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3 Great Modern Achievements
School of Business, Liberty University
Author Note
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
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3 Great Modern Achievements
When thinking about the last five decades the number of great achievements is vast. This
author believes that all great achievements are born out of a project. Larson & Gray (2018)
define a project as “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or
result.” When thinking about projects and project management Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 is a great
guiding light “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a
time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to
heal, a time to tear down and a time to build” (NIV). Innovation today is moving at the speed of
light and for any business to be sustainable they must be in a constant state, season, of
improvement; cue the project team/project manager.
No-till Farming
The population of the world is expanding on an exponential level and as such crop
production needs to provide enough food to sustain this ever-growing population. Conventional
farming practices were not keeping pace with demand as well as causing soil and water erosion.
The idea that keeping the land intact between crop plantings could improve soil health, prevent
erosion, and increase yields was a tough sell for farmers that for hundreds of years plowed,
planted, harvested, and plowed again to achieve crop growth and prevent weeds. In order to gain
acceptance as a best practice Land Grant Universities, County Extension Services, seed, fertilizer
and herbicide producers had to work together to show the benefits of a no-till operation. The
results of these projects have shown that no-till agriculture improves crop yields as well as
having positive environmental impacts by creating better quality soil and reducing carbon
emissions (Haelterman, 2020). By incorporating a no-till farming practices family farms are
finding that they can be profitable as well as having less impact on the environment and feeding
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the people of the world thus looking at the Triple Bottom Line of planet, profit and people
(Larson & Gray, 2018).
Horizontal Oil Drilling
For the first time the United States was at the point of energy independence; no longer
needing to import any form of energy from outside her boarders. Part of that independence
comes from the practice of horizontal drilling of oil wells. This practice has allowed wells to
produce more oil and natural gas than was ever possible from vertical drilling. The Bakken Oil
Field that covers western North Dakota, eastern Montana, and southern Saskatchewan, Canada
has been using horizontal drilling practices to retrieve otherwise non-recoverable tight oil in the
region. Tight oil is found in low permeable and un-porous rock formations at extreme depths
(Luo, et al, 2017). Production levels can be increased in these locations with the use of
horizontal drilling and the use of hydraulic fracturing. Fracking has become a term synonymous
with everything bad to do with oil production. There are new projects looking to replace the
injection of water or condensate during the fracking process with miscible or immiscible gasses
(Luo, et al, 2017). The jury is still out as to the potential impacts of the gas injections vs
water/condensate injections. However, with the new administration these projects may be halted
indefinitely. Psalm 25:9 reminds us that God “guides the humble in with is right and teaches
them his way” (NIV), let our leaders and those of the oil companies be reminded of this verse.
Digital Music
Those of us that grew up in the ‘80’s will remember the big transition in music from LP
to 8-track to cassette tapes and finally the CD. While all these innovations were great in their
own right, to purchase the one or two songs one really wanted to hear the whole album had to be
purchased, thus getting a bunch of mediocre songs. Enter Steve Jobs and Apple with the advent
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of the iPod and thus the digital revolution of music was born. Project teams worked on each
iteration of the way we consume music. The new digital forms of music offered a diversity of
alternative choices of musical products that were easily accessible (Coelho & Mendes, 2019).
With digital consumption and easily accessible downloads, the local record stores went the way
of the dinosaur. Interestingly there is a resurgence in vinyl records and more and more vintage
record stores are popping up. Digital is here to stay, but there is something to be said for
“grabbing an old record off the shelf and listening to it by yourself” (Seger, 1978).
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References
Coelho, M. P., & Mendes, J. Z. (2019). Digital music and the “death of the long tail”. Journal of
Business Research, 101, 454-460. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.01.015
Haelterman, T. (2020). No-Till farming improves crop yields, study finds. Spartin Newsroom.
https://news.jrn.msu.edu/2020/09/no-till-farming-improves-crop-yields-study-finds/
Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. (2011). Biblica, Inc
Larson, E. W. & Gray, C. F. (2018). Project management: The managerial process (7th ed). New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Luo, P., Luo, W., & Li, S. (2017). Effectiveness of miscible and immiscible gas flooding in
recovering tight oil from bakken reservoirs in saskatchewan, canada. Fuel (Guildford),
208, 626-636. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2017.07.044
Seger, B. (1978). Stranger In Town (Album), Capitol.
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