Seth discusses key insights on creativity, leadership, and making a difference. Some of the main points include: 1) An artist is someone who does unpredictable work that connects with people and makes a difference, not just someone who can draw. 2) We should teach children to solve problems and connect and lead others, rather than just to buy things and follow instructions. 3) To be extraordinary, one must have an "abundance mentality" and give to others freely through creative work, leadership, and meaningfully connecting, rather than fearing failure or scarcity. 4) True leaders called "linchpins" take risks to create value for customers through complex work, inspiration of

1. insights and soundbites from seth
at LinkedOC event on 02.11.10

2. are you a genius?

3. an artist isn’t someone who can draw
an artist is someone who
• does human, unpredictable work
• makes a connection with other people
• makes a difference

4. create and invent
connect
sell
produce value
grow
hunt
lift

5. you don’t want to try to get ahead in bowling
the best you can do is only 300
it’s an asymptotic function

6. If you’re average, you end up in a race to
the bottom
If you’re extraordinary, you race to the top

7. getting A’s means you’re good at school
problem is, you don’t get to go to school after
you graduate

8. Ben Zander says, “give yourself an A”
Seth says,
“give yourself a D – acknowledge
you’ve already failed – then go and do
something interesting”

9. the more choices there are,
the more chances you have to do
something interesting

10. what’s holding us back

11. we all grew up playing CandyLand
we learned to pick a card, move the
pieces, work our way through the game
that’s so much easier than doing
something creative

12. humans have “lizard brains”
lizard brains are driven by 4 motivations:
1. revenge
2. fear
3. anger
4. reproduction
it’s the first part of our brain that develops – and it
always wins
there’s never enough reassurance for our lizard
brain

13. school was built to teach kids to:
– buy stuff to fit in
– to follow instructions
instead, we should teach our children to:
– solve interesting problems
– connect and lead

14. shenpa, a Tibetan word that means “instant
anxiety” – failure in advance – we shut down
before we even start

15. a different way to think and
act

16. do you look at your job as an obligation or an
opportunity?

17. the thing you’re scared of is the very thing that
enables you to make a difference

18. “scarcity” mentality – hoard what you have
“abundance” mentality – the more you give
away, the more you have

19. people who run marathons figure out what to
do with the tired
we need to figure out what to do with the
scared

20. just because the tide is out doesn’t mean
there’s less water in the ocean

21. on linchpins

22. linchpins are…
• people we can’t live without
• people who take real emotional risks
• people who give gifts (not financial ones)
• people who do things when they’re not
required
• people who do things to make a difference

23. seven ways linchpins do what they do:
1. create unique interface between customer and
organization
2. bring special kind of creativity
3. manage products of great complexity
4. lead customers (establish a try)
5. inspire staff
6. have deep domain knowledge
7. are really good at the thing

24. to sum up…

25. make art
give gifts
do work that matters
connect
lead
ship
make a difference
(if these don’t sound hard, you’re not doing them right)
do the work!