The Creative Mentality is the New Mentality

Seth Godin, considered one of the world’s most popular bloggers, author of 14 books and a Stanford Masters in business graduate has keen insights into the business world.  He founded Permission based marketing.

I think his column today has new truths to be taken to heart:

“Thus, middle class jobs that existed because companies had no choice are now gone.

Protectionism isn’t going to fix this problem. Neither is stimulus of old factories or yelling in frustration and anger. No, the only useful response is to view this as an opportunity. To poorly paraphrase Clay Shirky, every revolution destroys the last thing before it turns a profit on a new thing.

The networked revolution is creating huge profits, significant opportunities and a lot of change. What it’s not doing is providing millions of brain-dead, corner office, follow-the-manual middle class jobs. And it’s not going to.”

In essence, looking to the gridlocked government to fix us is useless as if we already didn’t know. Depending on new parties or Tea Parties to fix us is no solution.  Turning over the government every two years is not going to fix us.

It’s every man for him self.  Luckily we have a great mind and brain that can handle the task. We have to first see reality for what it is and not expect the economy or jobs to be fixed in the near future.

Then we have to see what are the main struggles.  It is pretty easy to see that business is caught up in cutting costs (employees) and trying to raise revenues.  Fed Ex just showed a 110% increase in quarterly profits and cut 1,700 people.  They are the new economy.

How can businesses increase revenues and cut costs?  The creative mentalities now are figuring how to do more with fewer people.

The new employee or recycled employee has to bring something to the table.  Michael Bungay Stanier of Box of Crayons wrote the book “How to Do Great Work” and leave good work behind.  He coaches managers on how to get better work out of employees.

The answer for everyone is to get employees that perform great work. The answer is to get new entrepreneurs that can solve the over riding problems faced by business to stay alive.

The market place needs new and innovative ideas. It needs people who can access their creative minds to solve a gridlock of in the rut issues. In the rut issues, says Michael Stanier are produced by people working at their max doing what is required just to ship. They get stuck.

Innovation can apply to Processes, Services, and Products. It breaks managers free of gridlock and into new free space.  When faced with the stress of struggling, the most guarded asset is time.

Because business is creating more responsibility for fewer people, time is as important as money. Time is what is being substituted for people; other people spending the time to take over the dismissed worker’s job.

Or machines or software are doing it.

We need people who cannot be replaced by others, machines or software. We need creative problem solvers and innovative thinkers.

Developing inspiration is one key to finding creative solutions. Everyone has their own inspiration center in the recesses of their mind/brain synchronicity.

If we are going to train and retrain, we need fewer people to build widgets and more people who can look at what is happening and find new ways. The valuable and surviving worker will bring more to the table than they are being paid. They will have higher job satisfaction. They will be doing work that matters.

Download Seth’s column Forever Recession

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