The Song of Significance Quotes

“Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it. kathrin jansen”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“Beware the Trickster The liminal contains more than change and uncertainty. It is also filled with shadows and dead ends. For this reason, it can attract people who aren’t looking for significance, but precisely the opposite. Susan Beaumont warns us to look out for the tricksters: “Dangerous figures who look like charismatic leaders but are incapable of living well in community. Tricksters promote confusion and chaos by sowing discord. The trickster is masterful at pitting people against one another. People confuse the energy of the trickster with leadership direction. Tricksters cannot trust or be trusted. They are incapable of giving and sharing or participating well in a democratic process. Their behaviors are almost always self-serving, and they lack deep commitments to the welfare of the organization.” Enrollment in the journey, together with an embrace of the culture and structures of the organization, becomes ever more critical as the scale and impact of the work increase.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“Every organization has extremists: the employees, customers, or investors who demand more, pay more, use more, talk more, and share more. These extreme users have great needs and offer greater benefits. They are the heavy users, people with disabilities, the sneezers, and the professionals. They’re the committed. The Stanford d.school has argued that focusing on these users teaches the organization lessons that will work for all users. This is contrary to the typical industrial organization, which is happy to lose the extremists if it helps them serve the masses more easily. Find the nerds, the motivated, and the overlooked, and figure out what they need to thrive. That exploration will reveal what others have needed as well but didn’t care enough to speak up about.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“Industrial work is a last resort, not a first choice among people lucky enough to be able to make that choice.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“When you dance on the edge of infinity, there’s always enough . . . because you aren’t taking opportunity from anyone else, you’re creating it.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“Management is the hard work of getting people who work for you to do what they did yesterday, but faster and cheaper. It requires authority—a hierarchy that gives the manager the power to insist. Leadership is voluntary. Voluntary to perform and voluntary to follow. It’s the work of imagining something that hasn’t happened before and inviting people to come along for the journey. Without voluntary enrollment, it’s not leadership, it’s only management.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“When we do the work when the boss isn’t looking, we’re adhering to standards. But if our behavior changes when we’re under surveillance, that’s simply because we’ve been harassed into tolerating the performance of obedience. Obedience is about the passion or power of the manager. Standards revolve around the values of the institution.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“We owe our employees a debt. We owe it to our coworkers. And we owe it to our bosses. Work is the expression of our energy and our dreams. We owe those along for the journey the same dignity and connection we would like to receive in return.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“The people you hire to follow instructions are rarely the people who will help you build something of innovation and substance.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“The only way a business is successful and productive is if employees feel that sense of empowerment, that sense of energy and connection for the company’s mission and are doing meaningful work.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“I’m not in charge of you, and I’m not manipulating you. I’m simply establishing the conditions for you to get to where you said you wanted to go. You tell me where you’re going and what you need. You make promises about your commitment and skills development. I’ll show up to illuminate, question, answer, spar with, and challenge you. I’ll work tirelessly to make sure you’re part of a team of people who are ready to care as much as you do.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams

“Each of us can show up in our own way, but the choice is the same: to lead, to create work that matters, and to find the magic that happens when we are lucky enough to cocreate with people who care.”
― Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams