 |
"Don't be upset. Sure we
offshored your accounting
job. But we've got a special
assignment for you ...
in the kitchen." |
My friend and brilliant economist
Craig Garthwaite
once said, "It must suck for the guy on the road crew who holds
slow/stop sign to know that he could be replaced by a bucket of sand."
Craig is very compassionate that way. But technology isn’t. Technology
is
eliminating redundant middlemen faster than the
Ark Fleet Ship B from planet Golgafrincham.
And
now technology has its sights set on you, the communications expert.
Don't believe me? Take the following quiz to see for yourself:
Do you include any of the following among the critical contributions you make to your organization?
1. Serving as a conduit between the C-suite and PRNewswire;
2. Making sure that Legal has approved the draft release that’s scheduled to go out next Tuesday; or
3.
Sitting on the PR Selection Committee to determine which agency your
organization will hire to tamp down that ugly flare up with the Digby
account
If you answered "yes" to any of the above, you need to
listen carefully to this eulogy for a travel agent, lest you too find
yourself replaced by the proverbial bucket of sand.
Eulogy for a Travel Agent
“Bob
wasn’t just my travel agent; Bob was my friend. Not the
come-over-and-watch-the-game-tonight kind of friend. But the kind of
friend you’d call when you needed to make travel arrangements.
“Bob
was my go-to guy. He’d get me the best air fares. He’d find those
secret, unadvertised rental-car upgrades. And he always booked me into a
modestly priced hotel right near the convention center. And not one of
those flea-bag joints down by the bus station, either. I’m talking a Red
Roof Inn with a continental breakfast and free Wi-Fi.
“But Bob
saw the writing on the wall. One day when he was booking my trip to
Peoria for the Mystery Shopping Providers Association Summit and Expo,
he leaned over his desk, and he says to me, he says, ‘I can see the
writing on the wall. This Internet thing is going to put me out of
business.'
“So I say, ‘What do you mean, Bob?’ And he says, ‘Why
would anyone hire me—or any travel agent for that matter—to do what they
can easily do for themselves online?’
“I said, ‘No Bob! Even if we can book our own travel, we’ll always need travel agents because … well because …
"At that moment, we both knew it was over for him and the travel agent business.
“Bob’s
with us here today. I can feel his presence. And I can see him right
there in the back row. In fact, I see Bob all over town since he got
laid off. Poor guy’s got nothing to do and all the time in the world to
do it. Ain’t that right, Bob?”
“Damn straight!”
“So if we
learn just one thing from Bob’s experience, let it be this: Don’t wait
for the Internet to put you out of a job. When you see the writing on
the wall, teach yourself ways to write better,
run faster, and jump higher. Because that’s what Bob would have wanted.”
“Amen!”
“Thanks, Bob.”
