Have you ever thought about what happens to the people who run, or who work in, industries like the buggy whip business, when they succumb to technological evolution?

I mean, look at what happened to the railroads, soon it will be the oil companies, and maybe the automotive industry. And, there will be lots more, as technology relentlessly spawns new products, services, and the industries to produce them.

The toll taken on loyal and productive employees who have unstintingly done all their employers ever asked of them is heartbreaking. And it provides an understandable incentive for organized labor to dig in its heels and demand some kind of security for such employees—at a tremendous cost to their industries.

How would you feel if you were to have spent half your adult life working conscientiously for a company, only to find yourself out on the street—the only hope of providing for your family being to learn a new skill? In some cases this has happened to the same person several times overl

Well, these big ticket executives can fix it! Maybe they can earn the big bucks? They have only to think bigger.

Suppose railroad executives had the vision to realize they were not in the railroad business but were, instead, in the transportation business! Funds used to compete could have instead been used to acquire airlines—and busses and trucks. They could have slowly and methodically retrained and reassigned their employees, commissioned R&D to develop new ways to move people and goods, and continued to contribute steadily to their shareholders’ profits and the nation’s economy.

How about those in the oil industry realizing they’re in the energy business? Or the automobile companies discovering they’re in the “transporter” business?

How many other possibilities can you think of?

s Food for Thought jobs, labor, obsolescence, technology