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Gradually ... Then Suddenly

In the book The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway paints a scenario where one of the key characters, Mike Campbell, is asked, "How did you go bankrupt?" His response is "Gradually ... then suddenly." This is so very applicable to a recession scenario. Actually, it is applicable to all our lives—you don't fail suddenly; you fail gradually through a series of small failures everyday. The day you fail is just a culmination of all the small failures you have had.

Yes, you can get away with "no progress during a recession" by blaming the recession, but really, if things are not going well, you should blame yourself for the way you behaved leading up to the recession.

"Gradually ... then suddenly" is the phenomenon that will explain a lot of mess we are in today. We are trying to find instant solutions to problems that we have created over years.

If you are a knowledge worker, there is a big dilemma today. If you are engaged in a craft that can be "well defined" chances are that sooner than later your job will be outsourced. Not to another location in the U.S., but to another country. Hard work won't help. Why? Because technology really makes it easy for commodity skills to be leveraged from a remote location without a large overhead. An overseas worker may match you on your commodity skills, but you can't work for the same wages.

So what should one do?

First is to realize that general job skills (like technology skills) provide only an entry ticket. You can't thrive (or even survive for long) with just those skills. You need skills beyond that. Skills such as building a personal brand, building long-term relationships, learning how to learn, etc.

This Thanksgiving I wanted to do something to help.

Looking back, I recall that this was exactly the topic of my book Beyond Code (foreword by my hero Tom Peters), which was published in late 2005. The book did very well both here in the U.S. and in India. I had spent ten years researching and writing the book. One simple plan was to give this book away for FREE—no strings attached. Kenzi Sugihara from Select Books (the publisher) was in full support.

So, as of yesterday, the complete version of Beyond Code is free. You can download the book with no strings attached. Here is the link.

Finally, here is a thing about life:
Something that has been built over a long period of time can be destroyed almost instantly. However, the opposite is not true—something that has been destroyed over a long period cannot be restored instantly.

I wish you the very best for this holiday season

(Cool Friend Rajesh Setty is intimately involved in working with like-minded entrepreneurs to bring good ideas to life and spread their adoption. You can learn more about him at www.rajeshsetty.com.)

Raj Setty posted this on 11/20/08.

Comments

Raj! So nice to see you here. Thanks for the wise words.

Posted by Shelley Dolley at November 20, 2008 11:04 AM

Thank you for the book. I look forward to reading it.

Posted by Greg at November 20, 2008 11:13 AM

Great words Tom!
Absolutely agree
As Jim Rohn says: "An apple away deeps the doctor away"
And I could add: it is useless to eat them all on Saturday!!!!
Regards from Bs As, Argentina

Posted by Mariano at November 20, 2008 11:21 AM

Correction!!
Where I wrote "deeps", I meant "keeps"
ooopssss

Posted by Mariano at November 20, 2008 11:22 AM

Raj - Great advice thank you.

I think we have to be more multi-skilled than ever. It is simply not good enough to focus on narrow definable skills from where I sit. Since I left the corporate world 4 years ago to become self employed I’ve realised I just have to say ‘yes’ when a customer asks ‘Do you do a, b, c, x, y or z’. I love variety and putting all my eggs onto one basket for the last 4 years would have resulted in one very large full basket of eggs that no one wanted to eat. The days of rationality and predictability have long gone. The old saying ‘variety is the spice of life’ has never been truer in my opinion. I say Celebrate diversity!

Posted by Trevor Gay at November 20, 2008 12:22 PM

Thanks Shelley, Greg, Mariano and Trevor and of course to Erik and Cathy for the warm welcome.

I am glad to be here and will be posting regularly.

Have a great day there.

Best,
Raj

Posted by Rajesh Setty at November 20, 2008 1:51 PM

Hi Raj

Nice post. I would also like to hear about your views on :
a)Congress bailout plan of $700 billion;
b)rejecting auto manufacturers plea for $25 billion.

Thanks

Regards
Gaurav

Posted by Gaurav Gombar at November 20, 2008 4:11 PM

I love the "gradually... then suddenly" imagery (I'll have to revisit my Hemingway!).

Your comment about skills reminds me of advice from a book by Sally Hogshead (another of Tom's Cool Friends). She suggests people develop "portable equity." That is, skills, abilities and other characteristics you can take with you to your next job, next project, next assignment (including "people you meet")... as opposed to trapped equity, which stays behind.

I highly recommend checking out Sally's book (Radical Careering).

Posted by The Dan Ward at November 23, 2008 7:49 PM

Gaurav,

Thanks for the comments. On the bailout etc., my opinion will be biased as I my opinions are slanted towards "free markets" thinking.

Dan, thank you for your comments. I loved Sally's book. Beautifully designed too.

Best,
Raj

Posted by Rajesh Setty at November 24, 2008 4:07 PM

"In the book The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway paints a scenario where one of the key characters, Mike Campbell, is asked, "How did you go bankrupt?" His response is "Gradually ... then suddenly.""

A classic case in point is what is happening to Woolworths in the UK, it has been failing for years because of weaknesses in its strategy, as things tighten up, the first to go - is Woolworths.

MFI, a UK furniture retailer also very much the same. A subject of a rescue bid two years ago. The rescue has failed.

Both of these companies have been usurped by more dynamic, strategically competent retailers - the larger supermarkets in Woolworth's case and MFI by Ikea and others.

Posted by Jules at November 29, 2008 11:33 AM