Seth Godin just published a sharp, timely piece that lands hard: “A Good Worker”.
He admits he’s never been a “good worker” in the traditional sense—showing up, doing exactly what’s asked, no questions, focused only on what the boss wants. That model, he argues, was engineered for factories and then drilled into us through school (“Will this be on the test?”). Compliance made people interchangeable. It worked when the world was stable.
It doesn’t work anymore.
When change accelerates, when job security is fragile, and when AI + the atomization of work turn most of us into the boss (even on a payroll), the good-worker trope becomes a liability. What’s required instead: leadership, resilience, and the insight—and guts—to ask why.
This is exactly the shift we’ve been writing about. The employees who will thrive are not the ones who perfect the checklist. They’re the ones who treat their role as a contribution to be owned, not a set of tasks to be completed. They’re the ones who see the system, challenge assumptions, and adapt faster than the process can harden.
In a world where AI handles the “do precisely what’s asked,” the human premium becomes judgment, initiative, and the willingness to lead from wherever you sit.
Compliance was never the goal. Contribution is.
Thanks, Seth, for putting it so clearly.
Originally posted on LinkedIn.
