What's Best Next

  • Newsletter
  • Our Mission
  • Contact
  • Resources
    • Productivity
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Web Strategy
    • Book Extras
  • Consulting & Training
  • Store
    • Online Store
    • Cart
    • My Account
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our Core Values
    • Our Approach to Productivity
    • Our Team
    • Contact
You are here: Home / 9 Other Resource Types / Conference Blogging / Global Leadership Summit / Godin: Is this the End of the Job?

Godin: Is this the End of the Job?

August 11, 2011 by Matt Perman

Continuing with Godin:

“What we have to think about is: Is it your opportunity?”

Slide of Adam Smith up there now. Talking about the pin factory. I don’t think Godin likes Adam Smith (standardization).

“The person who owns the factory makes the decisions. But now, the means of production is no longer a factory, but a laptop. The thing that lets you connect with anyone in the world. The thing that gives you what every ad agency has. And guess who owns it? The worker. Anyone who has a white collar job has their hands on the world. And you can chose to do something with it if you want to.”

“Is this the end of the job? There is something after the job: being an artist.”

“Don’t just do your job. Make a comment.”

“The receptionist — the one you fired to replace with a voicemail system — she was an artist, because she responded like a human.”

Talks about these artists that create paintings in a village in Europe. That’s art. The people who mass produce a painting by Picasso or such, not artists. Just reproducing, copying.

Culture of compliance: doing something just because boss tells you. In these cases, most people just do the minimum.

Henry Ford: Changed everything in the 20th century because figured out that mass production created productivity. But it was a culture of just having to do what you were told. Faster you went, more money made. Factory mindset is just keep the line moving. Managers and leaders are different. Mangers: Do what they did yesterday, and try to get their people doing it a bit faster. This system of “following the rules” has infected our spiritual organizations as well. The notion of interchangable parts leads to a culture of interchangable people. We create a culture of fitting in, because that’s what makes the factory work. And then you are ignored. Leaders are different.

You have a chance in this post-industrial age to do it differently.

We tend to say to this: “OK, what’s the map.” Wrong question. There isn’t one. “If I could tell you how to do it, it wouldn’t be art anymore.”

Competence is no longer scarce. It is thus no longer sufficient to get a job. You need to be an artist: take initiative. Don’t just comply. Be engaged. Do what matters to you, and be remarkable in it.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Evernote

Filed Under: Global Leadership Summit

Feedback to the Editor

About

What’s Best Next exists to help you achieve greater impact with your time and energy — and in a gospel-centered way.

We help you do work that changes the world. We believe this is possible when you reflect the gospel in your work. So here you’ll find resources and training to help you lead, create, and get things done. To do work that matters, and do it better — for the glory of God and flourishing of society.

We call it gospel-driven productivity, and it’s the path to finding the deepest possible meaning in your work and the path to greatest effectiveness.

Learn More

About Matt Perman

Matt Perman started What’s Best Next in 2008 as a blog on God-centered productivity. It has now become an organization dedicated to helping you do work that matters.

Matt is the author of What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done and a frequent speaker on leadership and productivity from a gospel-driven perspective. He has led the website teams at Desiring God and Made to Flourish, and is now director of career development at The King’s College NYC. He lives in Manhattan.

Learn more about Matt

Newsletter

Subscribe for exclusive updates, productivity tips, and free resources right in your inbox.

The Book


Get What’s Best Next
Browse the Free Toolkit
See the Reviews and Interviews

The Video Study and Online Course


Get the video study as a DVD from Amazon or take the online course through Zondervan.

The Study Guide


Get the Study Guide.

Other Books

Webinars

Follow

Follow What's Best next on Twitter or Facebook
Follow Matt on Twitter or Facebook

Foundational Posts

3 Questions on Productivity
How to Get Your Email Inbox to Zero Every Day
Productivity is Really About Good Works
Management in Light of the Supremacy of God
The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards in Categories
Business: A Sequel to the Parable of the Good Samaritan
How Do You Love Your Neighbor at Work?

Recent Posts

  • How to Learn Anything…Fast
  • Job Searching During the Coronavirus Economy
  • Ministry Roundtable Discussion on the Pandemic with Challies, Heerema, Cosper, Thacker, and Schumacher
  • Is Calling Some Jobs Essential a Helpful Way of Speaking?
  • An Interview on Coronavirus and Productivity

Sponsors

Useful Group

Posts by Date

Posts by Topic

Search Whatsbestnext.com

Copyright © 2025 - What's Best Next. All Rights Reserved. Contact Us.