Yesterday’s news that Cisco took GM’s place on the Dow Jones marked a significant industry shift. One that I had every intention of musing on – but then I spilled an entire coffee on my shirt and, well, that pretty much did me in for the day.

However, during my morning internet stroll I found the momentous occasion recognizing the tech giant as the better example of relevant industry over the fallen – and officially bankrupt – king of Detroit’s automakers unsatisfactory.

So muse, I will.

Innovation is the key to building and maintaining a successful business, right? The auto industry embodied this innovative initiative since the very first time someone put an engine in cart or buggy. The strides the automakers made from 1893 - when the first documented successful, four-wheeled gasoline car hit the streets -  to 1973 were immense. Cars became faster, they grew larger and safer, they boasted sleeker and more varied designs and more importantly, they became more fun to drive. They were toys on the cutting edge of technology.

But they also worked themselves into an absolute essential in American’s lives. Suddenly we couldn’t remember how we got along without cars, trucks, motorcycles and vans. How did we watch movies before we could swing our legs over the edge of our station wagon’s open hatch and engross ourselves in the giant screen at the drive in? And how did we take we get our kids from school to soccer practice to boy/girl scouts without the car? And how could we tell who was well-off in our neighborhood without the requisite BMW, Mercedes Benz and Porche parked in the driveway?

Are you getting my parallel?

But then came the gas crisis of 1973; the beginning of the end for Detroit. Overnight these impressive examples of advancement and innovation began to feel more like a burden to the Americans shelling out their hard earned money by the wallet-full to keep their cars running.
Hell hath no fury like an American scorned; especially when there’s money involved.

Anyway – this was the moment that Chrysler, GM and Ford should have seen the future of their industry and should have acted accordingly; like the innovators they once were and then claimed to be. But their inertia instead left room for Japanese automakers, and soon the fuel efficient Hondas and Toyotas began peppering our tar tops.

And this, my friends, is the nature of the technology beast: Be the best or be replaced by something better.  And never let the fear of being replaced be the motivation to be the best; because as history tells, by then, it’s generally too late.

So today I raise my Red Bull can to you (doesn’t stain as markedly as coffee) and toast to our collective passion – network admins, software engineers, IT specialists and gaming enthusiasts – to stay cutting-edge about our technology.  Let’s make sure we’re never in danger of being the next GM.