Seth Godin is arguably the most innovative writer in business today. He has over a dozen best-selling books, including “Tribes,” “LynchPin,” “Permission Marketing” and “Purple Cow.” In some way, he has touched nearly every aspect of running a business today. In “Poke the Box: When Was the Last Time You Did Something for the First Time?” the innovative author tackles how to take initiative.
As one of his best sellers suggests, “All Marketers Tell Stories,” Godin “pokes” the reader with story after story showing how anyone can become “someone who initiates, someone who is prepared to fail along the way if it helps her make a difference.”
The story of the book’s title is from Godin’s uncle (who has a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology). When his children were young, he constructed a “buzzer box” that plugged into a wall. A child would fl ip a switch and lights would go on or a buzzer would sound. The child would poke the buzzer box to see what would happen. “Life is a buzzer box,” Godin concluded. “Poke it.”
This is a manifesto about “starting a project, making a ruckus, taking what feels like a risk,” Godin states. Manifestos need imperatives, and Godin gives the reader a nice round seven of these: 1. The first imperative is to be aware of the market and its opportunities, as well as who you are. 2. The second is to educate yourself on what’s going on around you. 3. Imperative No. 3 is to be connected. 4. The system must know what to expect, so be consistent. 5. The fifth imperative is to create an asset, so you have something to sell. 6. Sixth, be productive so you will be well-priced. 7. The seventh imperative is to “have the guts and the heart and the passion to steer the ship.”
All the elements of production, including raw materials, capital and marketing are easier to find than ever, Godin says. What is missing is a motivating force — someone who will say “go.”
Business would benefit if each of us became an initiator. This does not necessarily mean starting your own company. It can be initiating a process or determining a better way to answer a phone call from an angry customer.
We each need to invest in our companies, and Godin is not referring solely to financial capital. Other types of capital include intellectual, prestige and network. Most important is instigation capital — the desire to move forward, to say yes.
Godin warns that taking initiative is hard work and you will often fail. He cites a long list of individuals who have failed at some endeavor, ranging from Oprah to Mark Cuban. What they have in common is that they are each an initiator.
Initiators are scarce, which is why they are so valuable, Godin says. Still, many of us have been told to be compliant to the point where we are afraid — chicken. Godin discusses the economics of poking the box with a formula that computes that “the cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.”
Whether it’s a start-up like Google or a long-established company like Ford, innovation is the driving force. Ford, for example, was once successful by building cheaper cars. With that system moved overseas, Ford now builds projects, thriving on innovation.
People “Poke the Box” because they are curious, Godin says. Curiosity starts us down the road to success, whether that success is in shipping more effectively or building new processes of any kind.
Initiating should become a habit, a way of life, the author suggests. There is a momentum that grows as you do. The goal for the workplace should be to create a culture of individuals who consistently improve and move the company forward. This becomes a business asset.
Ultimately, Godin asks if there isn’t a moral obligation to initiate. He believes there is. If you have the ability to make a diff erence, “then this goes beyond ‘should’ and reaches the level of ‘must.’” Wasting an opportunity both degrades your own ability and takes something away from everyone else, he says. You owe it to your company, your community and yourself to initiate. Be the individual who makes something happen, Godin says. It’s the right thing to do.