Bad is Over

By Rich Smith, 11-15-2017

I heard a phrase today as I was catching up on Facebook:

Bad is going to lose.

This applies to our industry. Think about that. For too long, bad was winning. Bad made all the choices because they were first to market, or the biggest, or they bought up a bunch of others and put themselves into that position of power. They controlled the message because of their size, money, etc. But that time has ended.

Let's define bad, because I'm not talking about bad in the sense of their humanity. I'm sure these guys have good qualities. I don't know them, so I can't comment on that. What I do know are their business practices. I've lived it. I've seen it firsthand. The land grabs. The money grabs. The years of hoarding because they owned the position in the market. The control simply because they had the money. That's what's over. The world has changed. The market doesn't care who they are anymore. How we consume news and interact with each other has changed so dramatically, all of that in the past doesn't matter. The new world is here, and it's amazing.

Bad is over. Bad has lost.

A great redefinition has taken place. The internet has connected us all in ways we didn't dream of 30 years ago. How we consume information has changed. We have a greater connection to each other than we've ever had before. Times have changed, and much to the dismay or denial of some. The new ways have shined a bright light on the old ways, and there isn't an executive out there that can change it or save themselves. Years of business that was focused on the making the shareholders and private equity firms money at the expense of the people actually doing the work are dead. These dinosaurs are watching the asteroids rocket towards them, and they can't do a damn thing about it.

Don't believe me? Try this. Go to the nursing Facebook groups that you belong to and keyword search the big guys. You know who they are. What do your peers say about them? Now search the companies doing it differently. The ones that are leading the way in this new world. You know who they are too. What do your peers say about them? Companies that have operated at the expense of the end user for all these years can't sanitize those comments like they can with reviews on Glassdoor. They don't have the power. That's what makes it so revolutionary. The Emerald City looked good with the green glasses, but when you pulled back the curtain and saw Oz was nothing more than a small man pulling levers, your perception changed. Social media is a mirror. Technology has exposed the truth.

Pull back the curtain. It's over. Bad has lost. You own this process now.