Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. [Mark Twain]
The thing about writing, building, inventing, designing, or creating (essentially anything that requires leadership) is this: it’s not safe.
Not only do you expose yourself to the dangers of a foreign environment (leadership by its nature takes the unknown path), but you expose yourself to the most dangerous element of all: the tribe.
The tribe is a great thing when you’re in the majority – when you fit in, comply and keep quiet.
For the nonconforming leader – for the outlier in the minority – the tribe is a detriment to success, freedom and happiness.
When you fit in, comply, and keep quiet, the boss rewards you.
Your peers, likewise, accept you as an equal. And rightly so because you ARE an equal; quiet, compliant and agreeable like everyone else.
On the other hand, when you don’t play by the conventional rules, when you challenge the way things work, and when you speak up when there’s something immoral, unethical or just plain illogical, there is no reward from the tribe – in fact, there is only punishment or exile.
If you do any of those things – when you expose the weakness of the status quo - you undermine the authority figure. When you undermine any authority figure, you necessarily insult their tribe of followers.
Not only will your boss punish you, your peer group will reject and scorn you (they are, after all, the quiet compliers that, for their own safety, didn't speak up to begin with – why would they speak up to support you now?).
In an environment like this – essentially every bureaucracy that has ever existed – it doesn't pay to think creatively; it doesn't pay to be brave enough to speak up when things don’t seem right; It doesn't pay to challenge and lead and move outside the tribal boundaries.
If you do, you will be ostracized.
Because the system perpetuates itself this way, what you’re left with is an org chart of followers, safety seekers, and non-disrupters. They make very good robots for the robot factory.
You can stick with the tribe.
You can find strength in numbers.
You can reassure yourself that quiet, compliant and agreeable is a worthy existence.
Or you can step outside the tribal boundaries.
You can choose another direction.
You can decide your own path, determine your own pace and packing list, and design your own life’s journey.
The tribe won’t like it.
But we don’t need more tribes – we need more individuals.
The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap. [Ayn Rand]
What will you choose?
p.s. what are your thoughts on the tribe and the individual? Leave your comments below.
"Do the thing you fear the most and the death of fear is certain." [Emerson]
Or maybe not.
Maybe that fear never dies.
Action quells fear because it changes our focus.
Instead of experiencing the terror of a hypothetical, negative future, action requires your mind to focus on the present circumstance.
Action shifts our brain from theorizing to creating; from fantasy to tangible reality; from superfluous ideations to the practical manipulation of our environment.
And when we take action on the thing that we fear, we go through this same shift.
But it doesn't destroy fear.
Stop taking action and fear will most certainly return.
Which isn't to suggest mindless action as the solution to conquering your fears.
Any robot can follow rules, stay busy, and avoid the fear of real life.
Nor should you detach yourself in order to avoid fear; the detached person who avoids his emotions altogether isn't enlightened but ignorant of the consequences of his actions.
Because real life is fearful. Living is scary. There are very physical consequences to our action and inaction, and we have to make choices (with physical consequences) daily.
Ignoring this fact doesn't make you immune to this reality.
The truth is, fear, as upsetting as it is to experience, is necessary.
We need fear because we need courage.
The courageous person isn't fearless.
On the contrary, the courageous person experiences fear far more palpably than the coward because he takes action in the face of fear, while the coward avoids it altogether.
The courageous person accepts his own fear and continues to fight; the coward lets someone else fight for him.
The courageous person stares down the Enemy every day and takes action; the coward makes excuses and avoids taking action.
The courageous person does the thing that might fail; the coward sticks to things that work.
Without fear there is no courage.
And without the courage of the few, we'd be left with the status quo of the cowards.
So don't stress if you're working on a project and you're scared to death - it doesn't mean you're cowardly.
If you're terrified, then you're doing something that might fail, that challenges the status quo, that requires courage.
Keep going.
We need you.
People complain about blue collar workers being out of work (they are), or finding a way to bring manufacturing back (you can’t), or some other way to revitalize our 20th century view of the middle-class.
Sorry, it's gone. It's not coming back.
In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible. – Seth Godin (Purple Cow)
Why would I hire someone for $10.00 an hour when I can outsource for $1.50 (and still receive comparable quality work)? When the only task I need accomplished is menial and brainless – a commodity – why would I pay a premium?
On the other hand, if that employee can move on his own, develop and execute his own plans, instigate and start projects, create and ship his own work - why wouldn't I pay a premium. Why wouldn't I pay top dollar for someone with the brains and courage to expand the brand, product or service on his own, with minimal guidance from upper management?
In the 20th century, the majority of workers made a compromise; they accepted minimal wages in exchange for brainless, consistent work. The offer was compelling – show up to a certain location, at a certain time, for a certain duration, day after day, and in exchange you don't have to think to earn a wage (and you might even get healthcare and a 401k).
The industrial age created a robot factory of average employees. The factory setting (and factory mentality) worked during the industrial age. It won’t work now.
Once again, those jobs aren't coming back (no amount of federal quantitative easing could fix that - and that only sets us up for some painful inflation down the road).
If all you offer is the commodity of your time, guess what? So do millions of people around the world.
There is no reason (for an employer OR the customer) to pay a premium for a commodity.
So what now?
Stand out, be disruptive, be someone who can connect the dots on their own and can start without guidance. The only way to thrive in the new economy is to be an instigator.
Here's the catch: We can't tell you how. If we could, we wouldn't need you.
p.s. if you like this article, you'll love my book: The Art of Instigating.