Integration: The New With The Old

I have spent a lifetime being told "....what you do not seem to understand..." and then being given a lecture of how a particular industry operates and or why what is current processes and or procedures is the best that can be achieved.  

Now, I am being told that, "...we are changing the world...." as a retort as to why "old" knowledge, "old" technology, or "old" economic processes are no longer relevant.

So, I developed a perpetual smirk on my face and a real sense of humor; because the traditionalists will continue to believe that we have reached a peak while the innovators will believe that we are at a beginning of a revolution:  Neither realizing that they are standing on the same plateau but looking in different directions.

"The realist sees what is and remembers what was; 

The idealist sees what is and dreams of what could be....

The realist struggles through life never achieving

While the idealist struggles through life never satisfied."

I wrote that back in 1979 and it was as true then as it is today.  The traditionalists who fail to innovate die and the innovators who fail to grasp tradition will never grow beyond being a fad.

It dawned on me this morning that I have been presenting my business funding proposal to today's "idealists" and they saw "old economy" and next week I will be presenting the exact same funding proposal to today's "traditionalists" and they will probably see "...a fad."

Where exactly does "integration" of the old and the new occur?  

How does a company of thousands of employees and hundred of millions of dollars in annual revenue incorporate the concepts of consumer centric and or community into a business model with a marketing budget that dwarfs the companies leading the way in the area of consumer centric and or community retail?  When does an innovative company in the consumer centric and or community retail environment realize that they are now a mature brand?

When does tradition realize the revolution won, and when do the revolutionaries realize they are the status quo?  How exactly do you achieve the "tao" of success; the balance of being and becoming on a constant basis?  Especially in a world where the innovators are concentrated in one industry and the traditionalists are in others?  How do you convince others that you represent the best of both worlds when one world scorns tradition and the other fears change?

I do hope that I figure it out this weekend!