A Mind To

Tales of College Days : III

 

 

 

 

The final year students represent the best illustration of the product the college produces. Over a period of three to four years, they transform from a Bertram Wooster to a Davy Crockett in their attitudes.

 

The transformation is quite wondrous to behold. In a nutshell, they come to realize that the mind they thought was their own, isn't quite so. It belongs to the practice of the best logic and common sense in the world. In the career that is to come, the student attempts to make it his own again.

 

In 1991, the local company Yeo's, a successful marketer of non-carbonated soft drinks, diversified into the carbonated variety. This drew the attention of one of the world's giants, The Coca Cola Company. Over the next two years, Coke outspent Yeo's on all fronts and stopped supplies of coke to all outlets in the country that handled Yeo's carbonated drinks.

 

The impact was deadly. Yeo's ceased the production of carbonated drinks two years after it began. They went into a steep spiral especially after the debilitating two year financial battle. It took them ten years to fully recover and come back to profits again.

 

I had reported the event to class in a case study. The responses ranged from corporate bully to market defensiveness. But one little gem of perception emerged from a Davy Crockett in class. Yeo's was the market leader in non-carbs. Their venture into carbonated was offered as reckless ambition on the part of the company. Its a subtle difference, but it does refer to two separate markets with different customer preferences, product image and competition.

 

The ability to discern between two seemingly similar issues is the gift of focussed thinking. A person needs to cultivate a mind to do that. It seldom occurs naturally.