Recently in Amsterdam, I saw a young American woman telling a Starbucks staff that there was a lot more choice back home and she was not happy she couldn't get her green berry yeast tea with unicorn dust hold the cats milk here in Amsterdam.
They're are two types of travellers. Those who expect or demand that everything be just like at home. And those who embraces the new and the different.
I was reminded of a German fellow tourist in the middle of nowhere in Syria several years ago, trying to teach the restaurant staff how to serve the (Arabic) meal in a specific order - like how it "should" be done for German meals. The staff politely ignored him while he got more and more frustrated with dishes arriving in the "wrong" order.
So why travel so far away from home and subject yourself to the angst trying to make the unfamiliar familiar?!
The same two types of people can be seen in business. Those who cling in to "this is how things have always been" and those who are always seeking out new paths and alternative approaches.
Being a stickler for "how things should be" can work for conservative businesses with conservative customers. In the longer run however, this entrenched attitude can shut down new thinking, making the business inflexible and unresponsive to change.
Image: Finger pointing man via Shutterstock.
