Turncoat Politics

Seth Godin - The Factory, Astrology, and Interpretation

I like Seth Godin.  I would say that once a week, Godin says something that helps galvanize the day, and provide focus.  The killer is that, just like astrology, a lot is left open to interpretation and it can be ruthlessly flexible.  I think that some of the posts are purposefully vague so that the reader can figure out how to apply it to their own business (or life as it goes with a horoscope).  Sometimes with astrology, I disconnect from the fact that I was born on May 26th, and read through some of the other horoscopes and it is easy to find something applicable, or rather, make something applicable. 

I was looking around online and found a post where John Windsor took up Seth Godin’s thoughts on the creative factory.  As I work in a “creative factory,” and Godin seems to be saying that the soup-to-nuts factory is going the way of the dodo, it is interesting to see how some interpret it.  I remember getting the email where he mentions the changing factory format and it was one of those that was purposefully vague and I wondered if it was more loose marketing-babble, so ethereal that it seemed to apply to the how ethereal the creative marketplace is now without actually revealing anything.

As I think about it, I hear what he is saying.  The old models aren’t working- there isn’t one brain that sits and drives the business, each part has a specific important task, it is difficult for any company to do all of it, and other companies could specialize and optimize those specific functions. OK. 

That’s where philosophy and business meet.  I don’t know if anyone could come up with a financial model to prove how this all fits together, and let’s be honest, any factory/business/sweatshop/cubicle farm will be driven by a financial model.  If they aren’t making money, they won’t be in business.

That said, we in “creative factories” don’t need to waste time thinking about the format of factories, we need to determine

1/ what we are good at
2/ what people will buy it
3/ how to spend money to make those skills great
4/ how to let clients know that we do that
5/ do a lot of it

Wow, this was a complete absolute mess, and there are some different ideas coming together.  I’ll keep thinking about it and refining it into something that makes sense.  In the end, though, we can’t wait for the factory model to clear up so we can make money, just as though we can’t decide whether or not to leave the house based on the day’s horoscope.

There is only one person who should have listened to his horoscope (watch around 3:10, and notice that Pee Wee weighs less than 100 el-bees):