People all over the business world are griping about the unfairness of today's market turmoil: how years of study and hard work have been ruined because of the disruptions unleashed by fast companies and a fast economy. Hey, there's not a lot we can do about it. Instability and chaos are the natural order of things moving forward, and the sooner we embrace that, the sooner we can start riding the waves instead of being swamped by them.
Dear Seth: I can't get any faster. I work all the time. I have sore thumbs from using my BlackBerry so much. I'm burnt out.
-- Mario Andretti, Somewhere in Indiana
Mario: When I say "fast," I mean the new fast, the fast that takes bravery - the quick test, the quick launch, the quick failure. I mean the fast that prefers a quick death to a long, slow one. The fast that looks for shortcuts to knowing, that values insight, and that doesn't mind upsetting the status quo.
Dear Seth: Who's fast now?
-- Alan Webber, Fast Company, Boston, Massachusetts
Alan! Haven't you been paying attention? Sheesh. Everyone is fast now. Everyone who is reading this magazine has had their moments of speed. They've experienced the fear in the pit of their stomachs as they tried something that was untested, as they took a risk that the boss hadn't approved of in writing.
The only difference between the truly fast and the occasionally fast is the power of addiction. Once you get in the habit of being fast, you learn that it's not the end of the game. Fast behavior at work rarely gets you into any serious trouble - and when it does, you'll survive. You will find another gig, and odds are, it will be one that lets you go faster still. Who's fast? We all are.
Seth Godin (sgodin@fastcompany.com) is the author of Unleashing the Ideavirus (Hyperion, 2001), which just came out last month in paperback. Find out more about this and other fast topics on the Web (www.ideavirus.com).
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