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

How Social Media Works

I heard about Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man, through Seth Godin.  I read about Max in Seth’s Meatball Sundae book, and this was reinforced by the blog post/interview with Seth on Hugh McLeod’s (@gapingvoid) website.  Ever since, I’ve been intrigued by the very thought of a chocolate restaurant, and the thought of the indulgence that waits within.  When we’ve been up to NYC recently, we haven’t been able to get there, so I was thrilled when I heard that they were expanding and opening a Philly location.

So for my birthday, I told my husband I wanted to try Brunch at Max Brenner’s, since it had now been built up to legendary status in my mind.  Like many things you anticipate to be fantastic before the actual experience, I actually began to worry that no restaurant or experience could live up to the hype I had built up in my mind- there was bound to be some disappointment after all this deferred gratification.

I was so wrong.  It lived up to any expectations and beyond.  (Now here I go, contributing to the hype.)  But seriously, I have rarely gone to a talked-about restaurant with my family, including my 14 and 11 year old sons, where they have had a good or better time than I have had.

Max Brenner’s is a bit like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, at least the Chocolate only parts.  The menu (which you can preview here) drew laughter and joy from all of us, just reading about the chocolate on chocolate specialties, each one sounding vaguely more decadent than the one before.  For example, the chocolate-based drinks are served in special cups/mugs/glasses that make each one feel like an exotic treat, and the butterscotch/caramel sauce that accompanies some dishes comes in a little vial that reminds me of a chemistry experiment.

What was great is that the meals were as good or better than the description.  I got the spicy tuna sandwich, and frankly, it’s the best tuna sandwich I’ve ever had.   (And I only chose that over chocolate crepes as a brief nod towards trying to eat healthy, even on this indulgent day.)  This experience wasn’t just about great food, though- it was also about whimsy, about fun, about silly, and about pleasure, and making dreams come true.  Max tells his story of making his dreams come true in the menu.  He brought us into his dream and we left with a great memory and a story we won’t fail to share with friends and family.

Seth Godin is right.  Being remarkable means doing something worth talking about, worth sharing with others.  Max Brenner does this.  The quality of the food, of the chocolate and even details down to the glassware and shopfront made us giggle in delight.

Social media makes sharing this experience and spreading the word easy.  I learned of Max through social media, and I am further spreading the word out the same way.  But the social proof is that my experience matches or exceeds the experience of those who recommended it to me in the first place.  As a result, I was willing to make a 45 min drive and spend money based on a friend’s opinion, and I hope you’ll consider giving Max’s restaurant a try if you’re in NYC or Philly, because it was simply fun.

I get no direct benefit from this other than your good will and thoughts after you taste the chocolate, and say “Now THAT was worth the trip, for sure.”  Well, that and the fact that my children now think this is the best restaurant we’ve ever dragged them to so far, meaning we’ll be back, for sure.

Tags: brithday, gapingvoid, hugh mcleod, Max brenner, memories, seth godin, social media, special

Personal Branding

At the very first Podcamp Boston, CC Chapman and Mitch Joel did a great presentation on Personal Branding that altered the way I approached my web projects.  Instead of always staying in the background, I learned how important it was to own your blog and podcast, add your personality into the mix, and give your projects a human face and voice.  This is still excellent advice, for businesses or individuals.  Without a sense of personality, of humanity to our writing and work, we lose the most compelling aspect of it, and what people want the most- connections and affinity with others. (I’ll save the diatribe on Maslow’s Heirarchy of human needs for another post.)

There’s a small downside to personal branding, though.  When some web personalities become really successful, like Robert Scoble and Guy Kawasaki, they become not just a personal brand but a brand unto themselves.  They become a product.  And people expect different things out of products than they do people.

Products are supposed to be available on demand, whenever we want them.  For example, I am in the process of replacing the “twitter van”- my old Toyota Sienna minivan with over 197,000 miles on it, with something new.  The old girl is just sad looking at this point, and my husband has declared enough is enough, so I am updating my “personal brand” with a new car.  We’ve been shopping for cars for some time, but I was disappointed to find out the brand and model we wanted were sold out of 2009’s so I have to wait for a 2010.  Dealers were surprisingly blasé about selling me a car.  I would have expected them to be a bit more enthusiastic about the prospect, but only one dealership did any sort of work to really see when the models would be available, see what they could order, and give me a great deal.  When I took this offer to another dealership closer to my home to see if hey would match it, they seemed incredulous that any of this was possible.  Yet, here I sit, with the VIN number of the car in hand, awaiting its delivery in the next few days.  The bottom line in terms of branding is that I expected with this brand that the Company as a whole should be happy that I want a car from them, that they should have them ready for me unless I want something really unusual, just as if I were buying a bottle of ketchup.   And as a brand, I expect they should be willing to do at least a little to make sure I don’t go off and decide to get the large purchase elsewhere.

But when people become brands, they can never be exactly like a car or a bottle of ketchup.  They can produce great books, like Trust Agents or Six Pixels of Separation, (both written by friends of mine), that act as products or souvenirs of the people and their ideas.  But the people themselves don’t scale the same way.  They still have lives and families and friends; they need to sleep and eat and have private time.  But some of this gets murky once personal branding and actually branding start to merge.

Think about this in terms of celebrity.  I think it really started with the Beatles.  The band became more than just records and music.  They became icons, they became lunchboxes and action figures and now even video games, many years after their initial fame for just being musicians and song writers.  Now you see the merchandising of fame and celebrity being as important as what ever someone did to become famous in the first place, but what gets lost in the hype are the people themselves.  A quick trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will bring this all into relief, as you see how many people get chewed up by the fame machine, and see the few that have managed to survive it.

We don’t always consider how weird and difficult a childhood someone like Michael Jackson or Lindsay Lohan have had.  We don’t think or look at them empathetically, as people.  We look at them as side shows, as entertainment, and when they seem to crack up, we say “Well, they asked for it, what did they expect?”  On some level, they just did what they did best, acting or signing or writing or whatever.  The rest became the business of being a celebrity, which has its privileges and up sides, but has just as many down sides as people take random pot shots at you, or think you have some magic you can lend them, or give them a big break so they can be just like you, or whatever.

Celebrity, the height of personal branding, breeds a certain amount of expectation and neediness in others.  We expect our celebrities to be the bottle of ketchup we can get a fix of whenever we need.  We expect them to keep on delighting us with every new project and we’re more than happy to express crushing disappointment when our appetites aren’t fed.  And the media, professional and amateur, seems only to happy to find something to criticise at every turn.  We think “Oh, what a big head they have now that they’re big shots.”     Or “Well, you don’t seem to remember that you used to be just like us before you got lucky.”  Or “Why should I feel sorry for them?  They have it easy.”  Or “Well, they’re snobby now- I can’t even seem to talk to them anymore- I guess we aren’t really friends.”

All of this is ridiculous, of course.  All that’s happened is that a greater number of people constantly want the personal attention and adoration of the person whose “made it”, and that the person can’t scale like their product can.  All this drama is happening on the side of the audience, not from the person on the pedestal, and the person can’t do much other than watch it happen, because the cat is out of the bag, and there’s little hope of getting it back in.

I don’t think there’s any easy answers here.  I think part of it is for all of us to realize that personal branding is a great thing, but once you reach the product stage, there are hidden traps along with the benefits.  And I think this is meant as a wake up call for all of us who have friends with strong personal brands, to remember that our friends still need the same love and support and attention they always got from us, even if it doesn’t always come back reciprocally- they are trying to scale, but they’re finding themselves trying to be people in a product loving world.  And that seems like a busy but pretty lonely place to be.

Tags: CC Chapman, lindsay lohan, maslow's heirarchy, michael jackson, Mitch Joel, personal branding, rock and roll hall of fame, seth godin, six pixels of separation, trust agents

No Longer New

I’ve been talking to a bunch of different podcasters I’ve known for a few years now, and there’s seems to be a common theme among many- including myself- of having lost some of the energy and direction that got them to where they are now.

A few years ago, having your own show, producing podcast or video for the ‘net was cutting edge, new and different. Now, in half of my eleven year old’s classes, they will be expected to produce a podcast as part of their science, history and literature projects. While I feel like my background will be incredibly helpful to my kids who are already Podcamp veterans, I can imagine for many parents, this is like being dumped into a brave new world, where their kids are doing things they barely ever heard of themselves. Podcasting is now clearly no longer fringe, but mainstream.

The airwaves are getting crowded, not only with more people, but with more professionals entering the pace as well. This seems like the perfect time for those with more experience to shine and to use their skills to take projects to the next level, whether it’s for themselves or for others. This seems like the perfect time to cash in, so to speak, to leverage your demonstrable skills and to do this stuff professionally. Yet I have heard more than once “I’m doing this for the love of it, it’s my passion” juxtaposed with the “I am not getting as much attention/money that I’d like, and this has become a hassle, it’s no longer fun.” Heck, I’ve felt that way.

Are we entering into a time where longevity is on the verge of really paying off, (coming out of Seth Godin’s Dip) but many people are deciding to give up and falling off the curve? Is this the time of differentiation between the tenacious and those who have just run their course? Or has this whole era of independent media jumped the shark? If everyone can use the tools, if everyone is special, does that mean no one is?

As media channels continue to fragment, the bulk of attention no longer has a recognized center of gravity. Podshow, now Mevio, is no longer the center of the podcasting universe. The New Media Expo has joined forces with BlogWorld. People ask me if we’re ever going to change the name of Podcamp since it’s not just about podcasting any more. What’s happened to the tight knit group of independent producers, and what’s caused them to change their pathway which once seemed so clear and full of energy?

I am not sure there’s any one answer to these questions. I do think that production of digital audio and video is more mainstream and is no longer all that fringe. Apple’s increased market share in computers alone puts easy to use tools in more and more homes. What was scarce is now abundant. What has become scarce is the experience to make those tools sing, and that’s where our value may lie.

People who have honed their editing skills now have marketable talents they can sell to businesses and others, especially since we’ve passed the early days when crappy sounding audio was acceptable. There’s an expectation that everyone can have a broadcast studio in their homes, but those of us who can show them higher production standards, and how to take the DIY standard to the next level could have a comfortable marketplace available.

The challenge is that the people who have done this for several years are starting to burn out. The projects no longer seem new, they seem like work. Because they seem like work without a lot of compensation, the fun is gone, and we start to move on to other projects that have that sense of adventure added in again. We’ve grown and changed and taken on new things, developed new passions, and found once again, it’s time for a change and a challenge.

The reason some people started podcasting has been lost in what seems like a project with no end, no meaningful conclusion, no boundaries. Unlike TV seasons, there’s no set production schedule, and there’s no one who will let you know when it’s time to pull the plug, either. And what does it say to all you’ve done if you cancel your own show? Is it admitting failure? Is it putting a chapter of your own life to bed? Is it giving up?

I know I got into podcasting as a way of expressing my own voice. I wanted to be heard and to help others at the same time. I still do. Now that I am producing programs for others, teaching and consulting, there’s simply less time to do what was an all consuming, weekly schedule of production. While I am experimenting with a less regular production schedule, putting up shows as time allows, I know this isn’t what it once was when it was a weekly show. I don’t want to give it up, but I really love all the other opportunities I’ve had for growth and for helping others understand digital media and how it can help their businesses.

Podcasting isn’t new anymore.  It has become the tool we all knew it was, and it’s a tool we’re putting in the hands of everyone, as our semi-rural school district is showing its students.  This takes away some of the magical allure podcasting once had, and it makes all of us reconsider how we use this tool as not the focus of a project, but just as a piece of a larger picture of our lives, who we are and what we do.

Being a podcaster isn’t really a job description anymore.  It’s only a part of an overall communications strategy, a piece of a larger puzzle of finding our voices and our purpose, and getting others to listen and find value in what we have to say.  This is why Podcamp, and Podcamp Philly in particular, strives to include classes on social media, marketing, search engine optimization and more, as well as how to use these tools in different industries, for nonprofits, and more. It’s not about just picking one channel. You have to have a bigger vision or purpose than just podcasting in order to keep the project on track- there has to be a reason to use each tool, and integrating many tools into a larger whole – blogging, and print and video and audio- using each tool as is most appropriate, to tell our story, to communicate your message and to engage others and gain their most valuable possession- their attention.

What do you think?  How do you maintain energy on a project that is open-ended?  When do you give it up?  And when is it time to decide whether or not to “cash in” and use your skills to help others just starting out?  What happens when what maks you special seems commonplace a few years down the line?  How do you keep things fresh for yourself?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Tags: attention, ego, podcamp, podcasting, seth godin, The Dip