Seth Godin, "who's designing your system?"

Greater than the sum of the parts

Some of the greatest buildings of all time were created by unskilled craftsmen using cheap and readily available materials. McMansions, on the other hand, are often created by highly paid workers and endless supplies of expensive materials.

Caviar isn’t required to make a great meal… but a talented, thoughtful chef definitely makes a difference.

Who is designing your system? Who is putting in an unreasonable amount of effort to make sure it’s magical?

The real law of averages, Seth Godin

Another thoughtful and interesting piece from Seth Godin today.  Well-worth a read!

And, while you're at it, go check out his blog! www.sethgodin.com

~Peter

The real law of averages

If you want to raise the standards of any group, improving the top of the heap isn't nearly as effective as focusing your effort on the base instead.

Simple example: Getting a Prius to go from 50 miles per gallon to 55 miles per gallon isn't nearly as important as getting SUVs to go from 10 miles per gallon to 15. There are two reasons for this. The first is that there are a lot more SUVs than Priuses. The second is that they use far more gallons, so a percentage increase has far more yield. (You can't average averages).

If you care about health and a culture of performance, it's tempting to push Olympic athletes to go just a tenth of a second faster. It's far more effective, though, if you can get 3,000,000 kids to each spend five more minutes a day walking instead of sitting.

Organizations pamper and challenge the few in the executive suite, imagining that one more good decision in the biz dev group could pay off. The thing is, if every one of the 10,000 customer-facing employees was more engaged and kind, it would have a far bigger impact on the company and those it serves.

I think the reason we focus on the few is that it feels more dramatic, seems more controllable and is ultimately easier. But the effective, just and important thing to do is to help the back of the line catch up.

       

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From Seth Godin: "Be the different one"

Always thought-provoking, Seth Godin has another wonderful thought for today, "Be the different one"

Be the different one

Leonard Nimoy created one of our culture's singular fictional characters. Gene Roddenberry gave him the opportunity, but it was Nimoy who developed Spock.

A key moment came in one of the first episodes. Everyone on the bridge was freaking out about something or other, and Spock's line was a simple word: "Fascinating."

Nimoy first delivered it in the same excited, scared tone as everyone else.

The director took him aside and said, "be the different one."

Easy to say, difficult to do.

By being the different one, Spock became a character for the ages, and changed the center of gravity for the series' narrative.

The same thing could be said for your career, or the impact your organization makes.

From Seth Godin's blog: Why drafting works

From Seth Godin's blog:

Why drafting works

The other day, a speedster on a bike passed me as I rode along the bike path. For the next ten minutes, I rode right behind him, drafting his progress.

Sure, there's an aerodynamic reason that this works--there's less wind resistance when you ride closely.

But the real reason is mental, not based on physics. Drafting works because, right in front of you is proof that you can go faster.

Without knowing it, you do this at work every day. We set our pace based on what competitors or co-workers are doing. One secret to making more of an impact, then, is figuring out who you intend to follow. Don't 'pace yourself,' instead, find someone to unknowningly pace you.