By now, you’ve probably noticed the changes at SBN Magazine. Or, you accidentally threw away last month’s issue and wondered why the usual tabloid-sized magazine failed to arrive.
Whatever your response in July, we’d like to welcome you to the new and improved publication and hope you like what you see.
Change of any magnitude can be difficult to embrace. Whether your company introduces a new product line, phases out an old one or rebrands the business with an updated logo, odds are good that the path to success will be fraught with obstacles.
Many businesses use economic conditions as the impetus to undertake change, but it’s even more important to recognize the need to adjust your company when times are good. It’s then that your flexibility is at its greatest, when your business is not in crisis mode.
One challenge is communication among your employees. Often, change is mistaken for messing with a good thing as opposed to being seen for what it is — continuous improvement. A good example of organizations that regularly undertake this type of change are manufacturers, which live and die by continuous improvement processes.
So, what you’re holding in your hands today is not the product of a knee-jerk reaction spurred by the sudden shift in the economy last year and the subsequent downturn in the publishing industry. Instead, it is the product of a lengthy and well-thought-out transformation begun in 1999.
That year, SBN embarked on the first leg of a major redesign initiative. The goal was to improve the look, feel and quality of our publication and do a better job at fulfilling our mission to provide our readers — decision-makers at middle market businesses — with the tools necessary to build stronger companies. This change encompasses not only our magazines, but also our online properties (SBN Online) and conferences.
As with everything we do, your feedback is important to helping us achieve our goals. I encourage you to take a look and drop me a line to let me know what you think.
