And I Thought Seth’s Speech Was Good!
May 20th, 2007 by HalI frequently say to myself, "I've got to read this book again." But I usually don't make the time to do it. That's not the case with The Dip, by Seth Godin. I have to admit that not only have I been waiting for the book, I would be anticipating any book by Seth. Call me a groupie. I'm ok with that. This guy has an uncanny way of bringing an idea from the edge to mainstream. But still I was surprised. While Seth promoted his book about quitting, the book is really about mastery.
For my money, there's no better book about mastery than George Leonard's Mastery. He describes both his journey to embracing mastery and the nature and practices of mastery. However, Seth presents the choice we have of mastery. You can quit or you can stick, it's your choice. The earlier you decide the better.
Seth's examples are palpable. Don't join the gym if you don't intend to stick through the pain of the seventh rep. Don't get on the path to be a doctor if you have any doubts about what follows organic chemistry. Don't start that lean transformation if you aren't prepared to work with the naysayers in the 9th month. In all these cases, don't start if you're not preparing yourself to do the inevitable hard work in the future.
Don't go down the lean path if you are mot prepared to bring the resources to get through the dip.Quitting can be a good thing…let me rephrase that, it can be a great thing. Jeff Bezos quit a successful career to launch Amazon. You might have quit ballet as a 10 year-old, soccer as a 12 year-old, physics in college, or a job in your "chosen field" (finance) for a job in an every-dream-come-true field (head of the Subaru rally team). Quitting can be the path to great success. Yet, we risk quitting just before that moment that we succeed. How can we know that we're in just that moment? Seth offers these questions:
- Am I panicking?
Don't quit. Get help from friends. - Who am I trying to influence?
If they don't buy (my ideas) will they ever? - What sort of measurable progress am I making?
Do I have any confidence that it will continue?
He says these are the questions for seriously examining whether to quit or to stick.
I'm a quitter. It's a pattern in my career. I quit apprenticing as an electrician with my Dad after numerous electric shocks. I quit studying physics in my first week of college to go on to study economics. I quit banking to join the high tech revolution only to quit that after visiting Japan to join ABB. There I quit the top job in Quality, my first ever job in Quality, to go to work for Fernando Flores in a power plant. I quit that work to rejoin the high tech revolution at Lotus Development. I quit that two years later when IBM bought us out to join a small software development firm. I then joined a construction firm to the surprise of my family. I now continue to make my career in the AEC industry. It's quite the string of quitting. But what I've never quit is my interest in what it takes for people to be effective at work. That is the thread in my career.
In every case, quitting for me led to opening a bigger door. Yet, I see I am approaching a dip. This time quitting is not an option. Persevering through the dip is the only option. But I wouldn't be in this situation calling for perseverance had it not been for quitting. What about you? Where has quitting led to your success. Tell us your story.
I leave you with these last thoughts. One company after another is getting on the lean band-wagon. They make the choice to do it with the promise of transforming results. Yet, those results are just not possible without encountering The Dip — perhaps multiple dips. Heed Seth's warning: don't go down the lean path if you are mot prepared to bring the resources to get through the dip. It's hard work…very hard work. Yet, the rewards are great. Whatever path you choose, choose mastery. As George Leonard says, prepare yourself to learn to love the plateau. You are sure to encounter it. And if you persevere, you are sure to transcend it.
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May 21st, 2007 at 7:40 am
Hal, great linkage of “The Dip” with “Mastery.” Both are deep…both are worth re-reading and spending time reflecting over.
AND you capture the Lean issue. Mastery is central to lean (thus Toyota’s emphasis on the sensei, the master teacher). And, though it is simple, it is very, very hard.
Excellent post, Hal…great writing. Thank you.
June 5th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
I found this post very interesting. I have heard some tapes by Seth Godin regarding internet marketing, and they are among my favorites for their practical, down to earth approach.
The post reminded me of my first experiences quitting - in sports. When I was in 6th grade, I decided to quit swimming - and also quit piano lessons - because I want to play football and basketball. Not that I could not have done both, but for some reason I just had to do it at the time. It did close one world for me, and opened new ones. I had a long football career - 8 years - only to find that one of the hardest things I had ever faced was quitting football! By then, there was some loss of interest, but also concern about mounting injuries - and finally I made the jump, albeit aided by an injury. But on the other end of this was a whole new set of growth experiences - to replace what had been a great growth experience at one time, but had come to seem less so.
I get bored after a while. Whterh it’s the industry, the company, the project, the peole, I thrive on change. And I think most people do - to varying degrees, and even thriving on different types of change. But I think it is what keeps us fressh, deeps us alive, and makes us thrive. I also have never made a quitting action, with its corresponding new challenge, where I did not feel that I brought a lot to the table simply based on who I had become from my past experience, however, unrealted it might seem.
The world of yesterday punished quitters. But that world atrophied, and did not survive. It was built on a false foundation. The world of today - in many but not all ways - embraces change - the cycle of quitting something old and starting something new - much more readily than in the past. This can be unsettling to anyone; it is to me sometimes. but I think the new skills is simply identifying just the diagram Set Godin has on the cover of his book - whether we need to change our circumstances, or change our attitudes. This is a welcome skill for today.
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