The New Automation Mindset

CHAPTER 20The New Career Paths

“You stay elite by constantly moving forward.”

—Bob Myers, 2‐time NBA exec of the year

In 1908, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft launched their first automobile. It was often hailed as the “car of kings.” It took a factory of 1,700 employees to produce around 1,000 cars per year—hand assembled for the rich. It would later be known as the Mercedes, and it was a dream for car owners. It is still sought after by collectors today.

Despite their success, the Mercedes was not the car that revolutionized transportation. That distinction belongs to Henry Ford's Model T. Thanks to the assembly line, Ford packaged the innovations of the Mercedes into a product the average family could afford. David Hounshell observed that “Industrial society was highly advanced at the time the assembly line came into being. But once it came into being, it was so productive that very few things were made without the line after that.”¹ In 1908, Ford produced 10,000 Model Ts. By 1925, production had scaled to an incredible 9,000 cars per day. Some analysts credit Ford for creating the American middle class. His workers not only could afford a Model T, but they had the time to drive it thanks to Ford's creation of the 40‐hour workweek.

“Forget the Model T—Ford's real innovation was the moving assembly line. It didn't just usher in the age of the car; it changed work forever.” And yet, “like a lot of [Ford's] other industrial production insights, the assembly line was met with ...