I was on such a roll, posting these so frequently…oh well. I actually did read Delivering Happiness in between Godin books but I took a ton of notes on that book. I need to edit them down before posting the review. It was a great book though.
Poke the Box is a short, quick read – only 84 pages long. I read it over several lunches, but it could easily be devoured in one sitting. The book is described as “a manifesto about starting”. But the biggest message for me was accepting that failure is okay, even desired.
I think the reason that hit home is we are taught failure is bad – our parents, teachers, coaches beat us over the head with it. Conformity is preferred and our society has been designed around that. Godin links this back to the industrial age, when factory work was common and people were essentially cogs in “the machine”. As I’ve discussed before – we are no longer a manufacturing economy, we are a knowledge economy, but our support systems have been slow to catch up.
I dog-eared several pages in the book. Here are some of my favorites:
- When you ask someone “what do you do here”, almost no one says “I start stuff.” Godin asks then, where does innovation come from? (page 9)
- On Mediocrity – people love to point out businesses (or government) that do a poor job, but Godin writes “we almost never look at merely mediocre products and wonder why they aren’t great….the upside for you (and the challenge) is to find the energy and the will to challenge the mediocre.” (p. 22)
- On starting useful projects – “The fact that it doesn’t work every time should give you confidence, because it means you’re doing something that frightens others.” (p. 28)
- On Excellence (& Tom Peters) – “Excellence isn’t about working extra hard to do what you’re told. It’s about taking the initiative to do work you decide is worth doing.” (p. 34)
- On Boundaries – basically how we can easily list all the things we are not allowed to do, but when asked to provide an “allowed” list, it becomes much harder. (p. 37)
- “The Joy of Wrong” – story of the first Starbucks and how even though it looked nothing like current Starbucks, that first iteration ultimately led to what exists today. (p. 41)
- “The person that fails the most usually wins” – self-explanatory but a good reminder I should be failing more often. (p. 52)
- “10,000 hours, hard work, and an overnight success” – the story of the band Hollerado and how they didn’t wait for a label to sign them, but went out and innovated – figuring out a way to make a living they can be proud of. Probably my favorite story in the book. (p.57-59)
- “I wonder if there is a moral obligation to start….You must make a difference or you squander the opportunity.” (p. 64) Very powerful.
Godin always gives us something to think about. And more importantly encourages and challenges us to go out and share and put into action the ideas and concepts he so graciously shares. I strongly encourage you to read this book if you haven’t already.
