But are they changing with the times? No, wrote Allison Arieff in the October 2, 2011 New York Times, and she didn’t pull any punches about saying so. So, why are homebuilders behind the times? The reasons are complicated, but basically come down to this—homebuilders don’t like risk.
Consequently, homebuilders “don’t look to innovating but rather to an easier fallback strategy: a new marketing plan.” They, and us, won’t turn the corner “until we stop thinking about the home as a decorative object and begin considering it as part of a larger whole.”
To address these challenges, “all aspects of the industry, from designers to lenders to planners to consumers, should meet it. In this era of anti-government fervor, subsidizing the American Dream isn’t an option; transforming it is the only one we’ve got.”
Are the homebuilders in denial? Harvard Business School Professor Richard S. Tedlow might know. His 2010 book, Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face—and What to do About it tells the story about businesses in denial, which he defined as an “unwillingness to see or admit a truth that ought to be apparent and is in fact apparent to many others.” Denial kicks in to block information that challenges our basic assumptions. Some powerful companies suffered because of denial. They include the Ford Motor Company, Coca Cola, and IBM. But Tedlow’s story isn’t all doom and gloom. Some companies, like DuPont, Intel, and Johnson & Johnson faced hard challenges and thrived.
