Shake It Up
June 8, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
My friend Shawn Murphy doesn’t follow. He leads.
Shawn (@shawmu on Twitter) just launched the Wake Up and Shake It Up blog series. Need a push to think bigger than you have before? Here it is.
The first post, Big versus Small, went live this morning. I think you know the author – check it out.
Two Questions
June 3, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
Invest a few minutes and watch the video below. Then answer two questions:
- Do you get it?
- What now?
Stop Reinforcing the Status Quo
March 4, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
Every day, people do the same thing over and over without questioning the policy or the system. Which is why new ideas are usually met with resistance.
“That will never work.”
“It’s never been done before.”
“Don’t bother – we already tried that once.”
“Nice idea, but can you prove that it will work?”
“We can’t sell that to senior management.”
We aren’t taught to question things that are familiar to us. Which reminds me of an experiment that can be done with five monkeys.
Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray the other four monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result – the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Soon enough, any monkey that tries to climb the stairs will be stopped by the others.
Now, turn off the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The newcomer will see the banana and try to climb the stairs. To his surprise, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. And the previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.
Continue the process – replace the third monkey with a new one, then the fourth, then fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. But most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs – or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Regardless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know, that’s the way it’s always been done around here.
Companies all over the world repeat this experiment every day with their own people. What about yours? Or do you promote a culture that is eternally curious about why they do what they do?
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
January 26, 2010 by Ed McLaughlin
Seth Godin is widely viewed as one of the sharpest marketing minds of our time. In my opinion, he’s more than that – he is a true change agent. His latest book, Linchpin, could not have come along at a better time.
We’re in the midst of the 22nd recession since 1900, and so far it’s been an ugly one. And while the rate of job losses has recently slowed, many companies are still in retreat – freezing salaries, raising health-care premiums, and eliminating training programs.
If you’re a linchpin, this is an incredible opportunity.
I was privileged to attend the book launch in New York City. During the presentation, I learned that the original title of the book was The Chef, The Cook, and The Dishwasher.
In a restaurant, the dishwasher is clearly the lowest job available. Someone will always have to fill this kind of role, but that someone doesn’t have to be you.
The cook follows a recipe – make a particular dish one way, every time. Everyone can follow instructions, so it should come as no surprise that there are a surplus of people available to perform these jobs. And since a cook doesn’t create any real value, they have little hope of making more than an average living.
The chef is different altogether. A chef may be aware of recipes, but chooses not to follow them. Which means that unlike the cook, her best work is completely unknown. By creating instead of following, she turns her work into art.
In the post-industrial age, the artist is the one in demand. Linchpin is the type of book that will push you down this path. It goes on sale today (January 26th). I hope that you’ll pick up a copy – it is by far Godin’s best yet.
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