The American Dream is dead according to Seth Godin. At least the old version as it applies to our careers is:

Keep your head down/Follow instructions/Show up on time/Work hard/Suck it up…you will be rewarded.

Linchpin is the longest of Godin’s books to date but it is an extremely powerful piece of reading that makes a compelling argument for a new career philosophy. As a recent college graduate and founder of a start-up company, I can’t tell you how refreshing and reassuring it is to hear some of our biggest fears alleviated by a respected author.

Godin’s basic argument in Linchpin is that as traditional career paths and job stability become increasingly eroded by emerging technologies and innovations, it is no longer enough to have the kind of job that you merely show up to every day while doing just enough to keep from being noticed. It is crucial to become an indispensable part of your company and create the kind of value that cannot be replicated or substituted. According to Godin, as soon as what you do can be broken down into a basic set of processes that can be put into a manual, you have lost any security you may have thought you had. As soon as your job can be outsourced, it will be. As soon as a computer can do what you do, it will.

Linchpin starts out by breaking down the process that led us to where we are today. Godin explains the traditional market structure and labor philosophies that basically centered around creating companies and jobs whose main functions and directives could be easily itemized and replaced with cheap disposable labor. The problem with a model like this, according to the author, is that it charts a course toward the bottom where companies begin to compete on price points, reducing overhead, and squeezing every last ounce out of diminishing profit margins. These practices obviously don’t leave room for innovation, growth, and longevity.

The solution, as proposed by Godin, is to take every opportunity that you are granted in your job, whatever it may be, to make a difference, to humanize your interactions and, essentially to create art. Job stability is a thing of the past and unless you are doing something that is so essentially you in your career and your interactions with the people around you, you should go ahead and consider yourself replaced.

The New American Dream:

Be remarkable/Be generous/Create art/Make judgment calls/Connect people and ideas…and we have no choice but to reward you.

Godin goes on to explain his definition of art and how it can apply to just about anything that is essentially human:

Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does.

A machine can’t create art, because the intent matters.

Art is the product of emotional labor. If it’s easy and risk free, it’s unlikely that it’s art.

This concept of emotional labor is a central focus of the book and it is what distinguishes doing something that really creates value from just going through the motions. According to Godin, we are all inclined to try to shy away from performing emotional labor, the kind of thing that causes us to get involved, to care about the results of our actions, and to do what we know is right even when it is hard. We’d all love to show up to a job where the only thing that mattered was being there and keeping our heads down so that we could leave everything about work at the office when we come home. The issue is that in such a career, we leave ourselves at home in the morning and pick up our ‘real lives’ at the end of the day.

The problems with this sort of approach become clear when considering the amount of time that we spend ‘doing work’ and the relative absence of time that we spend ‘being ourselves’ in light of this separation. Godin calls upon us to begin doing things in our jobs that allow us to be ourselves all of the time. To invest the sort of emotional labor in our jobs and careers that cannot be performed by the type disembodied drone that we tend to become at work.

This book resonates particularly well with me, as someone looking to build a career where careers seem basically nonexistent: the music industry. I approach my work with an emotional investment because it’s my only option. I know that there is nothing else I could be doing with my time that I would be able to care deeply enough about to make this sort of investment in. It’s not something I show up to and punch the clock at, it’s what I think and talk and read about every single day.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone unsure of their future and concerned about making a ‘safe’ choice when it comes to their careers.

As always, we look forward to your comments, thoughts, and ideas.

-Patrick R

patrick@rabbitholeconsulting.com

Interested in how to implement Business Development Strategy and Intelligent Marketing Concepts for your Music Enterprise or small business? ContactRabbitHole Consulting to learn about how we can help you reach your target.