Discussion
BACKGROUND I recently i found myself, using the analogy of how strip clubs operate to explain my personal opinion on the strategic outlook of a major global financial player based on my 2 years as a customer and my recent experience which led to the cancellation of all the products i had with them. I posited, that these institutions play on the animalistic desires of men(& women) to promise/dangle satisfaction that will not be met, to them; showing them the goods and making them feel like they can really have it but then investing heavily in bouncers and enforcers, to ensure that those gullible patrons never touch the wares on display except they are willing to go over and beyond by paying unreasonable premiums which most sane people would not. They endgame is to attract a hoard of low information spenders willing to pay for an experience that never really adds any value while hopefully not compromising their employees(the goods) in any way. It's a win-win for the establishments but a lose-lose for the gentlemen(& women). What i described up here is the business model of strip clubs or what some call "gentlemen's" clubs in a nutshell. QUICK NOTE For full disclosure, i have never visited one of these institutions before, all i know of them is what i have seen in movies and read from business columns of various publications and tv shows. I guess no real pastor will frequent one of these places not out of being judgmental but because he/she has found God-ordained ways of actually meeting the needs that is falsely promised by these institutions. WHY AM I WRITING ABOUT THIS ? I decided to do a full post on this topic because moderators of the forum where i had used the analogy instantly sanctioned me for even using the term "strip club" on their forum by doing a 'mod cut' and removing that term, adding the commentary "NOT HERE". That left me wondering, why is the use of the business model of a socially unaccepted but legal business, a taboo on a forum that is all about finances; credit, mortgages, entrepreneurship etc.? I wondered could this just be the overzealous reaction of a squeamish moderator whose personal prejudice, however misplaced, got the better of him/her or could it actually be the policy of this reputable forum that is linked to a national credit scoring service provider? If the later were to be true, i wondered still, is that policy nformed by the desire to police the social behavior/sexual proclivities of forum visitors or was it just to protect the honor of the global player who was being compared to this establishments? I asked myself, do they know that the business of this entities are studied and discussed publicly in several business schools across this nation? Have they ever done a google search of this topic to see the volume of intellectual materials that are available in the virtual space about this institutions and the technology behind their products? Do they even know that these entities are actually legal and require licensing to be open in most jurisdictions? Why then would their model of doing business and making profit be prohibited on a public forum(even if their trade itself is not endorsed) where some of the visitors might actually be owners, prospective owners, patrons or employees of such businesses? I wondered if they knew that while a tool can be used for a bad cause, it can also be a force for good and hence the saying that nothing is bad in itself save for its use or abuse? A CLOSED MIND LEADS TO STAGNATION Growth is only truly possible if and when you are open to learning from any and every thing/situation or place. As a pastor, i am trained to learn from good as much as from evil; to study the wisdom of tiny animals as much as i do the big ones; to hate evil yet love the evil person; to hate the works of the devil yet acknowledge that good things can come out of things he planned for evil. This has led to my commitment to building the most openminded and tolerant congregation that can be found anywhere on God's earth. To raise people of strong conviction who can genuinely love, tolerate and co-exist with other people with equally strong but opposing views. How will you identify and learn what you don't know if you never listen to anything you don't already know? The most destructive weapons in the world are built on technology that is also responsible for some of the most fundamental advancements made by humanity. Atomic and nuclear science for example and their destructive and constructive adaptations readily come to mind. STRATEGIC THINKING The mob(criminal networks) has some of the best strategy for most of the functional departments of any business organization because they developed these approaches and tools to help them stay profitable, while evading the strong arms of the law. Imagine the amount of success these "practices" have brought to the many organizations that have positively wired those same strategic options into their operations having been studied and presented by many institutions of higher learning and think-tanks over the years(Including the IRS and FBI too, by the way). CONCLUSION There is nothing new under the sun but if you must reach new heights, you must be willing to follow new paths with new people. Don't prejudge someone or something based on the one or two things you already know about them because someone else might have seen their other sides and experienced something else that might be the key to your next big breakthrough. #Selah
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