Linchpin_ Are You Indispensable_ - Seth Godin [32]
How to Make the Olympic Ski Team
Matt Dayton skied Nordic (cross-country) in the 2002 Olympics. He taught me a simple
lesson: The person who leans forward the most wins the race.
In The Dip, I wrote about the challenge of persevering through a problem that causes
most people to quit. In a race, sooner or later there's a moment that separates the winner
from those who don't win. That instant is your chance, the moment you've been waiting
for.
Consider the airline business. Everyone has to use similar planes and similar airports.
There's no standardized opportunity to do better or worse than anyone else. But when it
comes to pricing or service or enthusiasm, you get a chance to play by different rules
from the competition. And the brand that leans into the problem the hardest will win.
The linchpin brings the ability to lean.
He can find a new solution to a problem that has caused others to quit. His art, his genius,
is to reimagine the opportunity and find a new way to lean into it.
You may say, "But I'll get fired for breaking the rules." The linchpin says, "If I lean
enough, it's okay if I get fired, because I'll have demonstrated my value to the
marketplace. If the rules are the only thing between me and becoming indispensable, I
don't need the rules."
It's easy to find a way to spend your entire day doing busywork. Trivial work doesn't
require leaning. The challenge is to replace those tasks with rule-breaking activities
instead.
Posture for Change
If I tell you to stand by, you'll simply stand. You can stand by on a corner or at a desk or
in a job. Standing by requires a certain posture, because you may be doing it for a while.
If, on the other hand, I ask you to move a couch, dislodge a stuck door, or otherwise
cause change in your environment, you won't do it from the same posture. You'll choose
to lean into the task, because if you don't transfer your weight, you have no chance of
moving anything.
The linchpin understands that this choice of posture is the critical step. Consider the
customer service troubleshooter, the dervish who walks into any situation and makes it
better. Her posture is forward; she's looking for opportunities. She wants to mix it up. She
looks for trouble; trouble gives her a chance to delight.
The cog is standing by, waiting for instructions.
I still remember two jobs where I was required to stand by. I hated each one. I melted.
Once, it was only for three days, but spending three days with a posture that was alien to
me was incredibly difficult.
If you are hiring for a standy job, it won't attract linchpins.
The physical (and mental) posture of someone creating art both changes and causes
change.
If you can, visualize the reluctant student, head on his shoulder, slumped on the desk,
chewing on a pencil. This is student as employee, student as prisoner. The chances of
great work or great learning occurring are zero. And so there's no transfer of positive
emotion, no energy going back to the teacher or being spread to fellow students.
The same posture afflicts fast-food workers, overworked attorneys, and everyone in
between.
But imagine an artist in the same situation. He's barely restrained, chomping to get to
work. He leans into the work, not away from it. His energy creates energy in those
around him; his charisma turns into leadership.
Art changes posture and posture changes innocent bystanders.
Unsolicited Advice for Steve
Steve works at the Stop & Shop near my house. He hates it. He works the cash register,
and it seems as though every ounce of his being projects his dissatisfaction with his job.
Steve won't make eye contact.
Steve takes a lot of breaks.
Steve doesn't start bagging until the last possible moment.
Steve grumbles a lot.
The thing is, Steve spends as much time at work as Melinda. And Melinda is engaged and
connected and enthusiastic. Steve has decided that he's not being paid enough to bring his
entire self to work, and he's teaching all of us a lesson.