Redesign

I saw a new Honda Pilot this morning. I’ve always been a fan of their boxy design. The new ones have a more rounded design and look, well, oddly like the old Honda Odyssey.

I wonder if that was the plan? To redesign the Pilot to look like the soccer mom kid-toting minivan?

What happens to the market of people who enjoyed the old Pilot design and have no interest in looking like a homeschool mother? Are they displaced to another brand or settle? Maybe the soccer moms will love the new design.

I come armed with no market data. I could be wrong about all of this. Maybe the Honda fans of the world are thrilled with the change. Maybe they are selling like bread and milk in Charlotte when an inch of snow is in the forecast.

My point is that even though change is inevitable, we have to be careful of the impact these changes have on our markets, our customers. Are these changes they have asked for?

Closer to home, since we are in the season of New Year’s resolutions, how will the changes we’re personally seeking effect our spheres of influence? Our spouses, our kids, our friends?

Will all that time in the gym come at the sacrifice of quality time with your teenage son? Will your commitment to double down at work please your wife who doesn’t see you enough already? What about your plan to get out of debt? Will you be a penny-pinching grumpy old goat?

Nothing wrong with goals, resolutions and lifestyle redesign, but what will the finished product look like?

And will anyone want it?