Editor’s Corner: The Happiest Man in the World

Editor's Corner

Here’s something we all know. It’s a tough time to be a furniture retailer. In an environment where delivery disasters, people problems, supply snafus, warehouse worries, cranky customers and unrelenting uncertainty are the norm, it has to be tough for retail owners and managers to be happy.

The author Idries Shah tells a story about a man of “comfortable enough circumstances” who consults with a sage to find a cure for his unsettled nature and unhappiness. The sage sends him on a journey to find the happiest man in the world and instructs him to ask to be given the happy man’s shirt. Upon finding the happiest man in the world and asking for the shirt, seeker of happiness learns that not only is the happiest man in the world the same sage who sent him on his long journey, but also that the sage does not own a shirt. Pronouncing the man cured, the sage remarks that “Striving for something unattainable provides the exercise to achieve that which is needed; as when a man gathers all his strength to jump across a stream as if it were far wider than it is.” The journey the man took was, the sage explained, preparation to make that jump.

I suspect that after living through an anxiety-inducing 2021, many Furniture World readers can sympathize with the seeker in this story.

Those of you who know me or have read this column before realize that I am no sage. However, in this issue of Furniture World you will find useful information which I hope will provide a bit of wind at your back to help get you to the other side of 2022. Toward that end, please check out our interview with Tom Liddell, paying special attention to his sage-like advice about checkbook issues. Don’t miss the Design & Designer discussion with product and trend luminary Patti Carpenter as well as tips on customer service, hiring, delivery, retail funnel metrics and sales education, written by Furniture World’s wise editorial contributors.