Due out Jan 26.
linchpin
Someone who is indispensable.They invent, lead, connect others, make things happen and create order out of chaos.
They figure out what to do when there is not rule book.
They love their work, pour their best selves into it, and turn each day into a kind of art.
Another book that is hard to put down. I need to take some time off to read.
I'll be logging as I read here... so please don't expect any kind of formality or order. (why would you be expecting that from me anyway? just saying... this could be even worse.)I just watched this interview of Seth about the book... I love his take on art..
go you linchpins...
n o t e s:
please note: obviously this book is striking a chord in me. i can't imagine it not doing the same for you. at any point - if you feel this post is too long.. you're right.. if you feel it's plagiarism... it is. read on if you so choose. but please don't miss the part close to the end...after the big... this is
where average comes from:
everyone has a little voice in their head that's angry and afraid. that voice is the resistance - your lizard brain - and it wants you to be average (and safe). p. 5
you can train yourself to matter
via godin's linchpin "if you've got something to say, say it & think well of yourself while you're learning to say it better." -david mamet p. 6
today we need original thinkers, provocateurs, and people who care... p. 8
linchpin: the one person that can bring it all together and make a difference.
some organizations haven't realized this yet - but we need artists...
artists are people with a genius for finding a new answer, a new connections, or a new way of getting things done. p. 8
today- all the joy and profit have been squeezed out of following the rules...
outsourcing and automation punish anyone who is merely good, merely obedient, merely reliable.
bring humanity, connection and art to your organization.
purple cow = product worth talking about
linchpin = person worth talking about... indispensable
p.9 if every corp in every country in the world, people are waiting to be told what to do. sure, many of us pretend that we'd love to have control and authority and to bring out humanity to work. but given half a chance, we give it up, in a heartbeat.
people want to be told what to do because they are afraid (petrified) of figuring it out for themselves. p.10 the goal was to leverage and defend the system, not the people.
interchangeable parts.. always changing..
p. 13 consumers crave: the unique, the remarkable, the human
There are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do.
p. 24 owning the means of production... changes everything.
p. 25 hugh macleod: the web has made kicking ass easier to achieve, and mediocrity harder to sustain. mediocrity now howls in protest.
there's more junk than ever before, more lousy writing, more pointless products. but this abundance of trash is overwhelmed by the market's ability to distribute news about the great stuff.
almost no one puts in the work to create or invent. up to you.
only way to succeed: to be remarkable - to be talked about... if we're going to talk them, we're going to discuss what they do, not who they are.
the only way to get what your worth......produce interactions that organization and people care deeply about.
p. 28 becoming indispensable is not impossible. it's not about what you're born with, it's about what you do.
be human.
contribute.
interact.
take the risk that you might make someone upset with your initiative, innovation, and insight - it turns out that you'll probably delight them instead.
consumers say they want cheap...though, most of us, most of the time, seek out art.
p. 30 if you want a job where you get to do more than follow instructions, don't be surprised if you get asked to do things they never taught you in school.
used to be:
keep your head down
follow instructions
show up on time
work hard
suck it up
now:
be remarkable
be generous
create art
make judgment calls
connect people and ideas
i love all of these things...
all of the attributes are choices, not talents, ... all are available to you.
p. 36 o n s c h o o l:
the ones you free to be artists, will rise to a level you can't even imagine... because everyone is a person. and people crave connections and respect.
what every boss really wants is an artist - someone who changes everything, someone who makes dreams come true.
p. 40 we've been trained to believe that mediocre obedience is a genetic fact for most the population, but .....this trait doesn't show up until after a few years of schooling.
the launch of universal (public and free) education was a profound change in the way our society works, and it was a deliberate attempt to transform out culture. and it worked. we trained millions of factory workers.
keeping up with the joneses is not a genetic predisposition. it's an invented need, and a recent one.
a sign schools need out front:
we teach people to take initiative and become remarkable artists, to question the status quo, and to interact with transparency. and our graduates understand that consumption is not the answer to social problems.
p. 44 we ask someone to do something wacky or original and they change the tiniest surface element instead of finding the root of a creative solution. that's no accident. that's what we taught them to do. the opportunity is in changing the game, changing the interaction, or even changing the question.
classroom become fear-based, test-based battlefields, when they could so easily be organized to encourage the heretical thought we so badly need.
i strongly believe this... with the power of networking... we can do this..are we building the sort of people our society needs?p. 46 on school - the problem lies with the system that punishes artists and reward bureaucrats instead.woodrow wilson on public ed: we want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another... a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forgo the privileges of a liberal ed and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.
[sounds crazy... like most people today would read that and say... that's wack. but that's exactly what the public ed system is doing.]
what school should teach:
1. solve interesting problems = not the kind google can answer... ones like... what should i do next...
2. lead = leading is a skill, not a gift, you learn how.. schools can teach leadership as easily as they figured out how to teach compliance. schools can teach us to be socially smart, to be open to connection, to understand the elements that build a tribe. while schools provide outlets for natural-born leaders, they don't teach it. and leadership is now worth far more than compliance is.
______________________________________________________________
oh my mr godin......
bring humanity, connection and art to your organization.
purple cow = product worth talking about
linchpin = person worth talking about... indispensable
p.9 if every corp in every country in the world, people are waiting to be told what to do. sure, many of us pretend that we'd love to have control and authority and to bring out humanity to work. but given half a chance, we give it up, in a heartbeat.
people want to be told what to do because they are afraid (petrified) of figuring it out for themselves. p.10 the goal was to leverage and defend the system, not the people.
interchangeable parts.. always changing..
p. 13 consumers crave: the unique, the remarkable, the human
There are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do.
p. 24 owning the means of production... changes everything.
it starts with bloggers, musicians, writers and others who don't need anyone's support or permission to do their thing.
the thriving organization: well-organized linchpins doing their thing in concert, creating more value than any factory ever couldp. 25 hugh macleod: the web has made kicking ass easier to achieve, and mediocrity harder to sustain. mediocrity now howls in protest.
there's more junk than ever before, more lousy writing, more pointless products. but this abundance of trash is overwhelmed by the market's ability to distribute news about the great stuff.
almost no one puts in the work to create or invent. up to you.
only way to succeed: to be remarkable - to be talked about... if we're going to talk them, we're going to discuss what they do, not who they are.
the only way to get what your worth......produce interactions that organization and people care deeply about.
p. 28 becoming indispensable is not impossible. it's not about what you're born with, it's about what you do.
be human.
contribute.
interact.
take the risk that you might make someone upset with your initiative, innovation, and insight - it turns out that you'll probably delight them instead.
consumers say they want cheap...though, most of us, most of the time, seek out art.
p. 30 if you want a job where you get to do more than follow instructions, don't be surprised if you get asked to do things they never taught you in school.
[this makes me think of erica mcwilliams saying that the key to teaching now is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do... being usefully ignorant.]
generosity is the very best strategy.used to be:
keep your head down
follow instructions
show up on time
work hard
suck it up
now:
be remarkable
be generous
create art
make judgment calls
connect people and ideas
i love all of these things...
all of the attributes are choices, not talents, ... all are available to you.
p. 36 o n s c h o o l:
the ones you free to be artists, will rise to a level you can't even imagine... because everyone is a person. and people crave connections and respect.
what every boss really wants is an artist - someone who changes everything, someone who makes dreams come true.
p. 40 we've been trained to believe that mediocre obedience is a genetic fact for most the population, but .....this trait doesn't show up until after a few years of schooling.
the launch of universal (public and free) education was a profound change in the way our society works, and it was a deliberate attempt to transform out culture. and it worked. we trained millions of factory workers.
keeping up with the joneses is not a genetic predisposition. it's an invented need, and a recent one.
a sign schools need out front:
we teach people to take initiative and become remarkable artists, to question the status quo, and to interact with transparency. and our graduates understand that consumption is not the answer to social problems.
p. 44 we ask someone to do something wacky or original and they change the tiniest surface element instead of finding the root of a creative solution. that's no accident. that's what we taught them to do. the opportunity is in changing the game, changing the interaction, or even changing the question. classroom become fear-based, test-based battlefields, when they could so easily be organized to encourage the heretical thought we so badly need.
i strongly believe this... with the power of networking... we can do this..are we building the sort of people our society needs?p. 46 on school - the problem lies with the system that punishes artists and reward bureaucrats instead.woodrow wilson on public ed: we want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another... a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forgo the privileges of a liberal ed and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.
[sounds crazy... like most people today would read that and say... that's wack. but that's exactly what the public ed system is doing.]
what school should teach:
1. solve interesting problems = not the kind google can answer... ones like... what should i do next...
2. lead = leading is a skill, not a gift, you learn how.. schools can teach leadership as easily as they figured out how to teach compliance. schools can teach us to be socially smart, to be open to connection, to understand the elements that build a tribe. while schools provide outlets for natural-born leaders, they don't teach it. and leadership is now worth far more than compliance is.
______________________________________________________________
oh my mr godin......
saving me just now at 2am..
per friend request, i'm marking the book because they don't have time to read it.- funny - we're so preoccupied with what think is important we miss out on what's matters. so my brilliant mind thought, instead of just marking my book,
i'll take notes in a post,
then i don't have to loan my book out, and more than one friend can benefit.
i told my kids yesterday... this book is so good...
we should stop "school" and read the book.
they were momentarily delighted because most get
that "school" needs to be different.
but they've been trained to be inactive and most often *unbelievably respectful rebels.
i know - that doesn't make sense. that's the point.
*i'm afraid much of what we do in the name of public ed is abusive.
so the kicker... i am 50 pages into this incredible book of 236 pages (yeah - not even to 101 yet)..
this post is crazy long..
i'm feeling the need to share every other sentence...
this is ridiculous...
b u y t h e b o o k
if you care about anything...
this is a book you want to read.
for yourself.
time to sleep.
i need to sleep devijver