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> This essay is a bit weird because it systematically avoids talking about the reason people (rationally, I might add) avoid hard problems: they are risky. Yes,

by artpi 7y ago

> This essay is a bit weird because it systematically avoids talking about the reason people (rationally, I might add) avoid hard problems: they are risky. Yes, the rewards are great, but so too is the risk of failure. Thank you for pointing that out! This is something I completely failed to include in the essay. From my experience, when you tackle hard things in the organization, there is virtually 0 risk. The worst outcome for you is that you feel bad, but this is not going to diminish your chances in career, quite the opposite. The situation is a bit like here: I failed to include this vital section about risk in an article that is getting traffic right now. It is embarrassing, but I doubt if this will have negative repercussions for me. (I hope ) Anyway - that is why feedback is so critical.

jrochkind1 7y ago
I think you have been very fortunate, then. I do not think your experience is typical or guaranteed. You quote Seth Godin saying: > We shy away from hard work because inherent in hard work is a risk. Hard work is hard because you might fail. But you think this isn't true, the hard work you are suggesting has "virtually 0 risk"? It must not be the same kind of "hard work" Godin is talking about then, after all?
- artpi 7y ago
  I am trying to keep my meeting today and still respond to these comments, so I apologize for the lack of clarity. Some people would consider a whole category of "making fool of oneself" a risk and it has been in the past. Evolutionary, shame was a real threat and being left by the peer group sometimes meant death. So we carry this mechanism in our brains to avoid perceived failure, perceived risk, and perceived embarrassment. It is in all of us to an extent. I am no Seth Godin, but that is how I understand his concept of "hard work" - emotionally putting yourself out there. But in reality, those things are not really risky in healthy corporate environements. I have been making a fool of myself repeatedly and if people see it was an honest try and it took guts - they will usually respect you for that.
  - nathan_compton 7y ago
    One might argue that a healthy corporate environment is one where someone is tracking dollars in and dollars out. In such an environment, an expensive employee who doesn't produce a lot of value over a period of time would be headed to the chopping block, whether they are respected or not. Companies don't run on respect, they run on profits. That said, I think in many situations what you say is true. Most people are not rational, even in a corporate context where you'd expect them to be. In those situations, being seen as a cool risk taker might be enough to keep your job.
  - jrochkind1 7y ago
    Oh sure, if you're talking about "healthy corporate environments", I see what you mean. Those exist? Half-joking (or I'm not even sure if I am), but what portion of your readers might work in a healthy corporate environment, I wonder. You are definitely lucky if you've had a whole career of them. I would imagine in a healthy corporate environment going after the hard things isn't actually that unusual though? If the consequences of failure are lower, then the risk is lower, like Godin says the reason people don't do these things is the risk, if the risk is lower, I'd imagine lot of people would be doing them? Which is what you'd expect in a healthy corporate environment, I think...
bpt3 7y ago
You can address this by updating the essay! Also, I don't see your oversight as equivalent with taking on a hard task at work. If you fail at work (which is a real possibility if the task is actually hard), you've probably wasted time on something you were explicitly told not to do and caused others to have to pick up your slack in other areas, and will be labeled as both a failure and a poor teammate. If this is an organization you would like to continue to work for, this is devastating. You can mitigate this by working on the hard task on your own time, but frequently the benefits aren't worth the effort there. On the other hand, your oversight can easily be fixed, and I agree it is unlikely to have negative repercussions for you because no one else is really invested in the outcome of your blog. That's rarely the case when you're an employee at a company.
nathan_compton 7y ago
"From my experience, when you tackle hard things in the organization, there is virtually 0 risk." This seems far fetched to me. Every hour you spend on a project which fails is almost a complete waste of time. When the next crunch comes around and they look back and see you've done a lot of stuff that hasn't panned out, it seems like that might change your chances of making it through a contraction.

by artpi 7y ago

jrochkind1 7y ago

I think you have been very fortunate, then. I do not think your experience is typical or guaranteed. You quote Seth Godin saying: > We shy away from hard work because inherent in hard work is a risk. Hard work is hard because you might fail. But you think this isn't true, the hard work you are suggesting has "virtually 0 risk"? It must not be the same kind of "hard work" Godin is talking about then, after all?

artpi 7y ago
I am trying to keep my meeting today and still respond to these comments, so I apologize for the lack of clarity. Some people would consider a whole category of "making fool of oneself" a risk and it has been in the past. Evolutionary, shame was a real threat and being left by the peer group sometimes meant death. So we carry this mechanism in our brains to avoid perceived failure, perceived risk, and perceived embarrassment. It is in all of us to an extent. I am no Seth Godin, but that is how I understand his concept of "hard work" - emotionally putting yourself out there. But in reality, those things are not really risky in healthy corporate environements. I have been making a fool of myself repeatedly and if people see it was an honest try and it took guts - they will usually respect you for that.
- nathan_compton 7y ago
  One might argue that a healthy corporate environment is one where someone is tracking dollars in and dollars out. In such an environment, an expensive employee who doesn't produce a lot of value over a period of time would be headed to the chopping block, whether they are respected or not. Companies don't run on respect, they run on profits. That said, I think in many situations what you say is true. Most people are not rational, even in a corporate context where you'd expect them to be. In those situations, being seen as a cool risk taker might be enough to keep your job.
- jrochkind1 7y ago
  Oh sure, if you're talking about "healthy corporate environments", I see what you mean. Those exist? Half-joking (or I'm not even sure if I am), but what portion of your readers might work in a healthy corporate environment, I wonder. You are definitely lucky if you've had a whole career of them. I would imagine in a healthy corporate environment going after the hard things isn't actually that unusual though? If the consequences of failure are lower, then the risk is lower, like Godin says the reason people don't do these things is the risk, if the risk is lower, I'd imagine lot of people would be doing them? Which is what you'd expect in a healthy corporate environment, I think...

bpt3 7y ago

You can address this by updating the essay! Also, I don't see your oversight as equivalent with taking on a hard task at work. If you fail at work (which is a real possibility if the task is actually hard), you've probably wasted time on something you were explicitly told not to do and caused others to have to pick up your slack in other areas, and will be labeled as both a failure and a poor teammate. If this is an organization you would like to continue to work for, this is devastating. You can mitigate this by working on the hard task on your own time, but frequently the benefits aren't worth the effort there. On the other hand, your oversight can easily be fixed, and I agree it is unlikely to have negative repercussions for you because no one else is really invested in the outcome of your blog. That's rarely the case when you're an employee at a company.

nathan_compton 7y ago

"From my experience, when you tackle hard things in the organization, there is virtually 0 risk." This seems far fetched to me. Every hour you spend on a project which fails is almost a complete waste of time. When the next crunch comes around and they look back and see you've done a lot of stuff that hasn't panned out, it seems like that might change your chances of making it through a contraction.