'm told. Status quo is a security blanket, even if that blanket is all wet.

"Change brings new choices that create uncertainty. Think of how in an unfamiliar place you gravitate toward a familiar face. Decision paralysis can be deadly for change because the most familiar place is always the status quo." Chip and Dan Heath

Status quo is an illusion. We are hurtling through space at 390 kilometers per second and yet we never consider hanging on for dear life. 300 million cells in our body die every sixty seconds but we seldom stand in front of the mirror and worry whether our cells will rejuvenate. You can't feel the wind in a hot air balloon because you're moving along with the wind. We don't perceive change is happening because change is always happening.

"Without intervention, without progressive change, without revolution, everything in our work and our lives gets worse. Our bodies degrade, our relationships fizzle, our jobs disappear, and our ideas become obsolete." Tom Asacker

Here's the irony. An unfiltered embrace of the status quo often leads to passive change that can do more harm than good.

I've noticed that radio stations have specific defaults when left alone. One station might become softer and more serious. Another might default to cluttered and inconsistent. Still another might become generic and lack a broader emotional dynamic range.

No radio station performs at a high level for very long without the regular care and feeding. A great program director is like a master gardener diligently picking the weeds and tilling the soil every day.

G. K. Chesterton wrote, "If you leave a thing along you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post along it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution."