day 996: Verismo

"He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the LORD."

I was at Starbucks yesterday and I got a look at their new coffee maker called the Verismo.  It's a one cup coffee maker.  It is sleek and looks very modern and efficient.  But, as I went to make a demo cup of coffee I realized that their new machine uses a proprietary coffee capsule.  It's not the standard capsule that has become usable across many Keurig and other types of coffee makers.  As I reflected on this, I wondered; "Is this brilliant in the sense that they have so much to offer that they can go it alone and get their consumers to purchase the machine and their own coffee capsules?", or "Are they overly confident and arrogant that they think that they can create their own hardware and force their consumers to do something new?"  I don't really know, but at the end of the day, Starbucks has made a decision to give it a go and we will see...can they make it on their own, or will they get caught trying to create something that can't be created?  It's the longstanding question - go it alone or follow on with the market and come out on top of the market because there didn't have to be extra investment to try and create, market, and find consumer adoption on their own?

The question that companies have to ask themselves, we need to ask of ourselves as well. Are we people who will want to go it alone, with all of the risks and dangers that come with being alone, or do we put our full reliance on God and never walk alone?  Walking alone, while it doesn't make real sense, may be just in our nature and so we have to be brought to situation over invitation to put our reliance and trust in God and to not go it alone.  As we walk into this day, we should take stock of our own "Verismo" strategy.  Are we so big, so powerful, so influential that we can go it alone?  Or, are we ready to give ourselves over to the One who never leaves us alone and actually meet Him with where He wants us to be, alone with Him.

Reference:  2 Kings 4:33 (New Living Translation)