Don’t Underestimate Surprise and Delight as a Strategy

I have been a fan of Seth Godin’s for a long time. I read his blogs, buy his books, and frequently recommend them to friends. (In fact, we celebrated my birthday this year at Max Brenner’s restaurant, in part due to reading about Max in Seth’s books.) So when Seth told readers on his blog that they could get an early copy of his book by making a donation to the Acumen Fund, I eagerly signed up.

I really enjoyed Linchpin, and you can see my earlier reviews here. I would love to sit down with Seth and discuss his Lizard Brain concept further, taking into account the development of the brain as we go from kids to adults and how that process may impact creativity. But despite any nitpicking I might do on neurology, it brought home the point that you have the best chance to succeed when you are involved and engaged in your work.

When I came home today from a client meeting where being engaged and responsive had made a big impact, I was surprised to see a package by my door. Inside was another copy of Linchpin with a note from Seth that read :

“Generosity is a key piece of being an artist. It gives each of us a chance to connect, to make a difference and to do indispensable work. You were generous enough to make a donation to the Acumen Fund, an organization that focuses on trade, not aid, building communities that work because each member contributes more than they get. A few weeks ago, I sent you a preview copy of Linchpin, as promised. Now, in recognition of your generosity, I’m giving you another. I hope you’ll share this one with someone you care about.”

What a lovely surprise! I’m speaking to a group next week, and I’m going to make sure someone in the audience gets this gift, along with the hope they will pay it forward as well in the future.

I know Seth is a fantastic marketer, and this is an additional chance to help the word spread about his book. Since I found myself quoting the book frequently after reading it, I’m doing a pretty good job of that already. But this gives me an additional chance to share Seth’s words with others, and it was a terrific and thoughtful gift to find on my doorstep. It was like finding a handwritten note, that chocolate on the pillowcase, the extra secret surprise than reinforces the concept of getting through the process of giving.

I know I always find the more I give and help others, the more I seem to get in return. The return comes in many forms, but whether it’s volunteering or taking a moment to help a friend, or doing great work with a client, I always seem to end up
feeling that everything I put into a project, I get at least that much, if not more, out on the other side. Even in cases where things don’t work out so well, I always find there’s often a lesson I needed to learn in the process.

The bottom line here is that I’m already a huge Seth fan. He doesn’t need to “re-sell” me, really. I’m already happily playing on his team, so to speak. But this gesture reinforces the message that Seth not only stands behind his work, but he wants to make it easy to share with others who may not be fans (yet) the same way I am. And it’s another lesson to me that these small moments of surprise can be touching- moments of delight that work on many levels, including encouraging me to invest in any of Seth’s future projects. Not because of any “What’s in it for me?” reason, but because he always seems to find a way to surprise and delight me, and I’ve always been thrilled by anything I’ve done on his recommendation. I always learn something from Seth, or am reminded of things that are important that I may have put on the back shelf. So I’ll continue to invest in Seth, because he’s never afraid on investing in his audience and fans.

Tags: acumen fund, delight, fans, linchpin, marketing, seth godin, sharing, surprise

Seth Godin’s Linchpin Review- Part 2

I’ve spent most of my free moments over the weekend reading and contemplating
Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin. I’m about half way through, and it’s becoming clear that one of Seth’s main themes is that the real way to get ahead is to make an emotional investment in your work.

I have always agreed with this principle. Over the years, I’ve had discussions with people managing workers in all walks of life, and the bottom line has been that som people seem easily motivated by extrinsic things, like a promise of a bonus, or money, but there’s another subset of people for whom the external motivators are just not what motivates them to come into work every day- their motivation is more about doing something worth while and making a difference. You can try to add additional motivators onto a task, for example, paying someone a bit more for doing a bit more work, but for some people, the compliment or acknowledgement of a job well done is worth more than the paycheck. It doesn’t mean they’ll work for free, but the value of the work itself is a cornerstone of why they do it in the first place.

What struck me is this hits to the core of how we’ve constructed capitalism. We hear people say things like “I pay them to do a job, not to care or to second guess my decisions- I’m paying you to do what I say”- but it seems to me to take the value people could potentially add to your business is a pretty dangerous position to take long term.

Here’s where it gets interesting to me. I’ve been listening to a bunch of NPR interviews recently, featuring an author , Anne Heller, talking about her book, Ayn Rand and the World She Made. Ayn Rand wrote several famous books, again on the best seller list as conservative bibles, basically spawning a philosophical movement called Objectivism. Her opinions were basically that any government interventions were undue interference. It’s even noted that Alan Greenspan knew and was quite fond of Ayn Rand and her positions.

My dad was a big fan on Ayn Rand, and as an engineer and MIT graduate, was devoted to science and logic almost as a religion unto itself. Whenever I would get emotionally worked up over something, he would say that “crying never made anything better” and left me with the impression that how I felt about something was never really as important as what I thought about it. Thinking and feeling were very separate things. Objectivism, facts and logic – intellectualism- should rule the day. The economics and conservative movement of our Country post World War II could be said to derive from some of Ayn Rand’s power and freedom of the individual over the government interference almost at any cost. Ayn Rand also tolerated very little dissent and demanded loyalty from her followers, saying that if anyone disagreed with her, they weren’t thinking properly- somewhat totalitarian in her own way.

What’s interesting is that it struck me that Seth’s book is the anti-Ayn Rand.

*warning- geeky Star Trek Metaphors ahead *

Where companies and corporations take on a Vulcan-like analysis of cold hard facts and logic, decisions made by data alone, Linchpin puts forth an argument that people respond to other people. People want you to be invested in what you do- to care, to do more than the minimum, to stop phoning it in or taking up space. It’s almost a Romulan view, to extend the Star Trek metaphor.

As I understand the Vulcan/Romulan history, the Vulcans and Romulans have a common history, but split off into two people- one branch devoted to logic and Ayn Rand-like objectivism, while the other group remained passionate and are often characterized as cunning and opportunistic.

While I think the terms “cunning and opportunistic” sound negative, I think Seth would agree that his book encourages everyone to leverage the opportunity to stand out from the pack by doing what has become rare- being caring and passionate about everything you do. This may be a time where we have to put objectivism aside and realize that as much as the logical thing to do seems clear, the illogical or “Predictably Irrational” thing may be the better and more adaptive choice when dealing with people. Even the Star Trek movies acknowledge openly that humans are emotional, irrational and often unpredictable creatures, and this is what makes us special and remarkable as a species.

Let’s take a typical customer service problem.  Customer X calls up and needs a problem handled with their account. The operator knows they are being evaluated and paid based on how they handle the call, but also how long they stay on the phone.  There’s more of an incentive to placate the person, pass it up the chain, or basically get off the phone as quickly as possible rather than thoughtfully deal with the customer’s problem the first time.  After all, if you are on the phone too long, or are too nice to the customers, you don’t meet quota- the way you are doing your job looks like you are costing them more money, on phone time alone, than the money you might save them by handling the problem correctly the first time.

When I worked in one of these call centers during college, I regularly spent whatever time was necessary to solve the problem completely.  I felt better, and I knew I was leaving after a short period of time, so I felt more free to ignore the call time metric.  They weren’t going to raise my summer hourly wage, so really, what did I care?  I could do the job right the first time without any negative consequences, so I willingly broke the rules.  A friend of mine does this at her current job, and while she gets recognized from time to time as having the best calls overheard by headquarters, she also gets equally chastised over her per call time- talking about sending your people mixed messages.

Even when I was tutoring students, a faculty member told me I couldn’t give my students treats because it was against the rules.  However, my kids would turn themselves inside out for me for forty minutes for a tootsie roll at the end of a session, so I said simply- “They’ll have to fire me, then.”  It was never a big deal after that, and she often remarked what a great group I had and how hard they worked for me and how lucky I was.  I knew that it was because we had established a trust and rapport, sweetened with sugar, of course, but everyone benefitted from this deal.

I’ve always been willing to bend the rules when necessary, and particularly when the end result was doing a better and more effective job.  If I ever get fired for that, it’s a risk I’m willing to take, because I know at the heart of it, I’m doing the right thing over the expedient thing, and I’d rather not work for an organization that doesn’t value that principle.

So when Seth talks about Linchpins having this attitude, I certainly don’t need any convincing.  But I also realize it’s going to take a lot to convince the people who think the system looks great on paper that it needs to be different for the real world,where people and feelings and gut reactions play a huge part in decisions and choices on all levels.  The age of Ayn Rand and Objectivism is starting to give way to a world in which feelings and connections are more important than ever before.  The humans are in charge, sitting somewhere on the spectrum between the Vulcans and Romulans, hopefully making a place where everyone will be able to function, even if it makes them all a bit uncomfortable from time to time.

Tags: ayn rand, dan ariely, linchpin, objectivism, predictably irrational, romulans, seth godin, vulcans

First Impressions of Linchpin by Seth Godin

I was one of the lucky early few that signed up by making a donation to the Acumen Fund, to get an advanced copy of Linchpin by  Seth Godin.

Seth has asked people to read it, think about it and give a thoughtful review.  I couldn’t wait to tell you about it until I finished the book- I’ve found myself quoting concepts in the first few chapters to friends  already, so I thought it was time to share.

Seth starts out the book by talking about how the old American dream and template we’ve all been fed is history.  There are tons of people who still believe all you have to do is follow the rules and you’ll get a job where you then follow the rules and get rewarded.  But the bottom line that many folks are finding out is that following the rules has ended up being a sucker’s deal, a bait and switch bargain.  The safety and security of jobs and pensions and retirement at a reasonable age, in reasonable health, where you enjoy a permanent vacation until you die is history, and we just have to accept that.  It sounds harsh, but I think we all know that’s true.

As someone with young kids, I know I have to prepare them for a very different world than the one I grew up in, and  that is both scary and challenging.  They’re going to need flexibility, maintain those qualities of being curious, being creative and innovative problem solvers for the rest of their lives.  With schools still programmed, in many sectors, to produce widgets for giant “work”  machines, how can I counteract this effectively?  Certainly, my kids are growing up exposed to innovative thinkers making their own game every day, but I know I still have to find more opportunities for them to flex these muscles on their own now, so they are willing to do so as they get older as well.

Seth encourages all of us to be creative, to be artists, to become remarkable and indispensable.  I wanted to find an exception to this rule, but I found I can’t.  At first, I thought- well, you know the professions- Doctors, Lawyers- we need those folks to make everything else work- how much real creativity do you have as a physician?  Well, and then I took a closer look at what my husband does every day.  Sure, he’s an OB-GYN, but he’s involved with research, working on projects including looking at fetal growth curves, how they can eventually eliminate prematurity, and other projects that at the heart of them require this creative problem solver mentality.  He has to take everything he knows, figure out the problems that are still there, that cause problems big and small every day, and design research protocols to try to make them better, so each patient coming through his clinic gets the best care possible.  It means getting the doctors and nurses and patients in the practice to consider different schedules, to try new clinics like “birth control before breakfast” and step out of their own comfort zones and potential myopia.  He has to ask people to try to do things differently and make a difference- not just by bringing new people into the world (which is pretty amazing in and of itself) but to be able to do so in a constantly changing environment, with financial pressures, with each patient having their own unique set of problems, and being able to improvise on the fly.  The best doctors do this well, and do become linchpins, not only to their patients, but to their colleagues and institutions where they practice.

I wanted to find some exception to Seth’s rule, being a believer that education and formal college educations are not worthless, but have value beyond memorizing facts. I want to believe we do teach people things in school that matter and its not all about grinding creativity out of people.   But I think becoming a linchpin is not about whether you’ve had any formal training or education in anything- it’s ultimately about taking your cumulative knowledge and experience from every thing you have ever done, and be willing to use all of it, at any time, as tools to solve the next problem.

For example, I started reading Seth Godin and a bunch of books in the “business/management” section of the bookstore, not long after my husband introduced me to Marcus Buckingham and the Strength-based approach to, well, everything.  I rapidly found that all the books in the education and parenting section of the book store, where I frequently spent time, were missing the boat.  The really interesting stuff about managing people, developing them to reach their full potential, and the like were all sitting in the business section.  I realized that running a family is exactly like running a small business, and everything I knew had infinite applications outside of the box one might put them in.  “Pediatric logisitics”- managing kids/people, schedules, activities, performance (grades), camp, and keeping an eye on the larger issues at the same time are all the same skill sets I use in my business, in running Podcamps, in every other aspect of my life as well.

The main point here is this- you have to be a person who strives to make a difference in everything you do.  You have to care.  You need to look out for yourself, but you also can’t afford not to look out for others as well.  You need to be able to use all of your experience, no matter where it’s from, and weave it into a new solution to try and make a change for the better.  There are no more silos.  There are no more boxes.    It’s all about bringing all your resources to bear to try to solve problems big and small, and not being afraid of having a “crazy” idea.  Those crazy ideas in the hands fo the right people, shared with other people who care, mean all sorts of resources can be marshaled and then moving the needle becomes easier than ever.

Thanks, Seth, for the jolt of espresso to my creativity, and for reminding me how important it is to care .  Thanks for the reminder that we have  to be willing to try the “impossible” (which turns out only to be a bit difficult) and can be accomplished if we just try to see the possibilities rather than shut down because it seems risky or scary.

I look forward to the chapters to come.

Tags: creativity, education, linchpin, seth godin, taking risk