Make Change and Get Real

During his keynote speech, which closed ATD25 on Wednesday morning, best-selling author Seth Godin challenged attendees’ idea of work and what makes successful leadership and management.

“It’s easy to imagine we’re a victim of culture. That the way things are around here is toxic. That the way things are around here is high-pressure. That the way things are around here is ‘no one offers me dignity and respect,’” Godin said. “But if anyone is in charge of this, if anyone has agency to start changing this, it’s the people in this room.”

Godin told attendees in the packed auditorium hall that they have the power to change antiquated work systems that are long overdue for change.

“To do it, we have to undo the factory mindset. This idea of waterfall,” he explained. “The waterfall says, ‘the boss wants this,’ and they say to their direct reports, ‘You gotta do this.’ And they make a list of the things that need to be done. And so, the most important and powerful people in the whole organization—the people on the front lines—have no agency whatsoever.”

To begin making change, Godin says to “get real.”

“We are here to do this work together. If you don’t want to do this work together, there’s a great place down the street where you can do that other kind of work,” he said. “But, this place, this is what it’s like around here. We need to decide if we want to make this choice—to build this institution that isn’t simply a factory.”

A race to the bottom

“If your institution isn’t making change happen, what are you doing? And to make a change happen, we make decisions,” Godin stated.

Every industry is different, of course, but Godin argues that everyone makes change happen.

“If you make a really good decision based on the data you have in front of you and it doesn’t work out, you still made a good decision,” he continued. “Becoming attached to the outcome demands the waterfall. If we’re attached to the outcome, if we’re going to be judged only by the outcome, then of course we want someone else to do it.”

Building a rigid organization, like the ones Godin encouraged people to move away from, keeps the status quo alive. It keeps the assembly-line mentality alive despite being an obsolete framework. That structure creates a race to the bottom in which no one wins.

“You might win that race or come in second, and neither is fun,” Godin said. “If there is a future for this room of hard-working professionals, it is not going to be racing to the bottom. It is going to say, there’s something wrong with our culture internally. Who’s in charge of changing that?

Change itself isn’t enough, either. Momentum must also exist.

“Everybody in this room is showing up in the world in a way that makes a difference,” Godin asserted. “The question is, will we care enough to matter? I think you will.”

Saying goodbye

Before Godin came out to deliver his keynote, Holly Ransom, conference emcee, addressed the audience to thank them for making ATD25 a huge success. In total, speakers delivered more than 400 educational sessions throughout the conference. Attendees also helped create 300 Sweet Cases for nonprofit Foster Love.

Read more about ATD25 at conferencedaily.td.org.