I wrote about the threat of innovation a few years ago and it will always be with us. As we become comfortable with something we’re doing, we should always be looking ahead for trends in innovations that might disrupt the very thing we’re doing. Back then, jobs were threatened by innovation in robotics and automation. Some still are today, but we have record low unemployment and millions of “jobs” remaining open. In a twist, your threat of innovation today might be a competitor implementing robots and automation to do the work of these unfilled job openings while you continue to run help wanted ads. Here is the story of one business that got caught off guard by what is now an ancient innovation.

In 1987, after twelve years in the professional photography business in Garden City, Kansas, I closed shop and moved to Wichita so my spouse—different than the one I have today—could pursue a professional opportunity. The photography business had been successful, except for the part when I thought I should open a camera store and do my own film and print processing. After photographing nearly 500 weddings in that time-period, I decided I would focus on commercial photography in the Wichita market. That market proved to be a tough nut to crack as most advertising and industry people didn’t want to take a chance on the new, unknown guy. One person that did give me a chance was working on a business start-up that had to do with relatively new technology at the time: the fax machine.

In 1987, personal computers were just coming down in price so that small businesses were starting to use them. Anyone remember the Apple II C or E? Fax machines were not yet common in small businesses. Email if it existed, wasn’t used by small business, so fax was really the only way to send something instantly from point A to point B.

This guy’s business model seems laughable now. His idea was to have offices all over the United States, perhaps co-located in a nationwide self-serve printing chain. His business would receive faxes on behalf of any small business in the service area and then have a van driver deliver them. Yes, he was going to receive faxes and then deliver hard copies. He somehow received financial backing for this horrible idea and was in the middle of implementation when he hired me to produce a promotional photo of a delivery guy handing a fax to the customer. Apparently neither he nor his investors saw the day coming first when fax machines would be commonplace in small businesses, and today nearly extinct due to innovations in digital technology.

Although this is an extreme, funny example, it points out that there is a constant innovation threat to nearly everyone, whether in the jobs they have, the businesses they operate or the start-ups they create.

I recently saw a billboard stating that electric lineman jobs can pay up to $96,000 per year without requiring a college degree and there are openings everywhere. Since the electrification of the urban areas of the United States in the early twentieth century and the rural areas in the 1930’s and 40’s, the job of electric lineman has been a good career. This is, of course, if you don’t mind always working in the elements, day, or night, up high on a line pole or in a bucket truck with the danger of electrocution all around you. Electricity is essential so the lineman career is safe, right?

But wait; let’s look at what’s happening. Although expensive, I can now incorporate solar panels into my roof. I can go online right now and order a Tesla home backup battery, on my credit card that will run my house for a day or two without charge. At some point, maybe soon, someone will crack the code on a home fuel cell that will quietly and cleanly generate the electricity required to run our households. Between the solar panels, the home backup batteries and the fuel cells, we’ll someday see many people getting “off the electric grid.” At first, it will be a few homes here and there. Then, entire housing developments will spring up that don’t need the expensive transmission lines nor the huge electricity generating plants. Today’s great electric lineman jobs will go the way of the railroad conductor, elevator operator and telephone operator.

We won’t know exactly what will be disrupted by innovation, but it will happen and nearly everyone is at risk. The best defense is to stay alert, keeping an eye open to innovations that could affect the way we make our living, whether it be job or business related. No matter what problems are solved by new innovations, there will leftover problems to solve and even new problems created by the innovations themselves. If we all develop an entrepreneurial mindset of problem solving, we’ll be better equipped to navigate through the coming disruption.

Jim Correll can be reached at (620) 252-5349 or by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of Fab Lab ICC or Independence Community College. Archive columns and podcasts at www.fablabicc.org.