Cathy Chiba doesn’t like labels, but if she had to call herself something, it would be a perspective-taker.

She’s always asking herself, “How do I think about this in a way that makes it more inclusive, that helps explain what’s going on, and also makes it more human.”

She’s a speaker, a writer, she helps people with communications. But really, it all comes down to trying to find out how to take someone else’s perspective to try to find out about a situation.

But the real reason I invited her on the podcast is that Cathy has a unique perspective on productivity.

Most people tend to think about productivity as a “value in / value out” model.

You do a certain amount of work, you get a certain amount of value out the other end. This is a very industrial way of looking at things. It’s based all around efficiency, where every hour is equal, and this model has tended to dominate the way we think about work and productivity.

But it doesn’t work for all pursuits!

Take speaking. Or athletics. Or any kind of performance.

In this performance kind of model, to produce something of value the end result is very time-bound and space bound (for example, a 3-minute song onstage, or a 20-second footrace). You put a lot of work in up front, over a long period of time. The industrial model of “value in / value out” doesn’t apply at all.

And there are other models, too, such as the agricultural model, which Cathy touches on in our conversation.

We talked about how the domination of the industrial model has affected us, and how “inaction heroes” can shift the paradigm to become more productive, and ultimately happier as a result.

It was pretty eye-opening, and mind-expanding. Have a listen and let me know what you think!
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