Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, marketing guru, and prolific author. A long-time advocate of what he calls “doing your art” and “shipping” it, Godin highlights these concepts in his latest book, Poke the Box. He exhorts us to take initiative, make a ruckus, see what happens, learn from it, and do it again, but better. Godin claims that taking initiative is a 21st century imperative. He implores us to “go, go, go”. Presentation includes thought-provoking questions on implications for HR and Organizational Development.

1. Poke the Box April 8, 2011

3. Overview of Poke the Box

4. Poking the Box

5. Conclusions?2

6. Main Premise Start something, then… ”Ship” 3

8. Be curious; go beyond “not allowed”

9. Starting demands finishing

10. Intellectual integrity requires that you put your ideas into the world

11. It might not work - so what?4

12. Overview: The 7th Imperative Guts Heart Passion Ship 5

14. People to work on it

15. A place to build or organize it

16. Raw materials

17. Distribution

18. Money

19. Marketing6

20. Overview: Why We Don’t Start FEAR 7

22. Fear prevents starting8

24. Starting is an artful choice; when should you use the buzzer?

25. Do something audacious

26. Pick yourself; you don’t need to be validated9

28. Selling is hard

29. Go to work on a regular basis

30. Nap laterThe job is to invent the status quo, not chase it. 10

32. If you can’t fail, it doesn’t count

33. Be prolific in your failure

34. Embrace failure11

35. You can’t snooze your way to greatness. 12

37. Give people the freedom (& expectation to create, connect, surprise)

38. Embrace someone who makes a difference

39. Embrace the discipline of poking

40. What you end up with may be different from what you set out to accomplish

41. Starters need support

42. Formulating a plan is a rare and valuable thing13

44. Does he press for continuous change within an organization without regard for peoples’ readiness to change, managers’ readiness to manage the change, and the stress of continually changing?

45. Does Seth argue for change for its own sake?14

46. BREAK 15

47. Poking the Box: Novelty Make a list of what you should have, could have, would have done, if only… If you were invited to give a TED talk, what would it be about? If you were given the opportunity to start something that would change the world, what would it be? 16

49. How do you treat risk-taking?

50. Do you blame?17

51. New Design Activity 18

53. What kind of support do you need to encourage risk-taking?

54. What will help you; what will derail you?19

56. Who will help you; who will derail you?

57. What type of training is necessary to start things more often? At what levels?20

58. Funny How That Works 21

60. What do you need to be your creative best?

61. What most prevents you from being your creative best?22

62. Other Elements to Consider: Autonomy Stretch Goals Fun Trust Gossip, Rumor Idea Exchange 23

63. What Are You Waiting For? Go where there is no path …. And leave a trail. 24

64. 25

65. Your Presenter - Barb Babij A former COO, Barb now helps clients design strategic roadmaps; define and align vision, values, and organizational infrastructure with business objectives; translate organizational strategy into operational reality and build internal workforce capacity to achieve sustainable growth. She’s guided change initiatives for distribution, manufacturing, financial services, and non-profit organizations. Barb’s credentials include an MSc in Creativity and Innovation, and certification to use a number of assessments and facilitate CPS. She is an SPHR, holds an MBA in Accountancy, and is a CPA. She also serves on several not-for-profit boards, in two countries. Barb can be reached at: 905-894-1586 or barb@InSync4.ca. Please contact her with any questions or comments. 26

66. Prepared by Barb Babij for the Organizational Development Network of Western New York, and presented on April 8, 2011. The content is based on and adapted from the book, “Poke the Box” written by Seth Godin, and its workbook, “Start Now”, written by Ishita Gupta, Amy Richards, and Alex Miles Younger. The workbook was designed by Alex Miles Younger. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. 27