Here's a tip from pro sports - Technology won't do it all
Over the last few years, America's gains in productivity have been nothing short of outstanding. Technology is credited with producing more work in fewer hours. New machines and computers have made a big difference.
But the situation has a few things in common with the technological advances in sports. As equipment made a golfer's ball go farther, golf courses were made tougher and longer. Advantages of advanced equipment and technology had a smaller effect.
Tennis players are better than they used to be, thanks to advances in tennis racket materials and designs. While there's no way now for tennis courts to be made more difficult, pros like John McEnroe are suggesting a return to wooden rackets. He was mentioned in The Wall Street Journal.
In bowling, a 300 game used to be very unusual. But last year, members of the US. Bowling Congress, the sport's amateur association, recorded 51,192 perfect games. Now bowling alley owners are considering changes in the way alleys are oiled in order to make the game more difficult.
There is a message in all of this for us. It is that achieving a certain level of success through technology is just the beginning. We have to do more to stay competitive.
First, our competitors have probably acquired technology as well, so our gains won't have a great impact over time. Second, just as the golf course has grown, our market is now worldwide.
We do have one ace in the hole that others do not. It's our people. We are or can be the best in the world, and few competitors can say that.
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