Linchpin_ Are You Indispensable_ - Seth Godin [29]
mystery to me too."
Avoiding the treadmill of defect-free is not easy to sell to someone who's been trained in
the perfection worldview since first grade (which is most of us). But artists embrace the
mystery of our genius instead. They understand that there is no map, no step-by-step
plan, and no way to avoid blame now and then.
If it wasn't a mystery, it would be easy. If it were easy, it wouldn't be worth much.
The Problem with Bowling
Bowling is an asymptotic sport. The best you can do is perfect: 300, that's it. There's a
ceiling.
This is like the Six Sigma approach to quality. Six Sigma refers to the quest for
continuous improvement, ultimately leading to 3.4 defects per million units. The problem
is that once you're heading down this road, there's no room left for amazing
improvements and remarkable innovations. Either you rolled ten strikes or you didn't.
Organizations that earn dramatic success always do it in markets where asymptotes don't
exist, or where they can be shattered. If you could figure out how to bowl 320, that would
be amazing. Until that happens, pick a different sport if you want to be a linchpin.
The Downside of Good
Being pretty good is extremely easy these days. Building a pretty good Web site, for
example, is significantly cheaper and faster and easier than building a pretty good
storefront was twenty years ago. Same goes for writing a pretty good e-mail message, one
that can compare with something from a giant corporation, or shipping a package across
the country.
The record you can cut in your basement or the food you can prepare with ingredients
from the local market--all pretty good. You can buy a world-class CD player for twentynine dollars and hire a great lawyer by investing a few clicks and a phone call.
Employees are encouraged to deliver products and services and inputs that are good.
Good as in within the boundaries defined by the boss. Showing up at the beginning of
your shift and staying to the end is good. Meeting spec is good. Answering the phone in a
reasonable amount of time is good.
The problem with meeting expectations is that it's not remarkable. It won't change the
recipient of your work, and it's easy to emulate (which makes you easy to replace). As a
result of the tsunami of pretty good (and the persistence of really lousy), the market for
truly exceptional is better than ever. That's what I want if I hire someone for more than
what the market will bear--someone exceptional.
So yes, good is bad, if bad means "not a profitable thing to aspire to." And perfect is bad,
because you can't top perfect. The solution lies in seeking out something that is neither
good nor perfect. You want something remarkable, nonlinear, game changing, and
artistic.
Work is a chance to do art. Good art is useless and banal. No one crosses the street to buy
good art, or becomes loyal to a good artist.
If you can't be remarkable, perhaps you should consider doing nothing until you can. If
your organization skipped a month's catalog because you didn't have anything great to put
in it, what would happen the next month? Would the quality and user delight of your
product line improve?
Raising the bar is easier than it looks, and it pays for itself. If your boss won't raise your
bar, you should.
He Works for Blessings
David has been working in the midtown branch of Dean & Deluca for six years. This
mini-chain of high-end coffee shops in New York has very high turnover, so six years is
quite an achievement.
I met David while having coffee with a friend. The first thing I noticed was that he had
walked over to a line of tourists and cheerfully said, "Hey, guys! We have another
bathroom upstairs. No need to wait." With a smile, he moved away, energetically
cleaning off tables and straightening things that didn't seem particularly crooked to me. If
this was menial labor, no one told David.
As the hour wore on, I saw him greet people, help without asking, offer to watch