134. What Makes a Job the Best Job Ever with Seth Godin

Seth Godin is well known in much of the global business world as the ultimate Entrepreneur/Social Innovator and an icon of fresh perspectives that focus on what really matters. In this episode, Dr. Lynda and Seth discuss the insights in his new book, The Song of Significance, which has been described as a book for a new era in the world of work… and a new generation.  00:00 Preview 00:23 Intro & Welcome 03:47 What’s the best job you ever had Bosses think that money and job security are the most likely answers A 10,000 person survey across 90 countries  showed that the top 3 reasons were: I accomplished more than I thought I could I was treated with respect I was proud of the work I did Bringing humanity to the work you do benefits everyone 05:32 Normalizing working life Simple changes in the work place  Employees can also be proactive about the choice  08:14 Significance “Significance is meaning and meaning comes from making a change happen” School has taught us to focus on things that work doesn’t need Significance in work comes from questions such as: Who am I here to change What is the change I seek to make How will I know if its working? Significance makes us feel alive 00:09:09:15 - 00:11:32:06 Break 11:34 Humans are not resources How our current system came into being robotic work  Treating humans like resources  Assume good intentions & give people the benefit of the doubt Take responsibility for what we bring to the work environment Figure out how to add value by connecting to change that impacts your customers, vendors, co-workers etc.  13:26 The Great Resignation The promise of meaningful, secure work and reasonably good compensation and conditions went out the window the with the introduction of outsourcing, downsizing, mechanising which treated people like disposable objects People have recognized this change their commitment to companies has waned over time 14:55 Management is not leadership Managers use power and authority to get people to do what they want faster & cheaper Leaders voluntarily identify people who want to get somewhere and help them get there You can’t do both jobs at the same time Tension vs Stress in the workplace Stress is wanting to stay and go at the same time and it leaves us torn  Tension is a good thing and nothing changes without tension Are meetings a symptom of work crises? Asynchronous thoughtful work is extremely powerful Meetings are useful for collaboration & conversations but bosses often take the lazy approach of using them for one way communication and take comfort in seeing people as a proxy for measuring productivity 19:31 Collaboration & Diversity Teams that bring different skills together produce better work than teams lacking diversity false proxies and should be eliminated  21:23 What are real skills these days? Real skills are attitudes that can be learned 23:52 The Goodness Opportunity Being where we need to be and bringing your heart to what is involved Are we working with people who are seeking to make the change that we're trying to make in the world The Goodness solution is a foundational issue and not top down People need to make a decision to be good and create impact that creates goodness and this impact will multiply 25:56 Protecting Peoples’ Dignity Offering people dignity is extremely powerful Criticize the work and not the worker 30:07 The age soundbites The internet & social media  People are incentivized to winging it rather than doing the research 31:48 PAGE 19 THINKING 32:39 The Carbon Almanac 33:23 Closing Do the work that scares us Keep making a ruckus! We need you!