Seth Godin wrote a great book in this new era about how to be indispensable. He first argues his case why the new connected world has changed what’s required of the employees – not the compliant kind – but linchpins that create arts. He elaborates on the “resistance” that faces more people and boxes people into the compliant employees. In the end, he describes what linchpins are really like and he encourages everyone to reach for the higher level of art creations and give the gifts. Very good book. I listened to the audiobook twice and read the book. A summary is as follows:

The New World of Work:
This chapter paints the picture of the new world order, thanks to the Internet, versus the old industrial world. In the old days, the companies own the means of production. Now, it’s your laptop and the Internet. Godin insinuates the old white collar jobs are like the day laborers. If you’re just a hired hand, you’re not much different. “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.”

Thinking About Your Choice:
The author encourages the readers to make the choice to become a linchpin. There is no other choices really. Most of us seek out art – experiences and products that deliver more value, more connection, and more experience, and change us for the better. “What the boss really want is an artist, someone who changes everything, someone who makes dreams come true… If he can’t have that, he’ll settle for a cheap drone.”

Indoctrination: How we Got Here
The chapters goes into details how we’re taught to be a replaceable cog in the industrial machine, to consume our way to happiness, and to fit in. The school should have taught : solving interesting problems, and lead. Godin advocates that we free the teachers from tests and reports and busywork but don’t blame the teachers – blame the corporate systems that are still training compliant workers who test well.

Becoming the Linchpin
A linchpin is someone who can accurately see the truth, understand the situation, and understand the potential outcomes of various decisions, and is able to make something happen. From the outside, it appears that the art is created in a moment. The arts created by linchpins carry massive amount of leverage. Deep knowledge is not sufficient. “Emotional labor is the hard work of making art, producing generosity, and exposing creativity.” Top Ten factors that motivate people to do their best: 1. challenge and responsibility, 2. flexibility, 3. stable work environment, 4. money, 5. professional development, 6. peer recognition, 7. stimulating colleagues and bosses, 8. exciting job content, 9. organizational culture, 10. location and community.

Is It Possible to Do Hard Work in a Cubicle?
Emotional labor is the task of doing important work, even when it isn’t easy. When you do emotional labor, you benefit. “Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does. Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.” Passion is a desire, insistence, and willingness to give a gift.

The Resistance
“Real artists ship.” “Artists think along the edges of the box, because that’s where things get done. That’s where the audiences is, that’s where the means of production are available, and that’s where your can make an impact.” Shipping is difficult because of two challenges (thrashing and coordination) and one reason: the resistance (the lizard brain). The daemon is the source of great ideas, groundbreaking insights, generosity, love, connection, and the kindness. “Anxiety is practicing failure in advance – it’s needless and imaginary. It’s fear about fear, fear that means nothing.” Shenpa (Tibetan word meaing “scratching the itch”) is a spiral of pain.

The Powerful Culture of Gifts
Becoming a linchpin is an act of generosity. It’s difficult to be generous when you’re hungry. Yet being generous keeps you from going hungry.

There is No Map:
Two reasons seeing the future is so difficult: attachment to an outcome combined with a resistance and fear of change. Successful people are able to see the threads of the past and the threads of the future and untangle them into something manageable. There is no map to be a leader, no map to be an artist. If there were a map, there’d be no art, because art is the act of navigating without a map.

Making the Choice
Transferring your passion to your job is far easier than finding a job that happens to match your passion.

The Culture of Connection
How people look at a linchpin: openness, conscientiousness, extra-version, agreeableness, and emotional stability.

The Seven Abilities of the Linchpin:
1. Providing a unique interface between members of the organization.
2. Delivering unique creativity.
3. Managing a situation or organization of great complexity.
4. Leading customers.
5. Inspiring staff.
6. Providing deep domain knowledge.
7. Possessing a unique talent.
Humility permits us to approach a problem with kindness and not arrogance.

When it Doesn’t Work
Do you art. But don’t wreck your art if it doesn’t lend itself to paying the bills. When people are committed to their arts, they never stop giving.

Mr. Zinsser gave us the permission to write well without using big words and inhuman descriptions. The book was first published in 1976 and it has aged well like a good wine. The only shortcomings are the unfamiliar movies and books referenced. Some of the quick take-aways:
“The essence of writing is rewriting.”
“Good writing rests on craft and always will.”
Writing as a craft like carpentry.
Do two things: relax and have confidence.
There are 4 things he advocates for good writing: clear, simple, brevity, and humanity/warmth.
You should be writing for yourself, not others.
“Writing is learned by imitation.”
“Bear in mind, when you’re choosing words and stringing them together, how they sound.”
“All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.”
“Unity is the anchor of good writing.” Unity of pronoun, tense, mood, and etc.
“The most important sentence in any article is the first one.” The fateful unit – the lead. It must capture the reader immediately. It must do some real work. Continue to build. Every paragraph should amplify the one that preceded it.

There were tips on interviews and travel articles.

On the abridged version of the audiobook, the author emphasizes the style and mostly on memoir. I learned about the distinction between memoir and autobiography is the time window difference; memoir zeros into one particular phase or era of a person’s life and autobiography covers the entire life. Definitely multiple memoirs are more interesting than one big autobiography, like Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes and his follow-on memoirs. “The most interesting character in a memoir, who hope, will turn out to be the person who wrote it.” “The best gift you have to offer when you write personal history is the gift of yourself.”

Writing about sports: the values to look for: people, places time and transition.

Writing about humor: Strive for truth and hope to add humor along the way. “Ultimately we realized that the two intertwined.”

“Writing is related to character. If your values are sound, your writing will be sound. It all begins with intention. Figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it, and worth your way with humanity and integrity to the completed article.”

The authors put the various personality styles in a succinct manner that was easy to understand. I had some inclination of the various personality styles but this is the most systematic way I have seen so far. The key takeaway of the Platinum Rule is to treat people how they want to be treated but just how you want to be treated (Golden Rule).

This book is about the “Growth” mindset vs. “Fixed” mindset. My key take-aways:
Don’t praise a child’s talent but praise his/her efforts. Lots of prominent examples like John McEnroe, Tiger Wood, and etc. The concept was repeated throughout book. When listening to the Audiobook, I kept hearing “mindset” repeated so many times that I almost had to turned off the audiobook. Yes, it’s best to have a growth mindset instead of the fixed mindset.

A DVD review was done a couple of months ago. Click here. But this review is on her audiobook.

I listened to this audiobook after watching the DVD movie of the same subject. I must say Liz Gilbert is incredible in her use of metaphors in her writing – very impactful. Some Amazon reviewers complained about her whining of her divorces and circumstances. I found it very therapeutic having been through the same things before. Her voice in the audiobook is soothing and at times emotional – like someone’s telling a mesmerizing story. The words of book reveal more than the movie as you cannot “read” the emotional undertone of the actions, despite Julia Robert’s great acting.

There are some understandable discrepancies/omissions between the movies and the book. The author possessed great writing and speaking skills. I enjoyed listening to this book.

In his memoir, George W. Bush described in details on how he reached the critical decisions facing him in his early life and during his presidency. By understanding how he reached his decisions, one can determine his value and belief systems, therefore decide for himself/herself whether President Bush has done his job to the fullest of his capability. I must say I like him a lot more now than when he was the president. One can tell a lot from this book his candidness about his mistakes/alcoholism, owning up to the responsibilities, his love of his family and God, and most of all, the love of this country. It was a tough eight-year presidency by any stretch of imagination: the 9/11, Iraq/Afghanistan war, subprime mortgage financial meltdown, Katrina flood, and other difficult circumstances facing a President. One thing that worries me is his religious faith in God and Christianity – a bit too extreme for me to be a President. At least, he shows respect for others’ belief and does not impose his religious belief on others. If there is one word describing George W. Bush is his “classiness,” a compliment for a politician. I don’t think I would say that about him during his presidency.

Highlights:
1. Quitting: This is about his growing up in Texas, getting educated in Harvard and getting married having the twin girls. Mostly, it’s about his battle with alcohol.
2. Running: This quote about summed it up, “I probably became the first person to learn that he had won the presidency while lying in bed with his wife watching TV.”
3. Personnel: Selecting the right persons to serve the administration and the Supreme Court Justices.
4. Stem Cells: the baby’s right (morality) vs. the medicinal need (science). You can tell that Bush’s moral standard is deeply rooted in the Christian religion. This is all but a moot point as ways have been found to avoid using the frozen embryos.
5. Day of Fire (9/11): The chaos that happened during the day of September 11, 2001, highlighted the difficult situation of being a US president. That is what leadership is made of. These quote summed up the day for Bush, “A day that started with a run on a golf course had ended with a scramble to the bunker to escape a possible attack on the White House.” “September 11 redefined sacrifice. It redefined duty. And it redefined my job. The story of that week is the key to understanding my presidency.”
6. War Footing: ” The terrorists had made our homefront a battleground. Putting America on a war footing was one of the most important decisions of my presidency.”
7. Afghanistan: This was how he reached the decision to “fight the war on terror on the offense, and the first battlefront would be Afghanistan.”
8. Iraq: Liberating Iraq was a controversial topic. Bush was on a mission to liberate countries after Afghanistan. It’s not clear to me if Bush had done sufficient homework to call Saddam bluff. But historian may come back and decide that this decision may have contributed to planting the seeds of the democracy in the Middle East. I don’t like what it has done to the US economy and reputation but it just might needs to be done after all.
9. Leading: One of the lessons I took from Roosevelt and Reagan was to lead the public, not chase the opinion polls. I decided to push for sweeping reforms, not tinker with the status quo. As I told my advisers, “I didn’t take this job to play small ball.” Bush touched on the two major accomplishments of his administrations: No Child Left Behind and Medicare Modernization. Two failed initiatives: faith-based initiative, social security and immigration reform.
10. Katrina: This was a disaster poorly handled at the local level and the recovery poorly executed at the state and federal level. Bush took the blade and got the job done.
11. Lazarus Effect: Bush touted his accomplishment on the initiative to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. Bush cited hist justification, “Our national security was tied directly to human suffering. Societies mired in poverty and disease foster hopelessness. And hopelessness leaves people ripe for recruitment by terrorists and extremists. By confronting suffering in places like Africa, America would strengthen its security and collective soul.”
12: Surge (of troop to Iraq): This was the unpopular decision to boost the number of troops to Iraq to counter the insurgents’ attack. More details about the Iraq war were contained in this chapter.
13: Freedom Agenda: This is the 4th prong of his strategies to protect the country, known as the Bush Doctrine. It’s a noble goal to spread freedom and democracy all over the world. The turkey in the middle of car trail in Bush’s ranch was an interesting “omen” story that might have saved the peace effort in Middle East. He touched on many countries’ state of democracy: Palestinians, Lebanon, Iran, North Korea, China, Romania, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, and Abu Dhabi.
14. Financial Crisis: This is the subprime mortgage meltdown and the demises of the automakers at the end of Bush’s administration when he had his hands full with Iraq. I don’t think there was much Bush could have done as Federal Reserve was more to blame. By Bush’s account, “The nature of the presidency is that sometimes you don’t choose which challenges come to your desk. You do decide how to respond.” On the other hand, this disaster impacts the American people the most. At the end, he said, “As I looked into the tired faces of the men and women of my economic team, I thought about all my administration had been through. Every day for eight years, we had done our best. We had given the job our all. And through every trial, we had been honored to serve the nation we love.”

Daniel Pink presented a solid case for his coined phrase of Motivation 3.0 – the new work OS for the new economy and the new knowledge workers. No questions that the world is converging in that direction. He offer good tips for managers and parents how to manage the new generation of employees and children. The audiobook is very well narrated by the author and the ebook fairly comprehensive, full of references and self-help study guide. A summary of the book is as follows:

Part 1: A new operating system: From Motivation 1.0 (survival) to Motivation 2.0 (seek reward and avoid punishment), 2.1 (more autonomy), 3.0 (for heuristic, not algorithmic jobs: intrinsic motivation, open-source movement, taking vocation vacation). Carrots and sticks often don’t work after a threshold is passed. Sawyer effect: “Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do and that Play consists of whatever a boy is NOT obliged to do.”

7 deadly flaws of carrots and sticks: extinguish intrinsic motivation, diminish performance, crush creativity, crowd out good behavior, encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior, become addictive, and foster short-term thinking.

To reward creative work, consider non-tangible rewards (praise and positive feedback are much less corrosive than cash and trophies), provide useful/specific (e.g. “great use of color”) information.

Type I (intrinsic-motivated, concerns less with the external rewards and more with the inherent satisfaction of the activity itself) and Type X (extrinsic-motivated): Human being have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when the drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives. Type I behavior is not made, not born, almost ways outperform type X’s in the long run, doesn’t disdain money or recognition, a renewable resource, promote greater physical and mental well-being – ultimately depends on three elements: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Part 2: The Three elements: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
Autonomy: ROWE (results-only work environment): just have to get their work done. How they do it, when they do it, and where they do it is up to them. This era doesn’t call for better management. It calls for a renaissance of self-direction. Type I behavior emerges when people have autonomy over the 4 T’s: their task, time, technique, and team.

Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters
The highest, most satisfying experiences in people’s lives were when they are in flow. The challenge wasn’t too easy nor too difficult. 3 laws of mastery:
Mastery is mindset: use learning goals instead of performance goals, e.g. getting an ‘A’.
Mastery is a pain: it hurts and not much fun – intense practice of more than 10 years – “mundanity of excellence.” “Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them” – Juilus Erving (Dr. J),
Master is an asymptote: You can approach it, home in on it but you’ll never touch it. The joy is in the pursuit more than the realization.

Purpose:
Purpose provides activation energy for living. Motivation 3.0 places emphasis on purpose maximization in 3 realms of organization life – goals (to pursue purpose – and use profit as the catalyst rather than the objective), words (they vs. we), and policies (handing employees control over how the organization gives back to the community). People who’d had purpose goals felt they were attaining them reported higher leves of satisfaction.

Part 3: The Type I toolkit
Think about your sentence. Take a Sagmeister (sabbatical every 7 years), give yourself a performance review (set small/large goals and how they relate to your larger purpose, be brutally honest), Going Oblique (Link here), Move 5 steps closer to mastery: 1. remember that deliberate practice has one objective: to improve performance, 2. repeat, repeat, repeat, 3. Seek constant, critical feedback, 4. Focus ruthlessly on where you need help, 5. Prepare for the process to be mentally and physically exhausting.
Take a page from Webber (write down “what gets you up in the morning?” and on opposite side “What keeps you up at night?”).
3 steps toward giving up control: 1. involve people in goal-setting, 2. Use noncontrolling language like “think about it,” “consider.” 3. Hold office hours.
Pronounce test: “we” vs. “they.” Promote Goldilocks for Groups: 1. Being with a diverse team, 2. Make your group a “no competition” zone, 3. Try a little task-shifting, 4. Animate with purpose, don’t motivate with rewards.
The zen of compensation: 1. ensure internal and external fairness, 2. pay more than average, 3. If you use performance metrics, make them wide-ranging, relevant, and hard to game.
Type I for parents and educators: 9 ideas for helping our kids:
1. Apply the 3-part type I test for homework (autonomy, mastery, and purpose), 2. Have a Fedex Day, 3. Try DIY report cards, 4. Give your kids an allowance and some chores – but don’t combine them, 5. Offer Praise the Right Way: a. praise effort and strategy, not intelligence, b. make praise specific, c. praise in private, d. offer praise only when there’s a good reason for it. 6. Help kids see the big picture. 7. Check out these type-I schools (Big Picture Learning, Sudbury Valley School, The Tinkering School, Puget Sound Community School, Montessori Schools), 8. Take a class from the unschoolers. 9. Turn students into teachers.
Type I reading list.
Listen to the gurus: 1. Douglas McGregor, 2. Peter F. Drucker, 3. Jim Collins, 4. Cali Ressler, 5 Jody Thompson, 6. Gary Hamel.
Type I Fitness Plan: Set your own goals, Ditch the treadmill, Keep mastery in mind, reward yourself the right way. (stickk.com)