When A Bull Enters A China Shop

The Impact of Turnaround Culture On People & Organizations

Picture of a china shop store window with a broken plate and bull standing in the store.

A bull entered the china shop, and things began to break.

Delicate porcelain plates perched high against the walls.

Dainty teacups rested in blue, velvet boxes.

Everything had been carefully selected and arranged.

But customers had stopped buying, and the shop had lost its way.

So, the owners made a call that changed everything.

When a bull comes into a shop, we try hard to save the china.

The shelves.

The displays.

The traditions.

We want them to remain the same.

But the china is not permanent.

Customers are not permanent.

Strategy is not permanent.

Even the bull will go away one day.

So, what can be saved?

Not the shelves.

Not the china.

Not the shop of yesterday.

But the person behind the apron who learned, built, and arranged.

Sure, the bull gets to change the shop,

But the person behind the apron carries the things that made it great in the first place.