What does it mean to learn Craft?

My career has been focused on two things: building products that would present new user paradigms and cultivating data-driven systems to determine what to do with those products. In the 90s and early 00s, building products was an electric experience because we were reaching and interacting with the first online audience—ever. The internet enabled unprecedented creativity in rethinking and redefining communication, productivity, personal information management, marketing and advertising, and community (to name a few things) as we knew it. Then, we were tasked with figuring out how to drive revenue from those ideas. Data was needed, and a lot of it. Attitudes clashed about innovation, ethics, and basic economics. What information could we ethically maintain and utilize in our systems and for what purpose? How should the “user” be “managed” during a “transaction?” What were the core elements of loyalty, and role would that play? Eventually, the market stabilized. A few products business models rose to the surface. Businesses grew more predictably. Creativity started to decline. Risk taking was discouraged in favor of efficiency, productivity, and scale. The the first conversations of artificial intelligence and machine learning were just getting off the ground.

It was in that climate I decided to move in another direction, earning degrees in applied behavioral science and psychology to gain more perspective on intuitive knowledge and subjective intelligence. The innovative, creative thinking that had laid the foundation for e-commerce, personalization, and communication had begun to spark some ideas about innate human knowledge (subjective intelligence), and the kinds of decision making we engage particularly when we are in under pressure. I wasn’t finding AI to be that creative. Leaders had developed such a heavy dependency on “data-driven decisions” that they stopped relying on other ways of knowing. They denied their own experience and that of others. They ignored insights from other disciplines. When developing core corporate strategy leaders too often asked, “What does the data say?” instead of synthesizing analysis with a grounded value system and seasoned perspective. If the quality of our thinking was potentially declining in favor of being told what to do by machine output—what was our state of mind when we were engineering these solutions? or making big decisions about what these machines would do? My fear was: if AI develops the abilities beyond humans (e.g., playing chess, surgery, law, etc.) how would humans maintain an adequate partnership?

These questions both excited and terrified me. And if I’m being honest, they still do. We get offended at the thought of losing jobs to machines, yet we have an ever-increasing reliance on them.

Where are the people living and working with Craft?

As each wave of technology passes over us, we go through phases of emotions. There was an infectious enthusiasm that took over when the iPhone, iPod and iPad launched. iPhone adoption was unprecedented and the iPod changed how we listen to music almost over night. There is a lot of anxiety and deep fear about technology replacing humans at work. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is quickly and seamlessly becoming involved in every aspect of our lives. It assists us in our schedules, helps us through our days, finds us a mate, keeps track of us while driving, remembers our fitness levels, and it answers questions as our partner in getting things done. It has shown up as a servant (AskJeeves) and now it shows up as a virtual assistant (typically female) keeping track of our behaviors. Artificial intelligence is the GPS for our lives. This slow “invasion” of our human experience shapes our expectations of what role technology could and should be in our lives.

As data advances more and more into our lives and decision making, however, it’s important to remind ourselves that we have the capability to chart our own course. AI (for now) is there to enhance our abilities and experiences. This knowledge can, quite literally, confirm we are on the right path. If we change our direction, our GPS can respond to us with an alternate route, another series of choices. “I’ll remember the grocery list; I’ll get this ready for you; You like these items, maybe you’ll like these recipes; I’ll make this reservation; I see you’re out of this item, I’ll buy this thing. No problem, you changed your mind; I’ll send it back, no worries.” Slowly, we are training an other, more efficient version of our presence to anticipate and help us manage our life.

People who live and work with Craft—engage in the struggle for individual agency in a world telling us to fit in. They use their work as a medium for personal expression and they know something that top analytic minds still need to learn: how to solve the problems when no predetermined plan, no template, and no quick fix will save the day. They cultivate, inhabit, and maintain a state of mind capable of holding paradoxical tensions:

Subjective reasoning: the ability to arrive at a conclusion based on intuition and/or experience. Craftsman are analytical, and they also reason.

Flexible purposefulness: The ability to have an over-arching view and remain flexible enough to allow for adaptations as the experience unfolds.

Cognitive emotions: The ability to be involved emotionally to one’s work, and also very thoughtful and perceptive.

Craftsmen take risk. Their very character influences the outcome of their work. They display a level of insight in their respective mediums due to a deep fascination with the idiosyncrasies and nuances of their medium that borders obsession. They subject their humanity to the market’s scrutiny, demanding exponential growth and scale as a primary value. While craftsmen are very adaptable in terms of their improvisational problem solving, they are unwavering in their values and ethical boundaries.

It is here we can benefit from learning to think with Craft. We must learn to understand ourselves on a fundamental level. We need profound insight, not just annual feedback. We need work that is worthwhile, not a mere transaction. When we lack true alignment with the work we were meant to do, we live our lives 6-degrees off course. We ameliorate versus resolve problems, failing to gain and therefore missing the opportunity for the kind of proximity needed true, creative solutions.

Craftsmanship is a set of principles that apply to the modern world—to us as potential craftsmen. We can learn about ourselves through our approach to life and work. I’ve experienced this myself, and I’ve witnessed it in my clients.

It is my hope that my work about living and working with Craft can help us navigate this period of change, where the pull for ever more data requires us to dig deeper into ourselves for knowledge and insight, giving us new ways to think about the problems we are confronting. These themes remind us that there are multiple forms of knowledge innate in each of us—but we must mine it and synthesize it in order to more deeply understand it.

Working with craft requires distinct attitudes and capabilities of solving the problem at hand, but also the intellectual vision and insight to find new problems. Seeing what is missing involves the application of ingenuity.

Stability has provided the conditions for us to think of organizations of all types as machines. We update, copy, scale, and own them. We think of organizations as having parts, and concentrate efforts on making them operate ever more cheaply. We think we can fix them. We want them to be reliable producers for us. Nonprofits want more programs. Governments want more services. Businesses want to produce more widgets. We think we can control its growth trajectory and invest in ways to make the same product or service newer, whiter, and brighter.

They make more, we consume more. That’s the deal.

This model works until it doesn’t. Natural resources are finite. People burn out. Markets get oversaturated. Given the amount of change with which we are forced to reckon, the flaw in this approach is that our perception of problems remains predefined. But there is growing momentum in the belief that business is not an independent machine. It does not ‘get fixed’ using interchangeable parts. It is a living, breathing network of people, interacting with supporting networks, and dealing with ongoing, adaptive crises.

The stability we think we have in the mechanisms of business are starting to unravel. Business as usual, with its dependency on scarce resources, is a dead end. This means that business as unusual will not feel natural at first. We might even need new words to describe it. We will need to reinvent what it means to lead or to work in an organization. We have to create for ourselves the firm foundation that enables us to question constraints we see today, engage with risk toward opportunities, and take the leap. Like a craftsman, we will need to create new tools to contend with problems as they present themselves. We must learn to improvise.

Evolution, adopting modifications over time, is the most powerful tool we have for dealing with change—and it happens with or without our consent. Evolution is caused by a change in the environment. It could be a competitor. Or, we can be the virus that causes the business to evolve. The opportunity for us is to be that agent of evolution. Waiting for the DNA to evolve will take too long. A random feature that is created when a strand of DNA, or an idea, is altered and then transferred creates a mutation. Seeking or creating positive mutations can increase an organization’s resilience to change.

Evolution requires grit. Change is not the problem. Our fear of change is the problem. Fear of deviating from a leading strategy and our dependence on top-down tactics make us miserable— not change. So we adopt small changes, hoping that as the company gathers steam, it will distance itself from its competitors and dominate markets by embracing the changes that will inevitably come.

Values require homework. Truly being open to change means we need to engage in the deliberate practice of modifying our behaviors. If we aren’t prepared to engage in the emotional labor it will take in the early stages of shifting our patterns, we won’t see the changes we aspire to through.

Beliefs need to be disrupted. Business models are less durable today. Once fixed in place for years, even decades, the basic rules of the game for creating and capturing economic value have changed. What works for the competition will not work for you. But now, business models are subject to rapid displacement, disruption, and, in extreme cases, outright destruction.

Consider a few examples:

Bitcoin bypasses traditional banks and clearinghouses with blockchain technology.[i]
Coursera and edX, among others, threaten business schools with massive open online courses (MOOCs).[ii]
Uber avoids the license system that protects taxicab franchises in cities around the world.[iii]

The distinction between simple and complex problems is one theorists have debated for decades. I am not the first to bring this issue up. Nor am I the first to suggest that subjectivity adds texture to decision making. Sorensen’s emphasis on judgment points directly to this idea. Yet, while the qualities that characterize craftsmanship (wrestling with uncertainty, dealing with ambiguity, complexity, change, surprise, choice, and uniqueness) are present in any challenging activity, little has been done to make use of this consideration. Few heads of state, presidents of major philanthropic organizations, or CEOs of major organizations would look to a craftsman when it comes to being effective in solving problems in the real world.

Executives looking to craftsmen for help? At first it seems a ridiculous proposition. If we’re to adopt the stereotypes for a second, craftsmen don’t have a tremendous amount of credibility in rational circles as refined problem solvers. When we think of successful, effective people craftsmen aren’t the first to come to mind.

But maybe we’ve been missing something. The important point to take is how they approach their medium. True master craftsmen see that cluster of subjective problems not as obstacles but as exciting opportunities to learn and flex their skills. In fact, they crave it. They view obstacles as exciting puzzles to work through.

And here’s something to wonder about: due to the daily discipline of immersing themselves in the potential of their medium and being in constant engagement with its constraints, when they are in the face of complexity, true craftsmen might display greater intelligence in their medium than many of us do in our own professions. This is what is meant by holding the tension of problem seeking and problem finding. Finding problems means you have the capability to predict qualities of your medium (be it clay, people, or a market) and how it will react in unique circumstances. For this group, it is often both mental and physical—and sometimes emotional.

Professionals can take valuable lessons from how craftsmen approach their work. Craftsmen seek ambiguity, disruption and surprise in the same way professions seek stability, efficiency, and permanence. They invite surprise by working at the edge of their knowledge and rubbing up against the constraints of their medium—on purpose or by accident. Taking risks is what keeps them vibrant and feeling alive. Craftsmen seek the kind of solutions that stimulate surprises, benefiting from the growth stimulated by the wonder of the unknown. As a result, they enjoy intensity, determination, experimenting, autonomy, motivation, satisfaction, purpose, creativity, learning, and transformation as they work.

Can craftsmen teach us how engaging problems differently can help us come closer to these sorts of experiences? Can we apply craftsmanship principles to shaping our businesses? Can the day to day tasks of our jobs be turned into the challenges of craftsmen? Can we learn to see the daily grind the way a craftsman views opportunity? How do I build a team of a company of craftsman?

Achieving craft in our decision making means learning to use judgment, imagination and improvisational discernment in our own work. Turning simple problems into craftsman’s problems means relaxing our grip on what we perceive to be objective data (there is none). We need to value subjective knowledge and better integrate our multiple intelligences toward creative solutions.

This post is part of a series #LookToCraftsmen set for publication in 2019.