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There’s a new word from Japan. Of course, it’s not just a new word -- it’s a new thing. It’s a shinkansen, otherwise known as a bullet train. So what does this have to do with you and your career?
Well, bullet trains completely change your expectation of what a train can be. They go almost 200 miles an hour. That’s downtown Boston to midtown Manhattan in about 65 minutes -- less time than it takes to go through security at most airports. If every train were a bullet train, you could go to another city for dinner, and your circle of real friends (unlike email friends) would be wider than ever.
For a long time, people assumed that building a shinkansen was impossible. So they didn’t try. We evolved an infrastructure around slow trains and awkward planes. Systems were put in place that assumed there would be no shinkansen, and now that we can build one, we won’t, because too many people would be stuck with losing infrastructure. (We’ve got to justify those airports!)
Maybe that’s what happened to your career. Somewhere along the way, someone persuaded you that the way to get ahead was to be totally qualified for the next job, to stay where you are for years and years, to receive incremental promotions when your boss felt like giving you one and to build an infrastructure around those assumptions.
We build a house, a lifestyle and a family system that assumes our current job is forever, and we sure won’t be taking big risks any time soon. We run our day at work the same way -- take no risks because you might get fired -- and we try to build a nest.
Don’t Fear the Shinkansen
When a shinkansen opportunity comes along, we duck. It’s fraught with risk, stress and fear. Most of us just pass.
The people who really got hurt during the dotcom bust were the ones who waited too long, the investors and employees who wanted proof that this shinkansen was the real deal and worth giving up the nest for. The early folks did fine -- better than fine.
I remember trying to recruit people for my company years ago, really good people, people who would have added a lot of value and learned a lot. Most of them said no, because they were safe and comfortable, and we looked risky.
I think the lesson of GM, Ford and every other company that’s laying off people or having trouble is this: The train you’re on is the risky one. The least risky thing is to take the shinkansen when you see it.
Of course, this may mean a new (lower-cost) lifestyle. It may mean more short-term risk on your way to long-term stability. You don’t have to like that; it’s just true.
There’s one big difference between the shinkansen and your career, though. The shinkansen has to stay on the tracks. It only goes in a straight line -- Tokyo to Kyoto with no option to get to Shanghai.
Your career doesn’t work that way. Instead, you’ve got to hope and plan for a whole series of shinkansens. Some of them will go bust, never getting out of the station, but others will go fast and maybe even run off the tracks. If you view each one as just one in a series, an evolving career that leads nowhere for sure but always up, that’s OK.
Buckle your seat belt. The next shinkansen leaves in just a few minutes.
[Seth Godin is the best-selling author of Survival Is Not Enough.]