Review of “Linchpin” 2

In the second part of Linchpin Seth Godin talks about the Powerful Culture of Gifts. Godin describes the Powerful Culture of Gifts as a way to give your “art” or your creative gifts away so that you are being generous with your creativity. He says the more you give it away the more people will see the benefits of them and you (“the artist”) will not be tied to the return you get from sharing the gift. 

As a leader or as a human being the more that you are tied to a particular outcome the more resistance you are creating to actually creating that particular outcome. If you are putting in your best effort – or creating “art” as Godin would say – then you are present. You are in the now and putting your best effort forward without any intention of return. The minute you tie your desire to make money or reach fame or achieve prestige to the act, the intention of it gets muddled creating a less than stellar result. The best results are always achieved when you are giving all of you to the action you are performing in the moment without any intention around the results.

As a business leaders or entrepreneur you need to have goals that you are working towards, of course, but when you are performing actions to reach those goals you need to let go of the attachment to the results. For example when a leader is creating a speech to give to his company employees with the intent to increase his stature employees will be able to tell that. In fact they may get turned off by that particular speech instead of one where he is open and genuine and in the moment sharing who he is as a leader and as a human being. Instead he can engage them in his a vision that is compelling which could naturally increase his stature The more you give as a leader the more that your employees or “tribe” will want to give back to you. So trust in the ability to be generous with your talents and skills without being depleted or taken advantage of. Build your community by giving and giving generously.

As a leader are you giving more than you what you get? Are you being generous with your time and energy and skill? What can you be more generous with today?