How to deal with Walmart and Stormtroopers at Christmas

The fisherman and I went to Walmart this weekend to pick up some pictures. Star Wars imperial stormtroopers flank the entrance dinging Salvation Army bells. As we walk by, the fisherman waves his hand and says, “These are not the droids you’re looking for.” I laugh because he’s my fisherman. Jedi mind tricks are fun—even outside of Walmart. As the fisherman and I enter the realm of the dark side, I say to the fisherman, “How appropriate.” Meaning—how appropriate that storm troopers stand outside the corporate giant symbolizing the evil empire. I don’t despise Walmart, and ask anybody you know and they usually have a strong emotional response to the mention of it. People either love it or they hate it. Independent of whether you love or hate Walmart, let’s face it—they’re good at what they do. Walmart has mastered supply chain management—so much so that they the can offer the lowest prices and saving money is a big deal to many families, especially now.

So, how does this relate to the focus of this blog—strategy, leadership, and innovation of change? Changing where people shop, or getting people to make different choices about anything really is no small task. In John Kotter’s definitive work on leading change featured in the well known HBR article, Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, create a sense of urgency is the first step in his eight-stage process. In the case of Walmart, there’s no sense of urgency for people to buy local and shop at small town businesses. What Kotter fails to acknowledge in his model is that NOT all change has a sense of urgency. Some change, most change, occurs from a sense of purpose. For families that are struggling paycheck to paycheck, they are not likely to make different choices about shopping at Walmart. But folks like you and me can make choices to buy local and support our small town businesses this Christmas season and throughout the year to come. So how do you deal with Walmart and stormtroopers at Christmas? By making different choices based on a sense of purpose—that’s what I wish for everyone this holiday season. Here are a few of the local Fort Collins, CO businesses I will give my business to this season.

• New Belgium Brewery
• The Bean Cycle
• Happy Horse Tack & Saddle Shop
• The Cupboard
• Jax Mercantile