From the Editor: Fond Farewell

The secret is out: I’m leaving Big Picture. I’ve accepted a position leading Signs of the Times, our company’s flagship publication. Our wonderful editorial staff is more than capable of serving you in my absence, and a search for my replacement has commenced. But there’s much more to say.

As someone who has covered half a dozen industries (and counting), I’ve observed the digital printing business as both an insider and an outsider. I see digital printing and digital print shops as scrappy and entrepreneurial. Scrappy doesn’t imply small, as much as it means having “fight” – the willingness to accept blunt criticism and still be energetic about the future. Faced with their own so-so hiring practices, mediocre marketing efforts, fleeing entry-level staffers, and other challenges, I have heard PSPs accept that they themselves could be the problem, a stance as admirable as it is rare.

There is a willingness in this industry to be direct, and an independence in thought I admire. I’ve watched you challenge and question manufacturers, and I’ve learned a lot doing it. That’s an entrepreneurial spirit: the sense of pure self-reliance that means you sometimes have to question norms or insist on addressing specifics to learn where new tools and tech fit into your process.

That same independence has led to some august failures and some spectacular results. If printing is your sole business, know this: It doesn’t have to be. Your competitors have wowed me with multichannel marketing campaigns, branding services, and variable-data offerings that go from zero to 10,000 orders in a matter of months.

And I’ve watched your autonomy hold you back.

Once in a while, you confidently shoot yourself in the foot. Part of it is the entrepreneur’s curse: You have to go all in to succeed, so when you fail, well, it’s visible. But another part is preventable: invoking established patterns that have outlasted their usefulness, say, or a confidence in one’s own technical abilities that can lead to backups and breakdowns when outdated software finally crashes, or a machine that’s been hacked fails unexpectedly.

The good news? That same surety that has you limping (bullet in foot) will have you sprinting again soon enough. It’s what makes this industry fun to follow; sales reps at tradeshows always have something of a rueful smile when they describe your hacks.

Similarly, I’m happy to report that the rebirth of Big Picture, and its evolution over the past two years or so, will not only continue, but (thanks to many on our masthead) is poised to accelerate its pace to match the marketplace. I can’t wait to see where it – and you – go next.

Read more from our “Inspired Interiors” April issue here.