April, 2012 Archive

Lunar Landings & Disagreeing With Seth Godin

April 9, 2012• Leadership

I had to write something about this, because it’s just so damn rare.

The other day I disagreed with my invisible mentor, Seth Godin.

In one of his posts, he said:

Tom Robbins, ranting in the Times, conflates the difficulty of making a living with the challenge of doing the writing:

“What’s next…kiddie architects, juvenile dentists, 11-year-old rocket scientists? Any parent who thinks that the crafting of engrossing, meaningful, publishable fiction requires less talent and experience than designing a house, extracting a wisdom tooth, or supervising a lunar probe is, frankly, delusional.”

Really?

This is nonsense on two levels. First, writing fiction is significantly easier than leading part of the Apollo mission (can we accept that as a given?). Second, and more important, it’s free! No gums are damaged, no thumbs are hammered, no shuttles are launched.

I realize what I’m going to talk about wasn’t the point of Seth’s article, but he’s off-base on something pretty important here — namely, his first point of “nonsense.” Tom didn’t say “writing fiction is significantly easier than leading part of the Apollo mission.” He specifically contrasted “the crafting of engrossing, meaningful, publishable fiction” (emphasis mine) with “supervising a lunar probe.”

These are completely different things.

I make this distinction in workshops all the time. If we’re talking about just doing something, people can do almost anything they put their mind to. The power of will is amazing.

But, if we’re talking about doing something well… well, that’s another story.

We can’t do everything well. Period. If by some miracle I could get drafted into the NFL, I might be able to be a linebacker. That doesn’t mean I can ever, EVER do it well. (If you’ve seen me, you know this is quite true.) I’m simply not built for it. Likewise, we may never be able to rap like Eminem or play basketball like LeBron James or sing like Mariah Carey. That doesn’t mean we can’t do other things with the same amount of mastery.

The talents it takes to write well and the talents required to successfully manage a lunar landing are completely and utterly different. This is why blanket statements about difficulty are dangerous — what’s hard for me might be really easy for you.

Writing great fiction isn’t any more or less difficult than running a successful moon mission.

It all depends on who’s doing it.

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Everyone Is Indispensable

April 2, 2012• Leadership

There’s a popular saying, in business particularly, which goes like this:

“No one is indispensable.”

This means that you are not special; that you can be easily replaced by anyone we (somewhat carefully) pick off the street.

In all likelihood, this mentality originated in the factory and migrated inside as we put suits on assembly line workers and gave them cubicles instead of a spot on the line. We changed locations and clothes, but not the mindset. On an assembly line, of course, people are there for their hands… and that’s about it. They are organic robots. They are the most efficient way to get something done.

Of course, most of our work doesn’t feel anything like working on an assembly line. Not anymore.

And this “easy and instant replacement” mentality doesn’t feel right anymore, either.

The truth is, everyone is indispensable.

No one thinks like you.
No one has your background.
No one has had the experiences you’ve had.
No one has your unique talents.

There’s no one like you.

Which means there’s exactly no one who can do something exactly like you can.

Even if it’s been pounded into your head that “everyone can be replaced,” you instinctively know this is bullshit. You know how I know this? Because everyone feels the differences which happen when a group changes people. A small group loses one person and it can drastically change the dynamic, right?

Everyone is indispensable.

Business leaders just didn’t want this to be true, so some clever swindler started the “no one is indispensable” lie.

An “everyone is indispensable” type of thinking creates an organizational problem, though, doesn’t it? If everyone were indispensable, we’d have to start treating people differently. We’d have to care about them a little more. We’d have to think about them more deeply. We’d have to see them more three-dimensionally. We wouldn’t be able to be quite so calloused or disillusioned.

In all likelihood, this mindset would mean we’d probably have to completely re-think the way we design an organization.

If we can’t just “insert” any person into a position like a pair of hands on an assembly line — and we know we can’t — we’d probably have to completely throw out the idea of a job description (they just wouldn’t make sense as they are bound to the last person, not the next).

We’d probably have to recruit for completely different things. Instead of looking to “plug a hole” when someone leaves, we’d have to look for (and expect) a person who can, and will, add value in a new way, unique to them.

We’d probably have to think more about individual strengths and less about universal “competencies.”

We’d probably have to spend a lot more time letting people grow and evolve within their positions (tasks may forever stay the same, but people certainly don’t).

We’d probably have to develop a completely different organizational strategy for how we deal with people, in every way.

But isn’t it time for all these things, anyway?

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