A STRINGING OF A RACQUET

 

In the midst of AI’s promise and fear, I was fascinated by a friend who has a great side gig of stringing tennis racquets by hand. Most racquets are mass produced and strung by machine. Tennis professionals though still seek out craftsman who string by hand, citing a special quality they add to racquets performance. Cathal Kelly in a Globe and Mail article referred to this as “The Dark Art of the racquet stringing.” A unique talent of the stringer that gives the player additional confidence and edge on the court of competition. We see this same unique talent in business. Where the professional with all the technical skills is bested by another person having a special undefined approach to winning that goes beyond the basics. Maybe that’s the great salvation about dealing with AI. It might produce the framework better and quicker than us, but the magic is still added by the human touch. Call it dark art, call it genius or just call it irreplaceable…