They always say, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Okay, but do they really look at it from the dog’s point of view? Think about it. Hopefully, the dog is in a nice, comfortable routine. Then, here comes a person wanting him to do something new, which takes a lot of effort. What is the reward? It’s probably some little treat. You can’t tell the dog some long explanation of the benefits of changing his routine. He won’t understand logical rationalizations. He can see the treat, but that alone might not be enough of an incentive.
Incentives, Logic, and Change
Fortunately, people are smarter than dogs. We can perform complicated reasoning before making decisions. We can consider new ideas, new products, new methods, and new routines. It’s not our age that keeps us from making changes at work or at home—it’s the way we calculate the costs and benefits.
Big Ideas and Big Rewards
Like it or not, we live in a world that is changing constantly. A good example of something new that has “taken off” in the past few years is cross-laminated timber (CLT). An article on the recent fire testing is included in this issue, and I expect to see more CLT news in the future. An excellent counterpoint to the CLT example, however, is The Last Word on Southern Pine. Having been an essential building material for many years, this resource is very far from being new, but new developments in how it may be processed could reap great rewards.
New (or Old) Tricks
Sometimes it’s new approaches or products that appear on the stage, other times it’s old ideas that have found new advocates and new uses. Just as age is not what holds us back, novelty is not necessarily what propels us forward.
So whether or not we decide to make a change, or learn a new trick, it’s important that we continue to honestly calculate the costs and benefits of both action and inaction.