On October 8, Seth Godin posted this:
Use your best judgment
I called the front desk early in the morning. “Where’s the gym located?”
It’s a big hotel. They have a thousand rooms, and they’re part of a chain. Still, I was surprised to hear typing. The person who answered was typing the question into their database and then proceeded to read me the answer.
It’s reasonable to assume that the hotel decided to save some money by consolidating all of their front desk work into one central location. And reasonable again to assume that instead of training people to give clear and helpful answers, simply instructed them in what to read.
Still…
I can’t imagine that’s a job you’d want to do. A job that would use any of your skills or care. A job you would look forward to doing.
The next step is to have voice recognition replace this pesky worker. After all, the best cog is no cog at all.
Our choice is profound, and more urgent every day: either do a job where your best judgment is required, or do a job where management will work hard to replace you with someone cheaper.
Race to the top, race to the bottom.
Either way, you might win. Up to you.
At Rundle, we often use this exact phrase with our staff in the absence of a defined rule, "Use your best judgement," and it almost always works. Beyond the thought of making good decisions, I love the way that Seth positions this statement as a focus for the future of education, passions and careers.
We should truly aspire to teach our kids to find work that cannot be replicated by machines and that brings them joy.
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