The Attributes of Key Talent – Using Science to Create Art
We have been talking about the attributes of professionals who are Indispensable Key Talent within an organization. In my last post, I addressed the 8 attributes of Indispensable Key Talent and we focused on the first four attributes.
The 8 attributes of Indispensable Key Talent include …
Being remarkable
Being Fearless
Being generous
Being relentless
Create art
Making judgment calls
Being shameless
Connecting the dots, people, and ideas.
All of these attributes are choices relative to behavior, not talents. We talked about the first four of these attributes last time.
Being Remarkable
Being Fearless
Being Generous
Being Relentless
Today I will focus on one of the remaining four attributes of Indispensable Key Talent, Using Science to Create Art.
Using science to create art
Someone who is willing to make judgment calls without first seeking agreement.
Someone who is shameless relative to asking for assistance when needed.
Someone who connects the dots, people, and ideas.
Emotional Labor
“Emotional labor” was a term coined forty years ago by sociologist Arlie Hochschild. Emotional Labor is work done feelings, not one’s body. Emotional labor is the hard work of making art, producing generosity, and exposing creativity. Working without a map involves both vision and the willingness to do something about what you see. This goes against the grain for many managers who do not want their people to work without a map. To get the best from their best people they need to allow them the freedom to what they do best, not try to manage those people into submission.
What a person does professionally may be viewed as their platform.
A business professional gets paid for their knowledge and work while they get to do something of value. Seth Godin contends that “your job is also a platform for generosity, for expression, for art. Every interaction you have with a coworker or customer is an opportunity to practice the art of interaction. Every product you make represents an opportunity to design something that has never been designed, to create an interaction unlike any other.” This being said, the best people managers are the ones who allow their team members to work way beyond what the job description might say and those who have Indispensable Key Talent are the best equipped to see and solve problems in the workplace.
What these people do is solve problems because the world is full of problems and the way their minds work is that of full-time troubleshooters. The troubleshooter steps in when everyone else has given up, puts him or herself on the line, and donates the energy and the risk to the cause. This ability to troubleshoot is the artistic side of what working within the science of organizations.
Creating Art
Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. An artist is an individual who creates art. The more people you change, the more you change them, the more effective your art is. Art is not related to craft, except to the extent that the craft helps deliver the change. Technical skills might be a helpful component in making art, but it’s certainly not required. Art doesn’t have to be decorative; it can be useful as long as the use causes change. Art is certainly not limited to painting or sculpture or songwriting. If there is no change, there is no art. If no one experiences it, there can be no change. By definition, art is human. A machine can’t create art, because of the intent matters.
Art is the product of emotional labor. If it’s easy and risk-free, it’s unlikely that it’s art. The last element that makes it art is that it’s a gift. You cannot create a piece of art merely for money. Doing it as part of commerce so denudes art of wonder that it ceases to be art. There’s always a gift intent on the part of the artist. Organizations use human-created art all the time. The design of the iPhone is art. It changes the way some people feel. It changes the way they use the device. It changes the way they communicate. And there is a gift as well.
But the most visceral art is direct. One to one, person to person, the artist, and the viewer. It’s the art of interaction. It’s what you do. The art of running a meeting, counseling a student, conducting an interview, and calming an angry customer. The art of raising capital, buying a carpet at a souk, or managing a designer. If art is a human connection that causes someone to change his mind, then you are an artist. What if you were great at it?
Gifts and Art and Emotional Labor
Art is created by an artist. Art is unique, new, and challenging to the status quo. It’s not decoration, it’s something that causes change. Art cannot be merely commerce. It must also be a gift. The artist creates his idea knowing that it will spread freely, without recompense. Sure, the physical manifestation of the art might sell for a million dollars, but that painting or that song is also going to be enjoyed by someone who didn’t pay for it.
Art is not limited to art school, or to music, or even to the stage. Art is any original idea that can be a gift. Most of all, art involves labor. Not the labor of lifting a brush or typing a sentence, but the emotional labor of doing something difficult, taking a risk, and extending yourself. It’s entirely possible that you’re an artist. Sometimes, though, caught up in the endless cycle of commerce, we forget about the gift nature of art, we fail to do the hard work of emotional labor, and we cease to be artists.