Seth Godin's Blog, page 103

The confusion about enough

To watch people at work, it seems like we never have enough:

We need more social media likes
We want more market share
We demand more quick wins

And to see them at rest, it seems as though we never have enough:

Things to entertain us
Shallow friendships
Conspicuous displays of success

Which is why people talk about how they're always falling behind and feel like they don't have enough time.

But...

Lots of us walk around thinking we do have enough:

Education
Exposure to difficult topics
Situations where we need to change our mind
Silence
Deep relationships based on trust and commitment

I'm wondering what happens if we flip them?

            

It's not the bottom, it's the foundation

Organizations are built on the work of people who don’t get paid very much, don’t receive sufficient respect and are understandably wary of the promises they’ve been hearing for years.

Calling these folks the bottom of the org chart doesn’t help.

Imagine that throughout your career you were paid as little as legally possible, the last to be hired and the first to be laid off. Imagine that the boss gets more vacation days, doesn’t have to clock in and out, and is actually given control over how he spends his time.

Why is it surprising to bosses, then, that some workers respond to this arrangement by doing as little work as possible?

Here’s the thing: people actually want to do a good job. They want to be proud of their work, they appreciate being engaged, they thrive when they have some measure of control over their day.

Too often, though, the optimistic leader meets the pessimistic front line and distrust undermines all the good intent. The boss loses patience and reverts to the test-and-measure, trust-no-one, scientific-management tradition of dehumanizing the very humans who make the whole project work.

And so, back to being mediocre. Back to high turnover, low trust, no care. Back to workers who don’t believe and bosses who are now cynics.

Mostly, back to an ordinary organization that’s like so many others.

There’s an alternative. But it’s a process, not an event.

Step 1: A commitment, from the top, that this place is going to be different. The commitment is open-ended. It involves leading and showing up and keeping promises, for months and years into the future. It’s non-cynical, and it views leadership as an opportunity, the possibility of serving customers at the very same time you inspire and enable employees.

This is going to take a long time, and it’s not going to be the cheapest path. It turns out, though, in industries where people matter (which is more and more of the work we do) that this path pays for itself eventually.

Step 2: Hire for attitude, not for learned skills. You can teach someone to do just about anything. It’s far more difficult to build an instinct to care. When you hire trustworthy people who are willing to trust you, you have an opportunity to build trust, which enables communication, which allows you to teach, which upgrades everything.

If you are in a hurry to assemble a group of people who can ‘do the work’, you will end up with folks who merely needed a job. On the other hand, if you are willing to invest in people who are enrolled in the journey you’re on, you will end up with a team.

[Corollary: Fire for attitude, fix for skills. The attitudes you put up with will become the attitudes of your entire organization. Over time, every organization becomes what is tolerated]

Step 3: Be clear in actions and words about what’s important. It doesn’t do any good to hire for attitude but only reward for short-term results. If you reward a cynic merely because he got something done, you’ve made it clear to everyone else that cynicism is okay. If you overlook the person who is hiding mistakes because his productivity is high, then you are rewarding obfuscation and stealth.

Who gets the employee of the month parking space? Who gets laid off?

People are watching you. They’re not listening to your words as much as they’re seeking to understand where the boundaries and the guard rails lie, because they’ve learned from experience that people who do what gets rewarded, get rewarded.

Hint: if you tell people something is important but fail to give them the tools and the support and the training that they need to do that important thing, you’ve just told them that it’s not actually important.

Step 4: Be clear and consistent about how we do things around here. It’s going to be a long time before people act like they own the place. After all, you own the place and you don’t even act like you do most of the time.

This job is important. It feeds my family. It pays the rent. It’s connected to my self-esteem. I will act in the interest of my family, not your invisible shareholders.

Step 5: Your problem is not their problem. The people who build the foundation of your business have plenty of things to worry about. Your narrative about your day is not one of them.

Over time, it’s reasonable to expect that an engaged and respectful working environment will lead to ever more big-picture thinking. But it’s naïve and self-defeating to expect a 20-year-old who’s been on the job for a week to make a connection between the customer who just walked in, your big wholesale account, the loan that’s due soon and the espresso he just pulled.

Every day, you’re going to be tested on these five principles. Every day, there’s going to be a moment of urgency, a shortcut presented, a confusion. And in that moment, the first principle is going to come into question.

But this is the foundation, it’s not the bottom. This is the source for all your possibility, for the change you seek to make.

Isn’t it worth it?

            

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If you do the work, you'll start to see things differently.

The course is $95, but blog readers doing important work can get it for half price by using this link.

It comes with a money-back guarantee and I hope you will check out a few of the lessons before you enroll.

And if you're a freelancer, I hope you'll check out this course as well. It's one of the most popular courses on Udemy, because it works. 

            

Empathy is a bridge

"Sorry" doesn't mean you caused the pain. It merely means that you see it, that you've felt pain before in your life as well, that you are open to a connection.

Our ability to bring people along is critical because we're playing a long game, even an infinite one. Back and forth, day by day, with many of the same people. One day, it will be reversed, and a classmate or co-worker or competitor will be the one that can listen and care about the pain. A pain that might feel very similar.

Gloating or silence closes the door. Empathy, on the other hand, and the action of speech, of moderation, of connection, can change everything. And if it hasn't been present before, it can start right now.

"I see you. I'm sorry for what you're feeling. How can I help?"

            

Education is the answer

It almost doesn't matter what the question is, really.

Everyone is an independent actor, now more than ever, with access to information, to tools, to the leverage to make a difference.

Instead of being a cog merely waiting for instructions, we get to make decisions and take action based on what we know and what we believe.

Change what you know, change what you believe, and you change the actions. Learn to see, to understand, to have patience, and you learn to be the kind of person who can make a difference.

Formal education is a foundation, but lifelong, informal education can transform our lives.

And informal education scales. It spreads more easily than ever before. Educated people create other educated people. The standards go up when education is present, because the cost of being the least educated person in your tribe is high.

Ignorance, on the other hand, can spread as well. When the cultural dynamic in your circle is that ignorance is prized, it will pull others down and lead to more ignorance.

We can learn techniques, sure, but also empathy, curiosity and patience.

Arguing is futile, because arguing presumes that we can use force of will to change minds. And force begets force. Education, on the other hand, involves enrollment, and volunteers in search of answers can learn quickly.

The path forward, it seems, is to connect. To earn enrollment in having others join you in a journey of education. If you can teach something, find someone who will benefit and teach them. And if you can connect and make education accessible, it creates a new standard for the people you care about.

[Heads up: The last day for early-bird discount tickets to my only-time-this-year live seminar in NY is tomorrow. I hope you can join us... we're gathering the tribe for a much needed chance to connect in person. It will be eye-opening, affirming and perhaps game-changing for those who can join us.]

            

Hang in there

Is there anything more difficult?

Showing up day after day, week after week, sometimes for years, as your movement slowly gains steam, as your organization hits speed bumps, as the news goes from bad to worse...

Showing up, it turns out, is the hardest part of making a difference.

Make a list of the organizations and voices and movements that have made a difference. How old are they? How long have they been at it?

Creating impact, building something of substance, changing the culture... this is the work of a lifetime, not merely a fun project.

It's not easy, but I have a feeling you're up for it. Because it matters.

            

What do you see?

Fill in the missing number:

π, 1, __, 3, 11, 15, 13, 17

Some people, when confronted with an artificial problem like this, simply throw up their hands. It's a trick, it's a waste of time, there's really no value in it.

Some people look for the quick insight, the fact that there's an irrational number, that the string doesn't go on forever, etc. But they usually get stuck.

Some people are only interested in the answer, and are eager to argue that it should be zero, not four, while others would point out that zero isn't necessarily a natural number, and on and on, merely as a way from hiding from the entire point of the lesson.

The real lesson happens once we realize the metaphor that's available to each of us: Things don't need to be artificial to be puzzles. In fact, if you're willing to be disappointed in your search for the right answer, just about every situation is a puzzle, a place where an insight might be found.

Artificial puzzles like this one generally guarantee a right answer exists. The challenge of the natural puzzle is that you eagerly accept that maybe, there's no good solution.

If you don't like the puzzle you've got, pick a different one. We're never going to run out of puzzles.

Our human interactions, the scarcity around us, the opportunities we all have—they're puzzles. They are invitations to find a new way to do something, a beneficial shortcut, a connection in an economy based on connections.

But first, you have to see.

[PS time to start planning for Thanksgiving.]

            

Rolling up our sleeves

Sometimes, the wind is at our back, the resources are easily acquired and good karma increases our ability to do great work.

Sometimes. 

Other times, it feels like we're up against it, that the wind has shifted, that there's not a lot of opportunity or momentum.

It's in those times that, "what are you working on?" becomes a vital question, a lifeline to get us from here to there.

Trainwrecks, tantrums, massive shifts in the way things are and are supposed to be--they make it difficult to concentrate, to plan, to leap...

We each have a platform, access to tools, a change we'd like to make in the world around us. We each have a chance to connect, to see, to lead.

And it's not, at least right now, fun or easy. It might not even seem like you've got a shot, or that the wind is too harsh.

Persist. It matters.

            

Resilience

When we're sure it's not going to work, when we can't figure out where to turn, when we don't know what to do next...

Sometimes, our ability to do the best we can in small ways is enough to start moving forward. And when it doesn't work, we try something else.

Enough small things by enough people coalesce into the next big thing.

            

If not now, when?

Care a little more.

Show up.

Embrace possibility.

Tell the truth.

Dive deeper.

Seek the truth behind the story.

Ask the difficult question.

Lend a hand.

Dance with fear.

Play the long game.

Say 'no' to hate.

Look for opportunities, especially when it seems like there aren't any left.

Risk a bigger dream.

Take care of the little guy.

Offer a personal insight.

Build something magical.

Keep your promises.

Do work that matters.

Expect more.

Sign your work.

Be generous for no reason.

Give the benefit of the doubt.

Develop empathy.

Make your mom proud.

Take responsibility.

Give credit.

Play by a better set of rules.

Choose your customers.

Choose your reputation.

Choose your future.

Thank the ref.

Reward patience.

Leap.

Breathe.

Because we can.

It really is up to us. Which is great, because we're capable of changing everything if we choose.

All we can do is all we can do, but maybe, all we can do is enough.