Being the Best at What You Do
22 Mar
Lately I’ve been watching a few of the past episodes of Undercover Boss on CBS. I was particularly interested in the show last night because GSI Commerce is one of the major competitors of the company I work for. I don’t watch many shows on TV, but I think this one is pretty interesting. If you haven’t seen it, the concept is that the CEO of a major corporation goes “undercover” for a week in a variety of roles at his own company to get a better perspective on how things really work in the field.
So for this past episode on GSI Commerce CEO Michael Rubin packed boxes in a truck, took angry calls from customers in the call center, and picked items from a warehouse. Now I know the show dramatizes things a little bit for the sake of the TV audience, but it’s interesting to me how bad the CEO’s are are at some of the jobs they have to do. Both Rubin of GSi and Coby Brooks of Hooters were essentially “fired” from their part-time positions for not being up to par at jobs in their own companies’ stores. Sometimes you get to thinking that because someone is the CEO or some other high level position that they’re infinitely smart and could figure out how to do any job well. From their performance on the show it’s clear this isn’t the case.
There were people in the warehouse that could do their job of packing boxes or picking products at lightning speed. They found creative ways to get things done that were not part of the traditional training. I took my car in to get a brake inspection today. The technician explained all my problems and what needed to be done to fix them very clearly. I would have had absolutely no idea what to do myself. I’ve realized how important it is to become amazingly good at the one thing you do because that’s when you become invaluable. Certain people are cut out for certain jobs, and if you can’t become one of the best at what you do then it probably is not what you should be doing.
I’ve also been reading Seth Godin’s book Linchpin, and he discusses a lot of the same principles. He contends that there’s a big difference between work and art. Work is simply following instructions and completing the checklist your boss gives you. Art is when you create something new and valuable out of your own intuition. There is always someone able to do the work cheaper, faster, or better than you can. Art is what makes you invaluable.
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