1259: Toward Zero Unemployment by Seth Godin on Connection Economy, Abundance, Trust & Remarkability

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[00:00:57] This is Optimal Work Daily Episode 1259

[00:01:02] Toward Zero Unemployment by Seth Goden of Seth.blog

[00:01:07] And I'm your narrator Dan and I'm going to jump right into our post now for this Tuesday as we optimize your life.

[00:01:14] Toward Zero Unemployment by Seth Goden of Seth.blog

[00:01:23] A dozen generations ago there was no unemployment largely because there were no real jobs to speak of.

[00:01:30] Before the Industrial Revolution, the thought that you'd leave your home and go to an office or a factory was of course bizarre.

[00:01:36] What happens now that the industrial age is ending? As the final days of the industrial age roll around,

[00:01:43] we are seeing the core assets of the economy replaced by something new. Actually it's something old,

[00:01:50] something handmade, but this time on a huge scale. The industrial age was about scarcity,

[00:01:56] everything that built our culture, improved our productivity and defined our lives,

[00:02:00] involved the chasing of scarce items. On the other hand, the connection economy,

[00:02:05] our economy, the economy of the foreseeable future embraces abundance.

[00:02:10] No, we don't have an endless supply of the resources we used to trade and covet.

[00:02:15] And no, we certainly don't have a surplus of time either. But we do have an abundance of choice,

[00:02:21] an abundance of connection and an abundance of access to knowledge. We know more people

[00:02:27] have access to more resources and can leverage our skills more quickly and at a higher level than ever before.

[00:02:34] This abundance leads to two races. The race to the bottom is the internet-fueled challenge to lower prices,

[00:02:41] find cheaper labor, and deliver more for less. The other race is the race to the top.

[00:02:47] The opportunity to be the one they can't live without, to be the linchpin we would miss if he

[00:02:52] didn't show up. The race to the top focuses on delivering more for more. It embraces the weird

[00:02:58] passions of those with the resources to make choices, and it rewards originality,

[00:03:03] remarkableity, and art. The connection economy continues to gain traction because connections

[00:03:09] scale, information begets more information, and influence accrues to those who create this abundance.

[00:03:16] As connections scale, these connections paradoxically make it easier for others to connect as well

[00:03:22] because anyone with talent or passion can leverage the networks created by connection

[00:03:27] to increase their impact. The connection economy doesn't create jobs where we get picked and then

[00:03:32] get paid. The connection economy builds opportunities for us to connect and then demands that we pick

[00:03:38] ourselves. Just as the phone network becomes more valuable when more phones are connected,

[00:03:44] scarcity is the enemy of value in a network, the connection economy becomes more valuable as we

[00:03:50] scale it. Friends bring us more friends. A reputation brings us a chance to build a better reputation.

[00:03:56] Access to information encourages us to seek ever more information. The connections in our life

[00:04:02] multiply and increase in value. Our stuff, on the other hand, becomes less valuable over time.

[00:04:08] Successful organizations have realized that they are no longer in the business of

[00:04:12] coining slogans, running catchy ads and optimizing their supply chains to cut costs.

[00:04:17] And freelancers and soloists have discovered that doing a good job for a fair price

[00:04:22] is no longer sufficient to guarantee success. Good work is easier to find than ever before.

[00:04:28] What matters now? Trust, permission, remarkableity, leadership, stories that spread,

[00:04:35] and humanity, connection, compassion, and humility. All six of these are the result of successful

[00:04:42] work by humans who refuse to follow industrial age rules. These assets aren't generated by

[00:04:47] external strategies and MBAs and positioning memos. These are the results of internal struggle

[00:04:53] of brave decisions without a map and the willingness to allow others to live with dignity.

[00:04:59] They are about standing out, not fitting in, about inventing, not duplicating.

[00:05:04] Trust and permission. In a marketplace that's open to just about anyone, the only people we hear

[00:05:10] are the people we choose to hear. Media is cheap, sure, but attention is filtered,

[00:05:16] and it's virtually impossible to be heard unless the consumer gives us the ability to be heard.

[00:05:21] The more valuable someone's attention is, the harder it is to earn. And who gets heard?

[00:05:27] Why would someone listen to the prankster or the shyster or the hawkster? No, we choose to listen to

[00:05:32] those we trust. We do business with and donate to those who have earned our attention.

[00:05:37] We seek out people who tell us stories that resonate, we listen to those stories,

[00:05:42] and we engage with those people or businesses that delight or reassure or surprise in a positive

[00:05:48] way. And all of those behaviors are the acts of people, not machines. We embrace the humanity

[00:05:53] in those around us, particularly as the rest of the world appears to become less human and more

[00:05:58] cold. Who will you miss? That is who you are listening to. Remarkability. The same bias toward

[00:06:06] humanity and connection exists in the way we choose which ideas we'll share with our friends

[00:06:11] and colleagues. No one talks about the boring, the predictable, or the safe. We don't risk

[00:06:16] interactions in order to spread the word about something obvious or trite. The remarkable is

[00:06:21] almost always new and untested, fresh and risky. Leadership. Management is almost diametrically

[00:06:29] opposed to leadership. Management is about generating yesterday's results but a little faster or

[00:06:34] a little more cheaply. We know how to manage the world. We relentlessly seek to cut costs and

[00:06:40] to limit variation while we exalt obedience. Leadership though is a whole other game.

[00:06:46] Leadership puts the leader on the line. No manual, no rulebook, no uber leader to point the

[00:06:51] finger at when things go wrong. If you ask someone for the rulebook on how to lead,

[00:06:56] you're secretly wishing to be a manager. Leaders are vulnerable, not controlling,

[00:07:01] and they are racing to the top, taking us to a new place, not to the place of cheap, fast,

[00:07:06] compliant safety. Stories that spread. The next asset that makes the new economy work is the story

[00:07:14] that spreads. Before the revolution in a world of limited choice, shelf space matter to great deal.

[00:07:20] You could buy your way onto the store shelf or you could be the only one on the ballot,

[00:07:24] or you could use a connection to get your resume in front of the hiring guy.

[00:07:29] In a world of abundant choice though none of these tactics is effective. The chooser has too

[00:07:34] many alternatives. There's too much clutter and the scarce resources are attention and trust,

[00:07:39] not shelf space. This situation is tough for many because attention and trust must be earned,

[00:07:45] not acquired. More difficult still is the magic of the story that resonates. After trust is earned

[00:07:51] and your work is seen, only a fraction of it is magical enough to be worth spreading. Again,

[00:07:56] this magic is the work of the human artist, not the corporate machine. We're no longer interested

[00:08:02] in average stuff for average people. And humanity. We don't worship industrial the way we

[00:08:09] use to. We seek out human originality and caring instead. When price and availability are no longer

[00:08:15] sufficient advantages because everything is available and the price is no longer news,

[00:08:21] then what we are drawn to is the vulnerability and transparency that bring us together,

[00:08:25] that turn the other into one of us. For a long time to come, the masses will still clamor

[00:08:31] for cheap and obvious and reliable. But the people you seek to lead, the people who are helping

[00:08:36] to define the next thing and the interesting frontier, these people want your humanity, not your

[00:08:42] discounts. All of these assets rolled into one provide the foundation for the changemaker of

[00:08:48] the future and that individual or the team that person leads has no choice but to build these

[00:08:53] assets with novelty, with a fresh approach to an old problem, with a human touch that is worth

[00:08:59] talking about. I can't wait until we return to 0% unemployment to a time when people with something

[00:09:05] to contribute, that's everyone, pick themselves instead of waiting for a bureaucrat's permission

[00:09:11] to do important work. You just listen to the post titled Toward Zero Unemployment by Seth

[00:09:21] Godin of Seth's dot blog. We're driven by this search for better but when it comes to hiring,

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[00:10:14] right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast. Indeed dot com slash

[00:10:20] startup terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed. You don't need me to tell you

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[00:11:29] and I'm telling you, you're going to love gusto get started today. And thanks so much to Seth for

[00:11:36] giving us permission to narrate from his website. Seth is a super popular writer. He's got 19 best

[00:11:42] selling books and he's also the creator of alt MBA. That's an online leadership and management workshop.

[00:11:48] Alt MBA uses digital tools to engage with small groups of 120 students in an intense four-week

[00:11:55] process. And it's been going on since 2015 and has transformed the lives of more than 4,500 people

[00:12:01] in more than 70 countries. And a little more about Seth. He's been writing daily on his blog for

[00:12:06] over a decade now and more than 60,000 people have taken his online courses. And he also has five

[00:12:12] TED talks under his belt. So Seth's site is definitely worth checking out. You can find his blog

[00:12:18] which has a ton of content but also the books I mentioned plus podcasts, speaking engagements and

[00:12:23] so much more all there on his site which again is Seth's dot blog. All right. I hope you enjoyed

[00:12:28] the post from Seth that's going to do it for me today. I thank you so much for being here and

[00:12:32] hope you'll be back again tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.