I’m doing a presentation on the role employee engagement plays in driving adoption and utilization of new business practices at The Motivation Show in Chicago next month. And while the subject of change management can be serious for executives who’s careers are on the line, I thought I’d have some fun today looking at how far we as a society have come as a result of all those hundreds of thousands of things that have changed in our world over the least 100 years.
This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1906. One hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some of the U.S. statistics for that year.
In 1906 :
- The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
- Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
- A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
- There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.
- The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
- Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.
- The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.
- The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian about $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
- More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
- Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had no college education.
- Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
- The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30 people
- Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.
- Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
- Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.
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