Book: Linchpin by Seth Godin
Rating: Great
Lesson Learned: It’s your job to make yourself indispensable.
Steven Pressfield wrote the War of Art which explained how the resistance holds us back from doing the things that we really need to be doing artistically. It is a pep rally book, it makes you think and then go and do something because you cannot read it and not be motivated.
Seth’s new book Linchpin is a response to Pressfield. It takes the war of art and transfers the battle to the workplace. The premise is that only artists will survive in the new economy because they are the most valued and the hardest for employers to replace. In typical Godin style you are left inspired and excited to go to work understanding that in the end you are your own boss because your actions decide whether you keep your job or get fired.
A lot of what Godin wrote about I too wrote about in Breaking Into the Creative Class so it excites me a big timer would agree (in that the premise of my ebook is the same) with me. He is writing to a generation of workers who are tired of work and I am writing to a generation entering into the workforce.
You need to buy this book.
Book: The Poor Will be Glad: Joining the Revolution to Lift the World Out of Poverty by Peter Greer and Phil Smith
Rating: Great
Lesson Learned: Tactics used to help bring sustainable development to developing countries and communities
This is the follow up book to A Billion Bootstraps by the same authors. It explores the different ways people are making an impact throughout poverty stricken areas. It is an exciting time to be involved with philanthropy since it is so results based and making sustainable differences.
They mention Global Art Inferno, my art import company, on page 231 so that was pretty exciting for me.
Book: Exploiting Chaos: 150 Ways to Spark INnovation During Times of Change by Jeremy Gutsche
Rating: Cool
Lesson Learned: Trend Spotting
Jeremy Gutsche runs the website TrendHunterand wrote this book as a way to describe what he has learned about spotting trends. The book is fun because it is written like a 200 page exciting PowerPoint. It provides an excellent explanation of how to spot and create trends. The lessons he teaches are substantive and the way the book was published is as unique as Bell’s Velvet Elvis. (I’m talking about the Velvet Elvis- pre-weird guy falling on the cover.)
Book: Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone by Mitch Joel
Rating: Meh
Lesson Learned: The internet has closed the gap
This was a good book and would have been a fantastic book had I read it at the beginning of my quest to learn everything about online marketing and building brand awareness. However, I didn’t and so I was re-reading a lot of stuff I had already heard. It seems like the new deal for marketing agencies is to have their higher ups write really good books. I’m down with that. I think the real story here is that if this book was published there are still people out there that don’t know and understand the power of the internet.
Don’t misunderstand me the book is worth reading if you are beginning your exploration into online marketing and understanding electronic community, but if you are in your 20s you have grown up with this stuff.
Book: Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
Rating: okay
Lesson Learned: be authentic
If you are a big company and don’t get the whole ‘net youth culture’ this is a good book. I enjoyed reading it because the lessons seem so intrinsic to me since this is the time I grew up in. There isn’t anything here revolutionary unless you really don’t understand the power of blogs and the potential for your brand to spread online following simple rules.
Book: Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself by Daniel H. Pink
Rating: Great
Lesson Learned: Mastering the New Economy
The name of the book sums it up. Daniel writes about the shift of people working for organizations to working for themselves as contractors and freelancers. I think it is great. However, I don’t think big companies or midsize companies will ever disappear. I would take his book and make it go a little further by saying that everyone is a Free Agent whether you are a contract graphic designer or you work for an enormous company. If you aren’t creating your own specialty and value you have no shelter when the storm comes.
Book: Accidental Branding: How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brands by David Vinjamuri
Rating: Meh
Lesson Learned: It’s all a narrative
Vinjamuri writes the story of 7 unique companies and their rise to brand stardom. (Craig’s List, Burt’s Bees, Columbia Sportswear, Cliff Bar, J Peterman, The Art of Shaving, Baby Einstein) He spends time with each of the entrepreneurs that started the companies and asks them, “How did you do it”. Then, he narrates their interview. Nothing groundbreaking, but since he teaches at NYU I am going to say it is worth reading…however it really isn’t all that eye opening.
I have heard story after story of brand giants that started out as personal dreams and the common thread in each of them is the passion, intensity and dedication of the entrepreneur to make things happen at the right time. You could have invented the Internet and if it was bad timing it wouldn’t matter. Work on your timing.
Book: Survival is Not Enough: Why Smart Companies Abandon Worry and Embrace Change by Seth Godin
Rating: Stars
Lesson Learned: Change
If you cannot handle change you’re in big trouble. Seth guides the reader through different ways to facilitate change at your workplace. I liked it.
Book: A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink
Rating: Eye-opening
Lesson Learned: Creativity
Too often people tend to read things that reinforce a preconceived notion of how the world works. It is always easier to reinforce your vision than to have it irritated. Pink’s book did something all together different for me. I have been thinking a lot about how my generation is going to have to become entrepreneurial in everything we do and I haven’t found a really good way to articulate it until I read this book. I have said before that creativity is the only currency and this book certainly advocates and expounds upon that belief. This is a must read for anyone wanting to learn how to force themselves to think more creatively with tangible exercises to reach that goal. The entire premise is that you need to find a way to do your job where it cannot be outsourced. Buy this book.
Book: Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive by Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini
Rating: Worth handing out to a sales team
Lesson Learned: persuasiveness
I bought this book thinking I would be reading a lot of gimmicks that I used when I sold cars, but that wasn’t the case at all. Well, it kind of was, but the book was much more professional. There are certain things you can do or say which will profoundly change the way people interact with you. I think being a natural sales person means you know these things on an almost instinctual level. The book will give you special insight on how to tweak the things you say and do in a negotiation process. If you cannot sale you need to not make excuses about it and learn to master the art. In an economy that rewards entrepreneurship it is the only way to real success because you can champion your own ideas.
