Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.
•••
Two hundred years ago in Springfield, Mass., Hiram Hull invented a plaiting machine so he could automate the production of buggy whips and fire the local girls who had been braiding his whips.
In 1917, Henry Van Deusen built a new buggy whip factory, offering premium goods. Edwin Sanford's Sanford Whip Co. sold buggy whips into the 1920s. Both discovered cars didn't require whips. Henry switched to making lawn swings. Edwin made novelty toys.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better."
Some of us have a knack for doing jobs well that become unnecessary.
I once was highly skilled at navigation. Give me a sextant, star tables, a clear evening and 15 minutes, and I could tell you where you were, give or take a few hundred yards. With GPS you can find out instantly, within a few feet, in any weather.
Later I became highly skilled at direct mail marketing: I could tell you the message, the offer and the package format that was most likely to work. Now you can email, text or use social media and let AI track results.