Author: Seth Godin

ISBN: 978-0749953652

Some sound advice as to how to thrive in a workplace.

EXCERPTS

[Disclaimer: This title on Derek Sivers' blog grabbed my attention so I checked it out. I've read his excerpts and did a selection of my own, so here they are.]

Start giving gifts that change people.

During times of change, the very last people you need on your team are well-paid bureaucrats, note takers, literalists.

The compliant masses don’t help so much when you don’t know what to do next.

What we must have are indispensable human beings. We need original thinkers, provocateurs, and people who care.

Win by being more ordinary, more standard, and cheaper. Or win by being faster, more remarkable, and more human.

It’s factory work because it’s planned, controlled, and measured. It’s factory work because you can optimize for productivity. These workers know what they’re going to do all day—and it’s still morning.

If we can put it in a manual, we can outsource it. If we can outsource it, we can get it cheaper.

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.

Gifts not only satisfy our needs as artists, they also signal to the world that we have plenty more to share.

Maybe you can’t make money doing what you love (at least what you love right now). But I bet you can figure out how to love what you do to make money (if you choose wisely).

Do your art. But don’t wreck your art if it doesn’t lend itself to paying the bills. That would be a tragedy.