Posted by Ellie Mirman on Wed, Jul 07, 2010 @ 08:30 AM
I recently read Seth Godin's newest book, Linchpin, and not only loved the book but also found that it so shockingly well described my office. So much so that I've started recommending it to recent grads interested in marketing, alongside Inbound Marketing and The New Rules of Marketing & PR, of course.
Below is a combination of summary and favorite tidbits from the book.
Linchpin is Purple Cow for people. In short, be remarkable.
The premise of the book is that the lizard brain, one of the most primitive parts of our brain, is in charge of survival instincts and keeping us out of danger. When translated into our complex world, though, this means that we confine ourselves to our self-made boxes and do not innovate. A linchpin is someone who acknolwedges the fear of the lizard brain but continues to create art to share with the world. It is ever more important, in the new age of the internet, to become a linchpin rather than a cog in the wheel of a factory.
We've been taught to be cogs in a wheel, workers in a factory. But we can choose to break from that mold to create art.
Instead what we should teach in schools is to (1) solve interesting problems (answer the question "What should I do next?" - a question that Google cannot answer) and (2) lead. The new American Dream is (or should be): Be remarkable. Be generous. Create art. Make judgment calls. Connect people and ideas. "If you can be human at work (not a machine), you'll discover a passion for work you didn't know you had. When work becomes personal, your customers and coworkers are more connected and happier. And that creates even more value."
Act like a cog in a machine and you will be treated as such. Linchpins acknolwedge fear and create art anyway. Linchpins have a passion for creating and spreading art.
Linchpins create art that draw people to them and make people (customers, employees, employers) loyal to them. They create great art that makes people cross the street to get to them. Fear is what holds us back. And it's not that linchpins do not have fear. Rather, they feel the fear, acknowledge it, and proceed.
A cog in a machine is always waiting to get instructions. Even if you have a job that is typically like a cog in a machine, you still don't have to treat it that way. "If he waits for a job to be good enough to deserve his best shot, it's unlikely that he'll ever have that job." Linchpins create art, give gifts not because they have to, because if they did, it wouldn't be a gift, it would be a job.
"Passion isn't project-specific. It's people-specific. Some people are hooked on passion, deriving their sense of self from the act of being passionate... People with passion look for ways to make things happen."
Linchpins get things done.
The resistance (the lizard brain) keeps us from actually shipping a product. One case is in the form of thrashing when it's time to ship - surfacing all sorts of objections at the end of a project that delays us and keeps us from actually finishing anything. Instead, thrashing should be done at the beginning of a project when it's a lot cheaper, and should limit the number of people thrashing as much as possible. Some common manifestations of the resistance are: playing "devil's advocate," relying on deadlines to get things done, always juggling multiple projects, compliance disguised as humility. Seth calls out the sprint/scrum process as a great way to battle the resistance and GSD. "Successful people are successful for one simple reason: they think about failure differently." You become a winner by getting good at losing.
Being a linchpin requires good judgment and passion.
Seth calls out the importance of passion multiple times, explaining a two-way relationship between art and passion - passionate people create art, the freedom to create art inspires passion. Note that it's a lot easier to bring passion to your job than to find a job that matches your passion.
The Seven Abilities of the Linchpin
Linchpins do 2 things: (1) exert emotional labor (2) make a map. Linchpins have 7 key abilities:
- Provide unique interface between members of the organization
- Deliver unique creativity (requires domain knowledge, position of trust, generosity to contribute)
- Manage a complex situation or org (requires map-making and clear judgment)
- Lead customers
- Inspire staff
- Provide deep domain knowledge
- Possess a unique talent
Still having trouble being allowed to be a linchpin?
- Note the difference between the right answer and the answer you can sell. Ideas might be shot down not because they're bad but because the wrong person tried to sell it. If you have a controversial idea, you can trigger the resistance in other people.
- Focus on making changes that work down (customers & employees), not up (management). Use that to earn the trust and respect of those above you.
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Fri, Nov 27, 2009 @ 12:13 PM
I came across the Rules of Productivity presentation on one of my favorite blogs about happiness in the workplace, The Chief Happiness Officer. In it are some interesting takeaways (often pulling from data, my favorite) on how to maximize the productivity of a team.
Rule 1: Working more than 40 hours leads to decreased productivity. You can get a short-term boost by working more hours, but the team will require a recovery period that counteracts the seeming short-term productivity boost.
Rule 2: Every crunch has a cost. This refers to the necessary recovery time. In addition, the recovery period can often outlast the period of increased productivity. Instead of having forced bursts of overtime, try giving flexible work hours like a 4-day week of 10-hour days.
Rule 3: Productivity of "knowledge workers" (vs. factory workers) declines after 35 hours (not 40 hours). When creative workers are forced to work longer hours and get less sleep, the quality of their output goes down dramatically.
Rule 4: Teams that work overtime think they are doing more but actually accomplish less. During crunch times, perceived productivity remains much higher than actual productivity. I found this note particularly interesting:
One of the more fascinating side effects is the perception of both teams with management. Since Team A has more ‘butts in seats’, they are often given more resources, promoted more and generally considered to be better workers. Unfortunately, due to the burden that overtime places on workers, this is not a self fullfilling prophecy. It is quite common that managers put all their eggs in the basket that ends up self destructing. The solution is better metrics so that managers can gain a more objective understanding of how projects are doing.
Rule 5: Teams of 4-8 people have higher productivity. As your team grows, it's best to plan how to split the team into these smaller groups that can then interact with each other as needed.
Rule 6: Seating the team together in a shared room increases productivity. This makes sense, since these are the people you communicate with the most. Having them in a separate room also helps in minimizing external distractions (but what if most of the distractions come from within your own team, I wonder?). Other important notes: give at least 50 sq ft per person and set up side rooms for private conversations.
Rule 7: Cross-functional teams also increase creativity and productivity. Having a team consisting of people with different perspectives also helps reduce groupthink and helps increase breakthrough solutions. Note that having members of these teams part time rather than full time results in a 15% drop in efficiency.
Rule 8: Schedule your team at 80% to allow space for creative thinking and side projects. Of course, always have a backlog of projects you can pull from as needed, but leaving time for side projects can increase happiness and increase creative problem solving for all projects.
Overall some interesting food for thought for bringing back to your own team.
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Wed, Dec 31, 2008 @ 07:20 AM
When I find something cool, I tend to get very excited about it, obsess about it for a little while, and then move on to the next big thing. Hopefully I can use my blog to capture those moments of excitement for me, and you, and the whole wide Internet.
My latest source of excitement is "the nametag guy" - a guy named Scott who wears a nametag 24/7 in an effort "to make people friendlier." He's an author and speaker (quite a young one, I might add) on the topic of approachability - both for personal and business use. He's got a blog and podcast and all that good stuff... but enough of my free promotion. Now onto the good stuff - the content.
I admit I can be a bit of a cheesball and so of course I latched on to his free ebook "66 Priceless Pieces of Business Advice I Couldn't Live Without". There are maybe a few things I'd suggest to Scott to better present his content for better distribution and better user experience, but hey, that's not what this post is about (we can do that stuff later). For now, I thought I'd share a few of the cheesy inspirational quotes that I particularly liked.
Be confident enough to be humble.
I love this one becuase one of the qualities I admire most in people is humility. And some of the most humble people I know are those that I find the most amazing in terms of their knowledge or kindness or any other brag-able quality. Humble people always manage to blow me away.
Anonymity is the greatest barrier to business success.
I relate this one to my growth and success in my role in my job. If you want to make it anywhere, you need to do something. And that means you need to have the courage and confidence to get out there, slap your name on and take responsiblity for your actions, whether they have positive or negative results. It may be a risk, but the higher the risk, the greater the payoff right? Take that chance, learn from your mistakes, and make a name for yourself.
Be unique, not different.
Though I haven't read the follow-up article all on this topic, I already see the difference between the two. Not only is this a great sentiment, but the tone of the sound bite itself speaks to the overall tone of Scott's speeches and purpose - it's a positive, optimistic tone. "Be unique" is a positive sentiment, creating yourself as a unique person, whereas "be different" merely defines you in relation to everyone else. It's the negative space instead of the positive space.
Act like you already are the person you want to become.
The new (broader) version of "dress for the job you want, not the job you have"? I like this one also for the dependent step of figuring out who is the person you want to become. Related quote: "Figure out exactly who you are, and then go be that person every day."
Love your zone of discomfort.
Love it. The quote I mean. You don't get anywhere being "comfortable."
If you aren't being criticized, you aren't doing much.
HubSpot TV co-host Karen Rubin and I were chatting about how she's now getting a few critics as the show gets bigger and bigger... a sign that the show is really starting to get big. It's true. If you're going to do anything significant, you're going to get critics.
Learning is not waiting to talk.
True and self-explanatory.
The best swimmers are always in the pool.
Recently I was advising someone who wants to learn and write about social media. First step: get involved. Now. This quote speaks to two elements: the best swimmers are those that are really engaged in the activity and also are so engaged likely because they have a passion for swimming.
And a great personal branding quote to end on:
It's not who you know, it's who knows you.
You can check out all 66 cheesy inspirational quotes here (and feel free to share).
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Fri, Nov 21, 2008 @ 02:31 AM
I would have thought that my late night cramming days were behind me. That I wouldn't be typing typing away in the beautiful silence that only comes with a completely sound asleep household - er - apartment building. But here I am, just finishing a presentation I'll deliver in 10 hours to a few thousand people. And now cutting into my precious beauty sleep to reminisce about my college days.
Oddly enough, I've been thinking a lot about dorm life tonight.
Out of my whole first year, or even out of all my four years at university, for some reason there's one late night cramming session that I always remember. It was sometime first semester of my first year, and I was taking Philosophy 101 (just like every other going-to-save-the-world-someday-with-my-altruism college undergrad). I had a paper on who-knows-what due the next day and, well, it was already the middle of the night, just about 9 hours before the paper was due. Hey, 9 hours is plenty (if I don't have to sleep...). I had taken my laptop out into the hallway of my dorm because it was so wonderfully quiet, and oddly comfortable. It was so peaceful (perhaps producing the right state of mind to write about philosophy...) with everyone asleep in their rooms, except me, typing away in the hallway, and my roommate the night-owl, settling into our room after a night out on the town.
There's not much more to that memory, oddly enough, except perhaps thinking that my most productive time of day was 3am, and also the feeling that I was genuinely happy. That must be it. The reason I always remember that moment - that feeling of pure happiness. Feels pretty sad right about now.
There were a lot of things that really made me happy in my dorm life days. The friends, the independence, the sense of (productivity? no, purpose sounds better though cheesy). Not to say those other things are gone. I continue to have wonderful friends (many from those same late night cram sessions), live even more independently, and, fortunately, continue to feel productive - er - purposeful? But there is still something more to the calm happiness of my late night cram session... perhaps it was due to living in a building of 600 others just like me. Or perhaps it is just due to having too much caffeine and staying up typing through the dead of night.
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Wed, Feb 06, 2008 @ 01:27 AM
Hi, my name is Ellie, and I'm a Workaholic. It's taken me a long time to admit it, and I'm still not sure I completely believe it. Because I think I'm really just someone who loves her job and gets satisfaction out of doing some real awesome work.
Am I realy a workaholic? What makes a workaholic? I work a lot of hours. OK, but does that really make me a workaholic? Wikipedia says that a workaholic is someone who is addicted to work, not necessarily because they enjoy it, but because they feel compelled to do it. Damn, we've got a bit of a catch-22 there in my case... I might actually admit that I feel compelled to do work, but that's because I enjoy it.
I'm not alone in my addiction. My company is full of similarly-minded workaholics. Maybe that's why we get along so well (OK, everyone's also super nice). But really, what can you attribute to someone's personality and what to the environment they're in? Where do you draw the line between a "workaholic" and simply a "happy worker"?
One of my favorite bloggers these days is Alexander Kjerulf, who calls himself The Chief Happiness Officer, and often writes about finding happiness in your job. In a recent op-ed piece he wrote called "Yes, you can be happy at work", he commented on the difference in attitudes towards jobs in America versus Scandinavian countries, saying that the US attitude is "You get paid to do your job, not to like it", while that's not the case in (for example, his home country of) Denmark.
So does my experience disprove Alexander's statement? Or is it an exception to the rule? I, in my infinite wisdom *ahem* make that idealism, would suggest that each person has the potential to be a great, dedicated, satisfied worker (call it workaholic if you will) if only placed in the right environment, an environment that breeds happy workers. As the op-ed piece states what I believe (albeit with some more credibility perhaps), "Studies show that happy employees are more motivated, productive, innovative, and engaged." Sounds to me like happy workers become workaholics because don't we all want to spend more time doing things we enjoy? Too much of a good thing is wonderful, right?
Posted by Ellie Mirman on Wed, Jan 23, 2008 @ 08:40 AM
I've spoken about this numerous times before - happiness in your job is all about finding the right company for you. There's no one perfect job for everyone, it's all about finding the right fit between you and the company.
And now there's a site that helps you figure this out! On Jiibe, you answer a bunch of questions (the more you answer, the more accurate your results) about your current and ideal work environment. It then creates a "jiibe" and report based on your responses. Here's my jiibe:
My ideal work culture:
Not only that, it offers up companies that match your jiibe (based on users' ratings for the companies for the same set of questions) and (smartest part of all) actually displays current openings posted at that company. Well, that's Jiibe's whole thing - their tagline is "The best way to find a great place to work is to ask a friend, but Jiibe takes it a step further by asking everyone".
It's very cool (though somewhat tedious to answer all the questions) and it's free (but be warned: you will need to register). I don't agree 100% with the report it spit out for me or my company, but there's definitely some valid stuff in there. And it's "colorful." For example, here's what it says about HubSpot: "If this company were a band it would be a punk group called Innovate or Die!" Right now their directory of companies is still pretty limited, but this could turn out to be a very popular, very cool job search tool. These days it's all about valuable, user-generated content and that's what Jiibe is all about.