Here it is, folks: Book Week 2010. Normally, I make my way through roughly a book a week and then review them here on my blog. And sometimes, the stars align and you get an entire week of book reviews and giveaways! Each day this week, I'll be posting about a new book and giving you a chance to win a copy of each one. Keep reading to see how you can win!
True confession: I'm a huge Seth Godin fan, but haven't bought his last few books. I only bought Linchpin because of the way he sold it. That's right: I forked over $30 and had no idea what I was buying. Now that I've read Linchpin, it was $30 well spent.
Seth sold this book to me by saying that he had a limited number of copies available for $30. By making a donation in that amount to The Acumen Fund, I'd get the book before it even went on sale. By doing that, Seth raised over $50,000 (lots of people gave over $30) and created some great buzz for the launch of his new book.
As I was reading the first 100 pages of this book, I hated it. It was uncharacteristically Seth, meaning it was less business- and marketing-heavy and instead talked more about life. And work. And lots of other things that weren't directly related to me creating a better customer experience or marketing campaign.
But I kept at it and the second half of the book was unforgettable. It is a book about life. And work. And how we need to find the thing(s) we love doing and become indispensable when we do them. Seth warns us against the lizard brain - the thing that always tells us to stop what we're doing because we're too scared. He also points out how we can all be artists, doing something we love because we love to do it while offering it to the world in the form of a gift. This book makes you rethink what you do for a living. And why you do it.
Of course, there are linchpins all around us, people who do what they do better than anyone else because they love doing it and make the world better because of it. In fact, you may already be a linchpin, or you may be surrounded by them. The trick is to recognize that. This book can help you.
And because Seth is a linchpin, he sent each person who bought the book early another copy to give away. So, here goes:
Who is a linchpin? Leave the name of someone (they don't have to be famous - nearly all linchpins aren't) in the comments below or tweet it to me. I'll pick one random entry next week and mail you a book. Good luck!