Conversation of late has been very much focused on society and it’s morals. Be it harassment, gender equality, pay equality. The list goes on. There is very much a swing towards fighting things like tax evasion, tax avoidance, corruption. Society is pushing for a more transparent, accountable way of doing things. Like it or not, that is the way of the world.
Our industry is not going to be immune from the winds of change either. Frankly I’m surprised we’ve not seen any damaging revelations come out of our industry yet, but there you go.
I want to ask you the question: do you think our industry is corrupt? #pollalert
Perception, or real truths?
I’ll be honest, on a semi-regular basis I get sent emails from what can best be described as whistle-blowers. People with insider knowledge who pass on information to myself about certain people, companies or organisations. I suspect they hope I will publish it on here. Or at the very least circulate it in private, hoping to spread the message.
As you would expect, these sorts of emails if published on here would land me in a great heap of hot water, and I don’t have the time, money or lawyers to start endless legal battles. But I will say this, even if only half of what I have been told over the last couple of years is even remotely true, our industry has some serious skeletons in the closet.
Often these emails are sent anonymously, with little to no clues as to who the person is sending them, other than the odd confirmation that they work for, or had in the past, the company being mentioned. To independently prove their validity would be difficult, and I doubt that others would entertain me trying to contact them to be able to prove the validity of the information I have been given.
However, if I am being told certain things about certain companies, then I am sure that I’m not the only one to have been told either. Therefore, I think that there are a lot of unspoken truths being hidden in plain sight. If some of these were to come out, I wonder what level of damage it could cause to people and businesses.
The other side of the coin of course is that a lot of the negative stuff is down to perception. Rumours are easy to create and even easier to spread. Often by those looking to undermine their competition. That would be the counterargument. Personally, I don’t buy it. I’ve been in this industry long enough. Been told enough things. Seen enough things. Witnessed all sorts. This industry has issues. This industry has some bad eggs that need to exit as soon as possible.
Winds of change
The wider world is changing quickly. Quicker than ever before. Attitudes, social norms, technology. All are combining to create a new societal structure. And when it comes to society, it penetrates every aspect of every person in every industry. The window and door industry is not going to be immune to that.
I would hope, that with DGB, with the National Fenestration Awards, that I can do my bit to break things down and re-build in a better, more open, honest and transparent way. With the NFAs, as many may know, we were met with a lot of resistance and derision. It was to be expected I guess. From nowhere, with no investment, with little backing, we have ploughed on for over five years to show the industry that there is a better, more inclusive way to find and reward our very best. As we enter the 2018 campaign, we’re starting to see attention from parts of the industry that until now have doubted the validity of the NFAs. We’ve built an amazing, strong platform there, and we fully intend to keep shaking things up.
It feels like the “establishment”, the industry norms that everyone has been used to, rightly or wrongly, are being disrupted in one way or another. All thanks to change. But it’s how companies and people deal with change that will determine whether they come out the other side better or worse. I fully expect the established organisations and groups of people to push back against the things that are changing in our industry and the societal changes that are forcing the window industry to face up to certain things.
Poll
To help ruffle a few feathers, and to gauge what others think, I’d like to know if you guys think the window and door industry is corrupt. Via the poll below of course. There are three options, simply click on the one that you align with the most. It’s anonymous, so don’t worry about being honest. If I get enough votes to consider the result accurate I will do a follow-up post on it. And of course, debate, opinion and feedback is very welcome via the comments section below.
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