Josh Kayser

Part of my unwritten job description is building new things, coming up with new ideas, and pushing the limits to make it all work. Part of any good company and colleague is to question what I do, how I do it, and why I chose to do it a certain way.

I finally got a Amazon Kindle and I love the “My Clippings” feature which lets you select certain text and save it for reviewing later. The first book I read was Seth Godin’s new book Linchpin and wanted to share a couple of excerpts that particularly stuck out to me.

Being in my position, especially at such a young age, will present a constant battle with just how far to push the envelope of new ideas, when to fight for what you believe in, and how to convince complacent people to get on board.

With that said, I thought I would leave some of my superiors and colleagues a couple of excerpts from Linchpin before I wear them out and they stick me in the basement.

• An artist’s job is to change us. When you have a boss, your job is to please the boss, not change her. It’s okay to have someone you work for, someone who watches over you, someone who pays you. But the moment you treat that person like a boss, like someone in charge of your movements and output, you are a cog, not an artist.

• When you hire a vice president for business development, it’s a given that he’s not going to be your errand boy. You’re not paying all this money for someone who will merely go down a checklist you’ve created and who will ask you before making nay decisions. Of course not. It’s his job to innovate, to create new opportunities, to connect with hard-to-reach people, and to follow the long lien on the way to success.
  

Popularity: 58% [?]