IDMA Call for Unity!

Change will come only if it is

Brought on by a unified industry!

Jeffrey Fischer, Honorary President, IDMA recently made a call for diamond industry to stay United! He inks, It’s only human nature: we find ourselves driving way too fast down the highway, rushing to our destination – a destination we may or may not be anxious to get to. Suddenly traffic slows to a crawl, forcing us to slam our foot on the brakes. 

Eventually, we pass the scene of a horrific car accident. We think “that could’ve been me… I’m going to slow down and be more careful.” But the moment we no longer see the accident in our rear-view mirror, we forget about it and slam our foot down on the gas pedal to make up for lost time.

Undoubtedly, this human trait is one of the contributors to the recent spikes in the coronavirus here in the US and around the globe. We are too impatient to return to “normal.” It is abundantly clear to most of us that this pandemic will be all the more harmful if we don’t all practice responsible social behavior. Hopefully, we will.

What can we learn from major recent current events outside of our insular diamond industry? For lasting change, an effort must be united and sustained.

Will we squander whatever lessons we may have learned over the last four months? 2020 was hoped to be a year when we looked toward the future with 20-20 forward-thinking vision. Now the future momentarily seems disrupted, chaotic, and anything but clear.

These past few months presumably provided us an opportunity to reflect, learn from the past, appreciate the present, think about the future, and return to work refreshed to face it. Will our takeaway from all that is happening around us be nothing more than slowing down for a moment as we pass by?

If we are not mindful, as our offices gradually reopen, we will just plop down in our office chairs and immediately return to our old habits and patterns of behavior. The challenges confronting the diamond industry are many, 1: Too many players are mired in the past and vilify agents of change as the cause of our difficulties;

2: Too many kneel before those change-makers obediently.

3: Too many rely on a singular subjective price list and an absence (thus far) of on any alternative the industry has found interesting enough to give a real chance, resulting in an overabundance of newfound trading platforms & 4: Producers continue to motivate manufacturers to buy beyond their legitimate needs, regardless of stated policies to the contrary.

And the list goes on…

The entire middle market of our industry remains under crushing pressure between producers on one end and the demands of buyers/retailers on the other. All are undoubtedly under pressures of their own. We “diamond people” must be united and resolute if we are not going to squander any opportunity for progress. Diamond merchants can defend our national and individual interests, yet still rally around our commonality. We must not allow the intensely competitive environment in which we work to continue to divide us, or we will be crushed.

It’s years already that the diamond business has not been particularly rewarding for so many of us. Yet we continue doing the same things, working ever-harder for ever-lessening results, thinking that things will change for us. Nothing will change for us.

Change will come only if it is brought on by a unified industry, and if the movement for change is unified, committed, and stays the course. Policies that affect us should be made by us, with us, not for us. We are fractured and dysfunctional, and as a result, vulnerable to those who benefit from our divisions.

We are the only ones who can rescue ourselves – if we want our careers to hold any promise for the future.