Embrace change, the only constantEmbrace change, the only constant

Jim

“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” — Frank A. Clark


The story told of American inventor Robert Fulton — who designed and built the first U.S. commercial steamboat as a passenger ferry between Albany, N.Y., and New York City — in many ways mirrors the cynicism toward progress found in the restaurant industry.


On Aug. 17, 1807, a large crowd gathered along the Hudson River near Albany to witness the maiden launch. Having been popularly dubbed “Fulton’s Folly” by a skeptical local press, after several failed attempts at starting the steam engine, the restless crowd began to jeer: “It’ll never start! It’ll never start!”


But eventually Fulton and his partner Walter Livingston got the engine runni...