Book review - Linchpin by Seth Godin

I have heard it said that sometime's there are books that come and find us.  It's like someone wrote a book and it has been sitting there waiting for the right moment to either jump out at us or it places itself in our way so that we have no choice but to trip over it and start reading it.

Linchpin was one of those books for me.  Linchpin is written by one of the most inspiring people of our time - Seth Godin.

Seth Godin is a guru.  Okay - that is debateable but probably true.  What he does he the best is write books, blogposts and give talks that inspire and encourage people to think differently and view the world from a different perspective.

The book Linchpin is no different.  You will not find in this book the three keys to success or easy to follow formulas that will guarantee succcess.  What this book is - is a series of daily, easy to follow challenges for the authentic self to come to the fore.

Linchpin takes a central theme of life being art.  And based on the art theme - everyone is an artist.  The question is - are you creating art?  I won't give too much away but the whole art theme is both a metaphor and a literal sense of what we do with our time.  Artist or cog - the choice is yours.  Whether you are a cleaner or a CEO the questions and the challenges are the same.  Bring your authentic self to your work, create art and let the good times roll!

The book is super easy to read and understand but at the same time it cuts straight to the heart of the matter.  There are no mysteries or hidden messages.  In this book what you see is what you get.  Simple.

My overall rating for this book - 4 and 1/2 stars.  Yes, it is that good.

Team Values Pt 4 - The Creative Team

Want to achieve greater efficiencies and improved workplace performance?

Give your staff the power to -

• Dream about how it could be better,
• Influence their work design, workspace or workflow and ultimately -
• Own the workplace.

How?

• Make time to dream and allow your staff to both imagine and see the future. 
• Let them describe what the most effective workplace would look like.
• Then ask them what they can do as a part of their existing role and with the resources they have to make that dream into a reality.  If they need more resources - guess what?  You just might have to buy them.

Note - this is not just a once off exercise.  Like muscles creativity needs to be stretched and used in order for it to grow.  By creating regular sessions to imagine then creativity will become second nature to the team.  And then the results will ultimately flow.

Here is a link to a great article that will help you in your journey towards unleashing the creativity in your team.

(Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nidriel/208695752/)

Breeaking The Rules of Old Wisdom

If any one person or business has constantly set the bar far higher than anyone else - it's Richard Branson.  He is a man is willing to take a risk and throw caution to the wind to find success.

This great article - http://www.trendpov.com/node/384 -that sums up some of how Virgin works.

I encourage you to read it.