I've really got to start writing some of this down
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Seth Godin uses a classic clip from the old I Love Lucy TV show to illustrate one of the key themes in his latest book, Linchpin. What happens when the factory goes away?
It brings back not-so-fond memories of the college summer I spent a couple of weeks working on an auto assembly line in St. Louis.
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Found this wonderful quote from Arianna Huffington on Seth Godin’s blog:
“Self expression is the new entertainment, We never used to question why people sit on the couch for seven hours a day watching bad TV. Nobody ever asked, ‘Why are they doing that for free?’ We need to celebrate [this desire to contribute for free] rather than question it.”
There you go. That’s it. That perfectly sums up why I can spend almost every waking moment doing what I’m doing right now. Even the most modest form of self expression is endlessly entertaining.
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Passion is a frequent theme in Seth Godin’s latest book, Linchpin. He also spends a good bit of time on discernment. The ability to see things they way they really are. Each corner of the illustration below represents a different kind of per and the way he responds to situations at work.
“In the bottom right is the Fundamentalist Zealot. He is attached to the world as he sees it. There is no prajna her, no discernment. Change is a threat. Curiosity is a threat. Competition is a threat. As a result, it’s difficult for him to see the world as it is,because he insists on the the world being the way he imagines it. At the same time, he has huge reservoirs of effort to invest in maintaining his worldview. Fundamentalist zealots always manage to make the world smaller, poorer, and meaner.
The top left belongs to the Bureaucrat. He’s certainly not attached to the outcome of events, and he definitely won’t be exerting any additional effort,regardless. The bureaucrat is a passionless rules follower, indifferent to external events and gliding through the day. The clear at the post office and the exhausted VP at General Motors are both bureaucrats.
The bottom left is the corner for the Whiner. The whiner has no passion, but is extremely attached to the worldview he’s bought into. Living life in fear of change, the whiner can’t muster the effort to make things better,but is extremely focused on wishing that things stay as they are. I’d put most people int he newspaper industry in this corner. They stood by for years, watching the industry crumble while they resolutely did nothing except whine about unfairness. Almost all the positive change in this industry (like The Huffington Post and YouTube) is coming from outsiders.
And that leaves the top right, the quadrant of the Linchpin. The linchpin is enlightened enough to see the world as it is, to understand that this angry customer is not about me, that this change in government policy is not a personal attack,that this job is not guaranteed for life. At the same time, the linchpin brings passion to the job. She knows from experience that the right effort in the right place can change the outcome, and she reserves her effort for doing just that.
Here’s another way to describe the two axes: One asks, Can you see it? The other wonders, Do you care?
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“Our world is filled with factories. Factories that make widgets and insurance and Web sites, factories that make movies and take care of sick people and answer the telephone. These factories need workers.
If you learn how to be one of these workers, if you pay attention in school, follow instructions, show up on time, and try hard, we will take cre of you. You won’t have to be brilliant or creative or take big risks.
We will pay you a lot of money, give you health insurance, and offer you job security. We will cherish you, or at the very least, take care of you.”
Only a few chapters into Seth Godin’s new book (Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?) and my highlighter is running dry.
“It was always easier for management to replace labor than it was for labor to find a new factory. Today, the means of production = a laptop computer with Internet connectivity. Three thousand dollars buy a work an entire factory.”
If your job doesn’t feel safe to you… if you job isn’t satisfying and fulfilling… there’s a reason. Reasons, actually. Seth lays it out, pulling no punches.
“If you want a job where it’s okay to follow the rules, don’t be surprised if you get a job where following the rules is all you get to do. If you want a job where the people who work for you do exactly what they’re told, don’t be surprised if your boss expects precisely the same thing from you.
I’ve been fortunate in my adult working life to have avoided this trap. But the trap (the “scam” to use his words) is all around us and hard to miss.
“We’ve bought into a model that taught us to embrace the system, to spend for pleasure, and to separate ourselves from our work.”
The phrase “spend for pleasure” really hit home. Our economy seems to be based on buying shit we don’t need. And in case you have noticed, big chunks of our system aren’t working right now. And Seth tells us it’s never gonna work the same again. The Man is not going to take care of you. But you can take care of yourself.
You’ll find some of my favorite ideas from the book after the jump.
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Mark Ramsey has done another interview with Seth Godin that I highly recommend. Mr. Godin is promoting his new book, “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?” I encourage you to listen to the interview. It isn’t long. Here are a few excerpts:
“…school was organized by the powers-that-be to turn the typical student into a compliant, quiet, sit-in-straight-rows, fill-in-little-circles-on-the-SAT, follow-the-path, go-to-the-job-you-get-at-the-placement-office kind of person. And there’s a reason for that: It’s that if you are the organization busy hiring people, the more people you have who want to do the jobs you’ve got, the cheaper you can get away with paying them. As a result, we’ve created a culture where a few people are able to drive the agenda and a lot of people end up working hard to fit in and have a lot of fear about doing anything but that.”
“You read about people who are making $80K, $90K, $200K a year as middle managers for Fortune 500 companies, and then they get laid off and can’t make $15,000 a year working at a 7-11, and the question I’d ask is: Where did the $70,000 worth of value go? Did the person change or just their income?”
“It’s a crisis because all these years that we were watching blue collar people lose their jobs, exported to China or wherever… All these years that we watched machines replace people on assembly lines, we just shook our heads and said that’s really sad but that’s not us, that’s them – good thing it’s not us. And now it’s us, now they’ve come for us.”
“Well, I think that broadcasters have now embraced the fact that spectrum is finally on its way to being valueless. It was an 80-year run, but there’s no intelligent person I know that says that in 10 or 15 years from now they are going to be glad they own 660 on the AM dial.”
“All those kids who are in school today, who are learning how to do the jobs of 1960 or 1970, they’re in big trouble. All those 40- or 50-year-old executives who are hoping they’re going to wait this thing out, they’re in really big trouble.”
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I should just point www.smays.com to Seth Godin’s blog. Maybe change to WhatHeSaid.com (never mind, already taken). Mr. G picks two important trends for the coming decade. I’m opting for “change” over “frustration,” but you should read the full post.
Change: The infrastructure of massive connection is now real. People around the world have cell phones. The first internet generation is old enough to spend money, go to work and build companies. Industries are being built every day (and old ones are fading). The revolution is in full swing, and an entire generation is eager to change everything because of it. Hint: it won’t look like the last one with a few bells and whistles added.
In my experience, the people who poo-poo the idea of radical change usually have the most invested in keeping things the same. Good luck.
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During my affiliate relations days, it wasn’t uncommon to run into a radio station manger who had a beef with one part of our company and took it out on the division I worked for. And I’m certain it went the other way, too.
In my desperation to save an affiliation, I’m sure I said, “But that’s not me. That’s a completely different part of our company. You can’t punish me for what they did.”
Wrong. He can and he did. It was all Learfield as far as he was concerned. Seth Godin reminds us of this in today’s post:
“If you’re not proud of where you work, go work somewhere else. You don’t get the benefit of the brand when it’s hot without accepting the blame of the brand when it’s wrong.”
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