Seth Godin’s Generosity- A Free eBook “What Matters Now”

I am an avid fan of Seth Godin‘s work. Many years back, he released a free eBook titled What Matters Now, which is a compilation of ideas from many brilliant thinkers. The ideas shared by the various authors are simple yet profound at the same time. 

For those who are time-constrained, this book makes for simple reading that can make you think and inspire you simultaneously. Download the free ebook and revel in the generosity of Seth Godin.

I am reproducing below my favorite short essay written by Marti Barletta titled “Strengths”

Forget about working on your weaknesses —> Focus on supporting your strengths.

I worked on my weaknesses for 40 years to little avail. Still “needs improvement,” as they say. Why? Easy. We hate doing things we’re not good at, so we avoid them. No practice makes perfect hard to attain.

But my strengths – ah, I love my strengths. I’ll work on them till the purple cows come home. When we love what we do, we do more and more, and pretty soon we’re pretty good at it.

The beautiful thing about being on a team is that, believe it or not, lots of people love doing the things you hate. And hate doing the things you love. So quit diligently developing your weaknesses. Instead, partner with someone very UNlike you, share the work and share the wealth and everyone’s happy.

Relatedly, women are rather UNlike men and often approach problems and opportunities with a different outlook. Yet books and coaches often encourage us to adopt male strengths and, lacking understanding, to relinquish our own. The irony is, studies show that more women in leadership translates unequivocally into better business results.

Wouldn’t it make more sense for both men and women to appreciate each other’s strengths so we all work on what comes naturally?