From Victoria Colligan, Founder, Ladies Who Launch

LaunchTip:
Seth Godin’s book Linchpin, is worth the read, if only to raise our awareness of how we are spending our time and how perceived “brilliant” people get to the top, “change the world” and the face of business so to speak. After exploring this book, I would argue that as the entrepreneur and / or founder of your business, you are either the “Linchpin” or you need to find individuals who are. Linchpins, in Godin’s words, are those individuals who, regardless of title, “invent, lead, connect others, make things happen and create order out of chaos.” Most important, they do not follow a rule book, they see opportunities where others may not and they turn every day into an “art” of their creation that ultimately moves a business forward in monumental ways.

Surprising and yet telling is what Godin describes as the disconnect between the Linchpin’s brilliance and how she spends her time. In fact, often what we are paid to do is incongruent with the value of our brilliance that surfaces in bursts. After having spent some time with Richard Branson, Godin uses him as an example to illustrate this point: “…you could certainly do most of what he [Richard Branson] does. Except for what he does for about five minutes a day. In those five minutes, he creates billions of dollars’ worth of value every few years, and neither you nor I would have a prayer of doing what he does. Branson’s real job is seeing new opportunities, making decisions that work, and understanding the connection between his audience, his brand, and his ventures.”

The bottom line is, if we want to leverage our talents and benefit from our collective brilliance, we need to identify these traits in ourselves and in those around us, and find ways to elicit and value them in order to expedite success and fulfill on our dreams. Before you buy this book, read my exclusive interview with Seth Godin. I was inspired not only by his non-traditional path, but by how he applies non-traditional thinking to business with the ultimate result of opening up our minds to how we perceive growth, change and innovation.

LaunchOpportunity:

Appointment setters

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