Linchpin_ Are You Indispensable_ - Seth Godin [102]
We've gone against our true nature and corporatized, anonymized, and dehumanized as
many of our systems as we possibly can. Even health care is a system now, not a human
interaction. We could probably go even further, actually, but I'm betting it won't be a fun
or profitable journey.
If all mortgages are the same, of course they can be chopped up and remixed and resold.
But that means all bankers and all homes are the same, and so are all homeowners. Which
means the cheap ones or the profitable ones are all that matter.
If all online products at all online stores are the same, then of course I'll use a priceshopping Web site to find the cheapest product.
If all employees are nothing but a resume, and resumes can be scanned, then why are we
surprised that our computers end up finding us anonymous average people to fill our
anonymous average jobs?
If every restaurant on the highway will give me precisely the same cheery service from
the same robotic staff, at the same prices, then why does it matter where I stop?
Do we need to be flatter and smaller?
It's our desire to be treated like individuals that will end this cycle. Our passion for
contribution and possibility, the passion we've drowned out in school and in the corporate
world--that's the only way out.
Every successful organization is built around people. Humans who do art. People who
interact with other people. Men and women who don't merely shuffle money, but interact,
give gifts, and connect.
All these interactions are art. Art isn't only a painting; it's anything that changes someone
for the better, any nonanonymous interaction that leads to a human (not simply a
commercial) conclusion.
Art can't be bought and sold. It must contain an element that's a gift, something that
brings the artist closer to the viewer, not something that insulates one from the other. So,
we need to remember how to be artists.
Artists, at least the great ones, see the world more clearly than the rest of us. They have
prajna, a sense of what actually is, not simply the artist's take on it. That honest sight
allows them to see the future over the cloudy horizon. As our world changes faster and
faster, it is these honest artists who will describe our future, and lead us there.
The only thing keeping you from being one of these artists is the resistance. The loud
voice of the lizard brain telling you that you can't possibly do it, that you don't deserve it,
that people will laugh at you. We don't have a talent shortage, we have a shipping
shortage. Anyone who makes the choice to overcome the resistance and has the insight to
make the right map can become a successful linchpin.
You can't fake it, though, because human beings are too talented at sensing when a gift is
not a gift, when we're being played or manipulated. And sometimes, our art isn't enough.
It's not enough to get us a sale or even a living. But we persist because making art is what
we do.
The result of this art, these risks, the gifts, and the humanity coming together is both
wonderful and ironic. The result of getting back in touch with our pre-commercial selves
will actually create a post-commercial world that feeds us, enriches us, and gives us the
stability we've been seeking for so long.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Emily Boyd, Jon Dale, Rebecca Goldstein, Ishita Gupta, Clay Hebert, Alex Krupp, Susan
Lewis, Al Pittampalli, Allan Young, Doug Rushkoff, Will Millberg, Hedy Kalikoff,
Richard Weiss, Chris Anderson, Duncan Hines, Courtney Young, The Other Chris
Anderson, Dave Balter, Greg Linn, Gary Gold, Blair Miller, Jim Leff, Todd Sattersten,
Jack Covert, Lisa DiMona, Jacqueline Novogratz, Anne Jackson, Andy Sernovitz, Rajesh
Setty, Micah Sifry, Megan Casey, Corey Brown, Gil to the rescue, Blake Schwendiman,
Kimberly Dawn Wells, Stephanie Henry, Fred Wilson, Tony Hsieh, Guy Kawasaki,
Michael Brooke, Charley Delana, Red Maxwell, Robert Shaps, Barbara Barry, Marina
Sourbis, Derek Sivers, Micah Solomon, Joel Spolsky, Cory Doctorow, Henry Poydar, Zig
Ziglar,