V is for Vulnerable is the last of Godin’s books that I will review. It is different. It is written like a children’s ABC Book. It is a large book with few words and lots of pictures.
What was interesting about this book was how different it was. I can see the risk Godin took. What if it was a flop and nobody bought it? Wouldn’t that damage his credibility? But Godin pressed forward, doing his art.
I am sure that many people made smart comments when they first encountered the book. When I began to read the book, my wife (a former elementary school teacher) looked over at me and with an amused look said, “I don’t want to spoil it for you but the D says ‘duh’.”
The ABCs
Godin goes a bit deeper than making letter sounds. He riffs on each letter with a few sentences that drive a point. Most are points similar to those we heard in his other books. I won’t review the whole book, but so that you can get a feel for what Godin was trying to accomplish, I will highlight a few of the letters. Here are some highlights:
A.
ANXIETY is experiencing failure in advance. Tell yourself enough vivid stories about the worst possible outcome of your work and you’ll soon come to believe them. Worry is not preparation, and anxiety doesn’t make you better.
C.
COMMITMENT is the only thing that gets you through the chasm. Commitment takes you from ‘that’s a fine idea’ to ‘it’s done.’ Commitment is risky, because if you fail, it’s on you. On the other hand, without commitment, you will fail, because art unshipped isn’t art.
I.
INITIATIVE is the privilege of picking yourself. You’re not given initiative, you take it. Pick yourself. If you’re not getting what you want, it may be because you’re not making good enough art, often enough.
P.
PAIN is the truth of art. Art is not a hobby or a pastime. It is the result of an internal battle royal, one between the quest for safety and the desire to matter.
If you want to know what Godin says about V for Vulnerable, you will have to get the book yourself.
What About You?
Godin was willing to live up to his own words, to take a chance, to do something different and to live his art. Are you willing to take a risk?
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Dr. Darin Gerdes is a tenured Professor of Management in the College of Business at Charleston Southern University.
All ideas expressed on www.daringerdes.com are his own.
This post was originally created for Great Business Networking (GBN), a networking organization for business professionals where Dr. Gerdes is the Director of Education.
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