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Are You Too Remarkable; Too Edgy? Or Too Boring?
Orginally published on Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 6:36 AM
by Todd Rhoades
Here's an interesting post from Seth Godin... it asks a really good question: Are you too edgy or too boring? Take a gander at this; notice his statement about churches. Do you agree? And on which end of the scale are you?
Every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks “mass layoffs.” That’s the term for more than 50 people losing their jobs at once. In August of this year, the total number of people hit by a mass layoff was 127,944. The number has been more than 100,000 every month except for one in the last decade.
And that doesn’t count small companies, smaller lay offs, non-profits and other ventures that don’t show up on the radar. The actual number has to be at least ten times as big--at least a million a month is my guess .
Compare that to the tiny number of people who get fired for attempting to do something great.
Sure, Carly got fired. But thousands at HP got laid off. She lost her job for challenging the status quo. They got canned for embracing it.
Sure, that crazy copywriter on the 11th floor got fired for attempting a viral blog-based campaign that backfired, but it’s nothing compared to the entire department that lost their jobs because there just wasn’t enough business.
At least once a day, I get mail from people worrying that if they are too remarkable, too edgy, too willing to cause change and growth… they’re risking getting fired. I almost never get mail from people who figure that if they keep doing the same boring thing day in and day out at their fading company that they’re going to lose their jobs in a layoff.
50 ad agencies lose accounts for being boring, static and unprofitable for every one that gets fired for being remarkable.
50 churchgoers switch to a new congregation because of a boring or uncaring leader for every one that leaves because she was offended by a new way of thinking.
50 employees lose their jobs because the business just faded away for every one who is singled out and fired for violating a silly policy and taking care of a customer first.
50 readers stop visiting your blog (or your site or your magazine or your TV show) because you’re stuck in a rut and scared for every one who leaves because you have the guts to change the format or challenge the conventional wisdom.
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There are 6 Comments:
Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.
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Posted by
Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 7:29 AM
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Posted by kent
Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 8:59 AM
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Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 9:38 AM
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Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 12:24 PM
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Posted by Leonard
Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 12:45 PM
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Tuesday, November 07, 2006 at 1:26 PM
Post Your Comments:Well I think all the people who post here are way too remarkable for their own good!
I think Seth Godin is a genius.
Can edgy be relative? Can boring be relative? We have a contemporary praise band that in my youth I would have thought mucho rocked for Jesus. Our teens, raised on Crowder and Switchfoot, thought it was just a step above “I’ll Fly Away”. What was really relevant to us as adults was “same old, same old” to the youth. Holding a reflective, introspective, service featuring “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” kind of music might be very edgy to those raised in Seeker format. That might be why we have the battles of traditional-contemporary-emergent, because what’s edgy is what you haven’t experienced yet.
Seriously, I heard this comment from a teen once: “Mom look, these books on the bench have songs in them. If we used them, we wouldn’t have to look up at the screen all the time.”
I agree with the post. I was thinking about this when it came to preaching. Are we as pastors really telling the congregation what God’s wants them to hear, or what they want to hear. The apostles did not preach real popular messages. Nor did Jesus. “Whoever wants to find his life must loose it.” Who wants hear that? I think a mark of a preacher is sometimes people get upset. I don’t know just something I have been thinking about.
Great Article. To be edgy is often much more of an environment and structure than a program or event. For a church to really be edgy requires humility because we never want to go to the edge because we like the edge but rather because we can accomplish a mission more effective from the edge. It also requires humility because we never want to stay away from the edge for reasons of self. To answer Bishop Dave, edgy can be relative in that most of us have different lines of comfort for music and programming in our church. IMO edgy is much more about the risks I take to reach people for Christ than the music or programs we offer on a Sunday. How far biblically am I willing to go when it comes introducing people to the God who made them? They (whoever they are) say about 15% of people today are creative and the rest of the people are experts in taking creativity and making it better. For me, I am in the 15%, so edgy gets me in trouble without the folk who make my creativity better
Leonard writes “For me, I am in the 15%, so edgy gets me in trouble without the folk who make my creativity better “ So well put! I agree! The people who do the finessing of the edgy ideas are more valuable I think than those of us who come up with the edgy ideas.
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