Synopses & Reviews
"The only way to get what you're worth is to stand out, to exert emotional labor, to be seen as indispensable, and to produce interactions that organizations and people care deeply about." In bestsellers such as Purple Cow and Tribes, Seth Godin taught readers how to make remarkable products and spread powerful ideas. But this book is different. It's about you - your choices, your future, and your potential to make a huge difference in whatever field you choose.
There used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there's a third team, the linchpins. These people invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order out of chaos. They figure out what to do when there's no rule book. They delight and challenge their customers and peers. They love their work, pour their best selves into it, and turn each day into a kind of art.
Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations. Like the small piece of hardware that keeps a wheel from falling off its axle, they may not be famous but they're indispensable. And in today's world, they get the best jobs and the most freedom.
Have you ever found a shortcut that others missed? Seen a new way to resolve a conflict? Made a connection with someone others couldn't reach? Even once? Then you have what it takes to become indispensable, by overcoming the resistance that holds people back. Linchpin will show you how to join the likes of...
*Keith Johnson, who scours flea markets across the country to fill Anthropologie stores with unique pieces.
*Marissa Mayer, who keeps Google focused on the things that really matter.
*Jason Zimdars, a graphic designer who got his dream job at 37signals without a résumé.
*David, who works at Dean and Deluca coffeeshop in New York. He sees every customer interaction as a chance to give a gift and is cherished in return.
As Godin writes, "Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it back. It's time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must."
Review
"It's easy to see why people pay to hear what he has to say."
-Time
"Thousands of authors write business books every year, but only a handful reach star status and the A-list lecture circuit. Fewer still-one, to be exact-can boast his own action figure. . . . Godin delivers his combination of counterintuitive thinking and a great sense of fun."
-BusinessWeek
"This book is a gift."
-Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder, The Acumen Fund
"If Seth Godin didn't exist we'd need to invent him-that's how indispensable he is! You hold in your hands a compelling, accessible, and purpose-filled book. Read it, and do yourself a big favor. Your future will thank you!"
-Alan Webber, Founder, Fast Company
"This is what the future of work (and the world) looks like. Actually, it's already happening around you."
-Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com
"Thousands of authors write business books every year, but only a handful reach star status and the A-list lecture circuit. Fewer still - one, to be exact - can boast his own action figure....Godin delivers his combination of counterintuitive thinking and a great sense of fun."
-BusinessWeek
Review
Buy this book and use GodinÆs ideas to remake yourself, your product, or your company. Then pass it on to your boss or your employees. Tell them theyÆve just won a free prize. (Jean Briggs,
Forbes)
Godin makes the case for Æsoft innovationÆ as the best way to grow a business, instead of relying on big ads or big innovation. He says that anyone can think up clever, useful, and small ideas to make a product or service remarkable, that is, worth talking about. He calls this kind of innovation a free prize because it generates much more revenue than it costs to implement. (Management Consulting News)
Godin is endlessly curious, opinionated, and knowledgeable on a wide variety of subjects. He is a relentless marketer . . . and also a clear-eyed visionary with strong and sensible ideas on how the new economy can, should, and will function. (Richard Pachter, Miami Herald)
Synopsis
Made for dipping into again and again, Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? brings together the very best of Seth Godin's acclaimed blog and is a classic for fans both old and new. 'Getting your ducks in a row is a fine thing to do. But deciding what you are going to do with that duck is a far more important issue' Seth Godin is famous for bestselling books such as Purple Cow and cool entrepreneurial ventures such as Squidoo and the Domino Project. But to millions of loyal readers, he's best known for the daily burst of insight he provides every morning, rain or shine, via Seth's Blog. Since he started blogging in the early 1990s, he has written more than two million words and shaped the way we think about marketing, leadership, careers, inno-vation, creativity, and more. Much of his writing is inspirational and some is incendiary. Collected here are six years of his best, most entertaining, and most poignant blog posts, plus a few bonus ebooks. From thoughts on how to treat your customers to telling stories and spreading ideas, Godin pushes us to think smarter, dream bigger, write better, and speak more honestly. Highlights include: -A marketing lesson from the Apocalypse -No, everything is not going to be okay -Organized bravery -Choose your customers, choose your future -Paying attention to the attention economy -Bandits and philanthropists Godin writes to get under our skin. He wants us to stand up and do something remarkable, outside the standards of the industrial system that raised us. Seth Godin is the author of thirteen international bestsellers that have changed the way people think about marketing, the ways ideas spread, leadership and change including Permission Marketing, Purple Cow, All Marketers are Liars, The Dip and Tribes. He is the CEO of Squidoo.com and a very popular lecturer. His blog, www.sethgodin.typepad.com, is the most influential business blog in the world, and consistently one of the 100 most popular blogs on any subject.
Synopsis
As one of today’s most influential business thinkers, Seth Godin helps his army of fans stay focused, stay connected, and stay dissatisfied with the status quo, the ordinary, the boring. His books, blog posts, magazine articles, and speeches have inspired countless entrepreneurs, marketing people, innovators, and managers around the world.
Now, for the first time, Godin has collected the most provocative short pieces from his pioneering blog—ranked #70 by Feedster (out of millions published) in worldwide readership. This book also includes his most popular columns from Fast Company magazine, and several of the short e-books he has written in the last few years.
A sample:
- Bon Jovi And The Pirates
- Christmas Card Spam
- Clinging To Your Job Title?
- How Much Would You Pay to Be on Oprah’s Show?
- The Persistence of Really Bad Ideas
- The Seduction of “Good Enough”
- What Happens When It's All on Tape?
- Would You Buy Life Insurance at a Rock Concert?
Small is the New Big is a huge bowl of inspiration that you can gobble in one sitting or dip into at any time. As Godin writes in his introduction: “I guarantee that you'll find some ideas that don’t work for you. But I’m certain that you're smart enough to see the stuff you’ve always wanted to do, buried deep inside one of these riffs. And I’m betting that once inspired, you’ll actually make something happen.”
Synopsis
A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). It?s our nature.
Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helping existing tribes get bigger. But more important, they?re enabling countless new tribes to be born?groups of ten or ten thousand or ten million who care about their iPhones, or a political campaign, or a new way to fight global warming.
And so the key question: Who is going to lead us?
The Web can do amazing things, but it can?t provide leadership. That still has to come from individuals? people just like you who have passion about something. The explosion in tribes means that anyone who wants to make a difference now has the tools at her fingertips.
If you think leadership is for other people, think again?leaders come in surprising packages. Consider Joel Spolsky and his international tribe of scary-smart software engineers. Or Gary Vaynerhuck, a wine expert with a devoted following of enthusiasts. Chris Sharma leads a tribe of rock climbers up impossible cliff faces, while Mich Mathews, a VP at Microsoft, runs her internal tribe of marketers from her cube in Seattle. All they have in common is the desire to change things, the ability to connect a tribe, and the willingness to lead.
If you ignore this opportunity, you risk turning into a ?sheepwalker??someone who fights to protect the status quo at all costs, never asking if obedience is doing you (or your organization) any good. Sheepwalkers don?t do very well these days.
Tribes will make you think (really think) about the opportunities in leading your fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, or readers. . . . It?s not easy, but it?s easier than you think.
Synopsis
The old saying is wrong—winners do quit, and quitters do win.
Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point—really hard, and not much fun at all.
And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you’re in a Dip—a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it’s really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.
According to bestselling author Seth Godin, what really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.
Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt—until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can become number one in your niche, you’ll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security.
Losers, on the other hand, fall into two basic traps. Either they fail to stick out the Dip—they get to the moment of truth and then give up—or they never even find the right Dip to conquer.
Whether you’re a graphic designer, a sales rep, an athlete, or an aspiring CEO, this fun little book will help you figure out if you’re in a Dip that’s worthy of your time, effort, and talents. If you are, The Dip will inspire you to hang tough. If not, it will help you find the courage to quit—so you can be number one at something else.
Seth Godin doesn’t claim to have all the answers. But he will teach you how to ask the right questions.
Synopsis
"This is what the future of work (and the world) looks like. Actually, it's already happening around you." -Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com In bestsellers such as Purple Cow and Tribes, Seth Godin taught readers how to make remarkable products and spread powerful ideas. But this book is about you-your choices, your future, and your potential to make a huge difference in whatever field you choose.
There used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there's a third team, the linchpins. These people figure out what to do when there's no rule book. They delight and challenge their customers and peers. They love their work, pour their best selves into it, and turn each day into a kind of art.
Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations. They may not be famous but they're indispensable. And in today's world, they get the best jobs and the most freedom.
As Godin writes, "Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it back. It's time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must."
Synopsis
How to find the ?soft innovation? that will make your product, service, school, church, or career worth talking about We live in an era of too much noise, too much clutter, too many choices, and too much spam. And as Seth Godin?s 200,000-copy bestseller Purple Cow taught the business world, the old ways of marketing simply don?t work anymore. The best way to sell anything these days is through word of mouth?and the only real way to get word of mouth is to create something remarkable.
Free Prize Inside, the sequel to Purple Cow, explains how to do just that. It?s jammed with practical ideas you can use right now to make your product or service remarkable, so that it will virtually sell itself.
Remember when cereal came with a free prize inside? Even if you already liked the cereal, it was the little plastic toy that made it irresistible. Godin explains how you can think of a bonus that will make your customers feel just as excited, no matter what business you?re in. Consider these free prizes:
??The Tupperware party, which turned buying plastic bowls into a social event
??Flintstones vitamins, which turned a serious product into something fun
??The free change-counting machine at every Commerce Bank branch
??The little blue box from Tiffany, which makes people happy before they even open it
This book offers a way to create free prizes quickly, cheaply, and reliably?and persuade others in your organization to help you bring them to life.
Synopsis
This browsable hardcover collects the very best of the past six years of Seth Godin’s acclaimed blog. It’s a follow-up to his previous collection,
Small is the New Big (Portfolio, 2006) and is designed for dipping into again and again. Godin has blogged more than two million words since the late 1990s, sharing his unique take on the ever-changing landscape of marketing, leadership, careers, innovation, creativity, and much more. His posts range from a few words to a few pages; many are inspirational, some are incendiary. For instance, here’s the title post, “Whatcha gonna do with that duck?” --
We’re surrounded by people who are busy getting their ducks in a row, waiting for just the right moment... Getting your ducks in a row is a fine thing to do. But deciding what you are going to do with that duck is a far more important issue.Synopsis
Were surrounded by people who are busy getting their ducks in a row, waiting for just the right moment. . . . Getting your ducks in a row is a fine thing to do. But deciding what you are going to do with that duck is a far more important issue.” From the blog post "Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?" Seth Godin is famous for bestselling books such as
Purple Cow and cool entrepreneurial ventures such as Squidoo and the Domino Project. But to millions of loyal readers, hes best known for the daily burst of insight he provides every morning, rain or shine, via Seths Blog. Since he started blogging in the early 1990s, he has written more than two million words and shaped the way we think about marketing, leadership, careers, innovation, creativity, and more. Much of his writing is inspirational and some is incendiary. Collected here are six years of his best, most entertaining, and most poignant blog posts, plus a few bonus ebooks. From thoughts on how to treat your customers to telling stories and spreading ideas, Godin pushes us to think smarter, dream bigger, write better, and speak more honestly. Highlights include:
- A marketing lesson from the Apocalypse
- No, everything is not going to be okay
- Organized bravery
- Choose your customers, choose your future
- Paying attention to the attention economy
- Bandits and philanthropists
Godin writes to get under our skin. He wants us to stand up and do something remarkable, outside the standards of the industrial system that raised us. Made for dipping into again and again,
Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? is a classic for fans both old and new.
About the Author
Seth Godin is the author of more than a dozen bestsellers that have changed the way people think about marketing, leadership, and change, including
Permission Marketing,
Purple Cow,
All Marketers Are Liars,
Small is the New Big,
The Dip,
Tribes,
Linchpin, and
Poke the Box. He is also the founder and CEO of Squidoo.com and a very popular lecturer. He writes one of the most influential business blogs in the world at SethGodin.com.
Table of Contents
Small Is the New Big Warning
New Rules, New Winners
Introduction: You're Smarter Than They Think
AAA Auto Parts
Accountability
Acorns, Infected
Artists Care About The Art
Atkins
Benchmarks = Mediocrity
Billboards That Change
Bluegrass And The Cello Player
Bon Jovi And The Pirates
Branding Is Dead; Long Live Branding
Brand My Car, Brand Me
A Brief History Of Hard Work, Adjusted For Risk
Burgerville
Camp, Mickey Rooney, And Your Marketing Problem
Carly Never Had a Chance
CEO Blogs
Change Junkies
Check This Box
China (All That Tea!)
Christmas Card Spam
Clean Fire Trucks
Cliff Climbing (Please Don't Fall Off)
Cliffsnotes
Clinging To Your Job Title?
Clown, Are You A?
Clueless, We Are All
CMO, The Plight of The
Cogs
Commissions (How To Invest Them)
Competence
Cookies And The Technical Ignorance of Joe Surfer
Cookies (The Other Kind Of Cookie)
Cover, Judging A Book By Its
Criticism
Cuff Links
Cursive Versus Typing
Customer Service, A Modest Proposal For
Daylight Saving Time
Digital Divide, The New
Ding
Disrespect
Do Less
Don't Go To Business School
Doughnuts
Echo Chamber
Egomaniac
Enthusiasts
Fear Of Loss, Desire For Gain
Feedback, How To Get
Feedback, How To Give
Fifty States, Flamethrowers, And Sticky Traditions
Flack, As In PR Flack
Flipping The Funnel
Fluffernutter
Fog City Chocolate
Free Prize
Functionality
The Future Isn't What It Used To Be
Gmail
Grandmothers Understand The Net Now, Even
Grass (No, Not That Kind)
Guillotine Or Rack?
Heinlein
Hershey (No Kisses)
Hotels And The Cheap Fortune Cookie
I Changed My Mind Yesterday
Jetblue
Jobs For Purple Cows
A Job Strategy That Makes You A Loser
Journalists
Justin And Ashley
Later Is Not An Option
Local Max, How To Avoid The
Local Max, How The New Marketing Changes The
McDonald's Cocktail Party
"McJob"
Mail, The Check Is In The
"Maybe," Getting People Not To Say
Maybe-Proofing Your Organization
Measurement Increases Speed
Mediocrity
Minnesota Isn't Akron
Mission
Monopolies And The Death Of Scarcity
Mouse Flavor
Myths
Naming
Naming, The New Rules Of
The Needle, The Vise . . . And The Baby Rattle
Never, Do The
No!
No Such Thing As Side Effects
Only
Open Big
Oprah's Show?, How Much Would You Pay To Be On
Optimism
Opt-In
Ostrich
Oxymorons, Just About
Painfully Simple
Parsley
Permission
Pez And Lithuanian Language Records
Pigeons, Superstitious
Placebo Affect, The
Palne, There Are Two Ways To Catch A
Please Don't Make Me Feel So Stupid
Pledge Week
Podcast, Why I Don't Have A
Poilâne, Remembered
Polka
Progress?
Promotions
Prostitution
Provincetown Helmet Insight
Proximity Effect, The
Purple
Quality
Question, The Wrong
Recipe?, Did You Forget The
Reinforcement
Relax . . . , I Mean, Work On The Difficult
Respect And The Fuller Brush Man
Rifting
Right Thing, Doing The
Ringtones
RSS
Rules, Playing By The
Safe Is Risky
Sales
Salinger Knew Better
Satin Pillow, Visualizing The
Scarcity, There's A Shortage Of
Secrets To Success
Selfish Wifi, Razor Blades and Halloween
Sharp Needle, Big Haystack
Shortcuts
Short Words And The KMart Shoppers
Small Is The Big New
Small Is The New Big!
Socks
Soda (They Even Make Mashed-Potato Flavor)
SouvenirsReal Compared To What?
Soy Luck Club
SpectrumIs It Ours Or Theirs?
Stagnation
Start NowHurry!
Subscriptions
Talking Rabbit . . . So, A Rabbi, A Priest, And A
Technorati
Television Is The New Normal
They Don't Care, They Don't Have To
Thinking Big
Torchbearers
Tradition!
Trust And Respect, Courage And Leadership
The Two Obvious Secrets Of Every Service Business
Ubiquity
Ugly, The Web Is
USPS's Yellow Jersey
Verbs (Gerunds, Actually)
Video? Do You Act Differently When You're On
Viral?, What Makes An Idea
Waffles Are Always On The Menu
Wake-up Calls, A Wake-up Call About
Walls, Cliffs, And Bricks
Web Designers
What Did You Do During The 2000s?
What Then?
Who's Who?
Who You Know Doesn't Matter
Why (Ask Why?)
Woot.com And The Edge
Words
Working Class
Wrappers
Yak Shaving
You Are Your References
Your Very Own Printing Press
Zebra Cake, Famous
Some E-Books ( In Handy Printed Form)
Acknowledgments
Index