Seth Godin is an artist, linchpin, and tribe leader. He embraces the minority, and believes that by connecting those on the fringe you can leverage the web to make an impact.
Godin has written 11 books, Godin is an advocate of publishing often, shipping a product and getting it out there. He has given away many of his books, and this has built him quite a following. He is one of the people responsible for getting Amazon into the publishing business.
He is an entrepreneur, and the founder of Squidoo (check out it’s wikipedia page).
One of his free prizes is the Ship It Journal, his guide to completing a project. Seth believes in giving gifts; not just because its built him a massive following, but because he enjoys the act.
Seth doesn’t watch TV, he strives to cut out all of the time wasting activities that people engage in.
I had the great fortune of attending his Pick Yourself event a few weeks ago. Seth encourages individual actions, and trying to make an impact. He’s a fantastic public speaker, and a visionary.
His event was centered around ripping out all of those reasons you give for not producing. Seth is an advocate of failing, often and early. If you’re not failing you have no chance of creating something remarkable.
I recently finished his book, Linchpin. Seth defines a Linchpin as someone who is indispensable, here is one set of ways to be a Linchpin:
- Providing a unique interface between members of an organization
- Delivering unique creativity
- Managing a situation or organization of great complexity
- Leading customers
- Inspiring staff
- Providing deep domain knowledge
- Possessing a unique talent
Seth’s major goal is to inspire people to take a risk, and embrace their own uniqueness. Don’t take the safe job, because those safe jobs are disappearing. Today computers allow for white collar jobs can be mechanized and erased just as easily as factory jobs were destroyed over the past century.