The Icarus Deception – Work is Art

The process of doing what you were meant to do can be frightening, and that is why its accomplishment is so rewarding.

For one thing, you just may fail. In fact, honing your skills into a viable practice requires that you fail, because the perspective gained from failures and challenges leads to creating your best work.

Seth Godin calls the practice of delivering your best work creating your art.

You may not think of yourself as an artist, and that is largely because society has conditioned you to believe that greatness is what others accomplish – rock stars, accomplished athletes, and other celebrities.

Yet, each of us is a rock star in our own right when we face the fear of doing the work that we know we have to do. The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin is a new book that will show you how.

What you most fear is what you must accomplish.

Our fears are indications of what is important to us, what we deeply believe is within our capabilities for making a contribution to this world. This is precisely why your original contribution can be considered nothing less than art.

You Have Permission to Create Your Art

Working with the perspective of elevating your efforts to the level of art is something even those who are artists in a traditional sense can benefit from. Society conditions us to believe that success comes from learning to draw within the lines – that only leads to mediocrity.

The Icarus Decepton will change that by giving you permission to go where you need to go to do what you need to do. It encourages you to use your gifts to accomplish what no other is capable of, and therefore, what the world needs.

Seth defines art not as a product, but an attitude – one that leads to investing in things that give you a chance to stand out and make a difference. There is risk in that, which is why it works, and also why it involves facing fears.

From the moment you open the The Icarus Deception you realize this book is an example of its suggested methods. Accompanying it is a bookmark (see photo above) that is designed to encourage you take the risk of sharing your art – right now.

You are instructed to describe your art on the bookmark and then place it within another copy of The Icarus Deception at your local bookstore. Can you face the fear of taking the unorthodox act of sharing your art with complete strangers?

Me too.

Are You Ready to Accept the Gift?

I read portions of The Icarus Deception the past couple of weeks with no big breakthroughs. Then I picked it up yesterday after a particularly challenging presentation that nevertheless happened to go well.

This time it gave me a new perspective on success – that winning isn’t everything. I considered why I’ll often work hard to give my audiences what I think they want when I should instead be giving them what nobody else on this planet can offer them.

Instead of taking the traditional route, The Icarus Deception will indeed give you permission to find your best path, the one that will enable you to truly discover your work is art.

Most of us are waiting for others to give us permission when they buy us or hire us. That’s a product of conditioning – it’s how we were brought up, educated, and trained.

Instead of waiting, isn’t it better to just pick yourself? That’s how most successful businesses and projects start.

Following a traditional path can only lead to ordinary results that go unnoticed. Hard work is just not enough anymore, especially in an economy where most of us are already working harder than ever.

Instead of working hard just to impress the boss or customer, work to liberate your talent, expertise, and experience to elevate your work to art.

There has never been a better time to practice your art. Digital social media is increasingly connecting everyone on this planet, thereby providing abundant opportunities for the brave, creative, and relentless among us.

Does that describe you?

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedInTwitterFacebook, and Google+

 

Is Your Social Network an Online Community or Club?

Successful social networking depends upon a number of factors, with your personality, values, and beliefs being some of the more highly relevant ones.

Social media is social, and that means your personal values and beliefs will eventually be expressed, whether that is intentional or not.

Knowing that most people are looking for agreement in social situations, there is an important question that many of us have considered. Should we express our personal beliefs when you know they may be controversial?

The answer is it depends. Notwithstanding personal consequences, the effects on your business could be either favorable or unfavorable.

In most situations, leading with purpose is better than trying to be all things to all people. So, the challenge is determining if taking a wider or narrower view is better for your business.

Clubs are Smaller and Exclusive

Several of my friends take very strong and controversial positions online that effectively exclude the views of others. There is nothing right or wrong with this, but it does have consequences.

If your business is selling high dollar items for a limited demographic, then a strategy of exclusivity may be the right one. Exclusion tends to narrowly define a group, thereby giving it an identity that is congruent with all of its members.

As a result, it is easier to know precisely what this group values, and your business can command a higher price by creating products and services that are uniquely desired by them.

If this is how you operate, your market is best defined as a club, one whose value is derived by exclusion of others who do not share their predominant values or beliefs. Think of a golf club. Some consider golf to be a complete waste of time, while advocates believe it is the ultimate social activity.

Communities are Larger and Inclusive

Communities by definition exist to equally serve the needs of everyone within them. Social media in general tends to encourage this inclusiveness. Is this right for your business?

A larger community may be more beneficial to your company if it can easily grow and scale to accommodate additional business. For small businesses, this requires strategically planning for growth and having systems in place should it arrive ahead of schedule.

When my new book comes out in March 2013 I want to reach every possible mainstream small to medium sized business. That’s a lot of businesses, but the proven marketing and distribution capabilities of my publisher Wiley are in place to handled the unexpected – something that I am indeed planning on.

A book is a item with a low price point that nevertheless is designed to serve the needs of a specific audience. In this situation, that audience is inclusive of a range of industries, all of which share many of the same challenges and opportunities.

The Best Online Communities are Hybrids

Trying to be all things to all people is a surefire way to fail because then you have nothing distinctive to offer.

Thus, you need to define your community to achieve the optimal degree of exclusivity and inclusiveness. It’s a balancing act. Start by excluding people with your community guidelines.

The more I work with social media the more clear I am about what I will and not do. You will need to determine what that is for you and your team in order to accomplish your objectives.

One suggestion is you can and should take a slightly different approach for your respective media channels. For example, your newsletter may be a club, while your blog that feeds subscribers to your exclusive newsletter may nevertheless be a community.

People tend to come and go as they please within communities, so the growth is fluid and organic. Whereas, clubs grow progressively because membership tends to be stable. People tend not to leave clubs.

The best approach is often one that combines the benefits of both to achieve a digital media channel for your business that concurrently builds growth while sustaining earned loyalty.

What’s your approach? Club, community, or hybrid?

Leave a comment below and share this with your community.

Until next time, Jeff

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