In The Icarus Deception, Godin asks to fly, but we may still be mentally limiting ourselves.
The Soviet Hangover
I saw this phenomenon first-hand in 2001 when I visited a former Soviet satellite country and witnessed what I called the “Soviet hangover.” These people had broken away from the Soviet Union a decade earlier, but mentally, they were still controlled by the communist system. They talked about waiting for “one good leader to lead them,” as if this were the answer to all of their troubles. They had physical freedom, but it was hard for them to capitalize on their freedom, because they were still mentally in chains.
The same is true for us if we buy the lie of the Icarus Deception. Godin Illustrated this well in a section he entitled the Math of Self-selection. He wrote:
We’ve all seen the music industry fall apart. Even if you’re not a musician, it’s worth considering the implications when the connection revolution permits a musician to bypass the label and pick herself.
According to Jeff Price a TuneCore, the math of before and after the revolution in the music business looks like this:
Before the revolution:
Virtually all musicians aren’t picked by a label and are invisible nonentities.
Of those who are picked, 98 percent fail in the marketplace.
Of the remaining 2 percent, less than half a percent ever receive a single royalty check as a result of their recorded music. Ever.
So we have a world where the odds of being signed are close to zero and the odds of getting a check of your sales, even if you are signed, is even closer to zero.
After the revolution
A musician who sells two (two!) copies of a song on iTunes makes more money than she would have earned from a record label for selling an entire CD for seventeen dollars.
There are more musicians making more music being heard by more people and earning more money than ever before.
Now, multiply what happened to music by a million. Multiply it by consulting, coaching, and design. Multiply it by manufacturing, speaking and nonprofits. Multiply it by whatever it is you care enough to do.
That’s what after looks like.[i]
You are Free
You are free to create your art. Write an eBook and place it on Amazon. Post an ad on Craig’s list. Blog. Invite customers to hear your pitch. Walk around with a placard that tells the world how you plan to change it. No one will stop you.
The oppressive system that held you in place has been broken. It has no power to keep you from creating and offering your art to the world. The old rules no longer apply. You are only limited by your own imagination.
What About You?
Are you willing to fly out of your cage? What will you do with your new-found freedom?
References
[i] Godin, S. (2014). Icarus deception: How high will you fly? New York: Portfolio. (pp. 49-50)
______________
Dr. Darin Gerdes is a tenured Professor of Management in the College of Business at Charleston Southern University. All ideas expressed on www.daringerdes.com are his own.
This post was originally created for Great Business Networking (GBN), a networking organization for business professionals where Dr. Gerdes is the Director of Education.
______________
