FROM THE PUBLISHER

AS WE AGE, I think we become more complex. We weave complicated patterns into our personal and professional lives. Believing that we need to be doing more, buying things we don’t need and thinking that bigger is better. It’s natural to build on our experiences, leading us to want and to expect more. Psychologists term this “adaptation level theory,” meaning we use our past to calibrate our present and also to set expectations for the future.
     An important real-world application of this theory and one that is very present in the events that have led the world into the current financial malaise, is the fact that unrealistic expectations in the past set us up for unrealistic expectations of the future. This leads to all sorts of improbable behavior, such as providing no-money-down, jumbo, 50-year, no-interest, adjustable-rate home mortgages of $500,000 to people with undocumented income from their job as a strolling mariachi singer (this really happened).
     This “adapt to the social norm” behavior naturally entices us to forget the basic building blocks of our personal and professional lives. And the reminders of the importance of the basics are typically presented to us with all of the subtlety of a two by four between the eyes, something like the collapse of our banking system in a matter of months.
     It appears that everything we really do need to know we learned in kindergarten (thank you, Robert Fulghum). These days, I am rediscovering that the best wisdom is still found in those early childhood stories that we seem to deem simple, until we find ourselves reading to a three-year-old and can’t help but to see the perspective it lends to our own situations. We spend a lot of time imparting basic morals and teachings to our children, but precious little time reflecting on how those might still apply to our lives. Perhaps there will be a silver lining to the economic thunderhead moving over the world: a new dedication to the basics of what makes life enjoyable for everyone; family, hard work and competency; organic growth over the leveraged fast track; and even finding true value in the limited products that we choose to spend our money on.
     For the world of coffee and Roast magazine, I believe this means a dedication to the product that we are presenting to our customers. Competency in creating and delivering the product, focusing on growing one customer at a time, and retaining customers through outstanding service and quality will lead to customers who choose us because we provide a real value.
     Twenty nine years ago, Mt. St. Helens erupted, leaving a visual desert on its slopes. Those who visit these days will see the basics of life returning to the blast zone; wildflowers, elk and even trees have returned to areas which at the time seemed doomed to a century of shifting ashes and dust. Nature’s example gives me hope that we will also spring back from our economic blast, one basic piece at a time.

     Warmest Wishes,
     Connie