Following yesterday’s interview with Seth Godin about his new book, Linchpin, I reached out to regional linchpins who co-organized last month’s seminar with Seth in Boston.
Many quickly responded, eager to share their thoughts about the experience of planning the June 17 event with Seth and his assistant Ishita — and invoked a collective awe at 450 people who attended the morning session and 100 who stayed into the afternoon.
Amy Kauffman:
Seth definitely cares about people and personal excellence. This drives him to get better every day and use his platform to share knowledge, hoping it inspires others to pursue personal excellence. Watching someone in hot pursuit of their own personal excellence is incredible and infectious.
The audience was inspired, to say the least. Particularly the full-day attendees. Seth took time for Q&A for a few hours interspersed throughout the afternoon, and we were blown away with his unplanned, unprepared wisdom, stories and teaching. It was a time for the “raw” Seth to come out — he had no idea what people were going to ask, or what information he would need. It was obvious how educated he has made himself. Absolutely incredible. I can’t begin to imagine how many people moved forward personally and professionally after being part of such an event.
Pat Krippendorf:
Participating in this event from the outset has been a terrific growth experience for me. Typically I avoid joining in on an endeavor that involves me working with people I do not know. Lucky for me, the time I decide to join I am fortunate enough to join a group of smart, hard-working, really great people. The positive reinforcement is already at work and I can’t wait for the next opportunity to jump in to work with a new team!
Last year I quit my job after 22 years, my first job out of college. Sometimes I question the sanity of that decision. Spending the day listening to Seth reminded me of all the reasons I left and why if I had spent any more time there, I would have slowly killed myself. This event has reinforced my resolve to reduce my lizard moments every day, reinvigorated my creative juices and renewed my excitement about my current project. I can’t think of a more fulfilling event I have attended or a better group of people with which I have worked.
Gayle Kabaker:
The biggest thing for me from all of this was experiencing the power of this group’s spirit of generosity. Not once did Seth or Ishita ask us to do anything. We asked of each other. We pushed each other — the more others did, the more I wanted to do.
Seth sat on stage and talked with us… Seth talked about the irrational fear of being embarrassed, looking stupid — and I experienced that first hand in the second half when only 100 people were there. I felt a question forming in my head… as soon as it started to form, my heart started to pound. I was petrified to ask Seth in front of this many people. And I’d had dinner with him the night before! As my heart pounded I knew I HAD to ask it as I’d be so angry with myself for chickening out if I didn’t.
It was about offering your ‘art’ as a gift and how sometimes when you offer something for free people don’t want it. My heart pounded like I was going to have a heart attack for the 10 minutes I had to wait for an opening to ask — and then once I spoke and the great response came back to me — I calmed down. But it was totally nerve wracking!
Another cool thing for me was my 16 year old son came along. He’s a great photographer and he documented the event and listened to the first half. I was so pleased that he was interested; I’d sent the invitation to all the teachers at his school and his humanities teacher came. I feel so strongly that kids be turned on to Seth’s ideas — so that was very gratifying. Then, when the team saw Max’s great photos everyone just heaped praise on him and a few promised to hire him for their next event. His pictures were more than just documenting; they caught the ‘feel’ of the event as well. I was VERY proud of him. As a result I set up a blog for him.
Stephen Warshaw, idea genius for the poster, summed up the event with two words: “Seth ships.”
First, in his own words, “The discipline of shipping is essential in the long-term path to becoming indispensable”. For nearly eight consecutive hours in one day, Seth truly “indispensably shipped” words, thoughts and challenges of wisdom. And, the way in which he substantiated constructive solutions by describing their (successful) application in real life lent both validity and inspiration to the case he was trying to make. Since that time, I have dramatically “upped” my daily, weekly, monthly and lifelong shipping quotient. My best work now collides with the world on a far-more-frequent, far-more-giving basis.
Second, while I have read most of Seth’s books, and read his daily blog, I was still surprised to note how much of a (great) “observer of the human condition” he is. His capacity to stop, look, listen and absorb, and then tell and re-tell anecdotes and analogies was equally inspirational to me. In a fast paced, frenetic, “app” filled society, we ALL can benefit from slowing down, watching and observing what others are doing–for better or for worse.
My thanks to the linchpins who responded. I also thank Tom Catalini for sharing a blog post he wrote about simplicity. And to Amy, who suggests fans of Seth’s blog should read The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield.
You can read their backgrounds and click to their web links at bostonlinchpins.com.
Inspired yet?
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