Johnson & Murphy is a shoe brand I long associated with wing-tips, 1950s bank executives wearing vests, and something you keep shining and wearing for 30 years, regardless of style. For dress shoes I prefer more contemporary, designer options.

I buy casual shoes whenever the mood strikes me, and some catalogs have terrific offerings, which I associate with the catalog, not a shoe brand. I recently bought a pair of loafers so comfortable and perfect for the summer that I went online to buy some additional colors, but the catalog had only tan. So I Iooked in the shoe itself to find the brand and buy direct, and it said “JM.”

My next Google search stunned me when I found JM is Johnson and Murphy, simply with a different moniker than I was accustomed to. I’m now a fan of their casual shoes and, who knows, maybe more.

IBM reflects more accurately the company today (in the consulting business) than “International Business Machine.” We stopped calling cars “horseless carriages” a long time ago. I remember a bus company in Newark many years ago which called itself “trackless transit,” and I wondered how old its buses were.

Is it time to change your business name, or your offerings, or your brand? For example, if you were called “Time and Motion Management Consultants,” I’d think about changing it! Maybe you should stop calling yourself a “training company,” or “HR experts,” or “quality” anything and head for 2016.

© Alan Weiss 2015