Yes, there is a downside to the social web. Colleague Peter Kim calls it the echo chamber. I call it lack of original thought. The upside is that the level playing field of the internet also allows original thinkers to rise to the surface like the head of a frothy refreshing beer. I simply adore Hugh Macleod’s (Gapingvoid) first book, Ignore Everybody. The title says it all. You have to decide if what you believe in is good enough to fight for, to pursue, to risk everything for. Only you can decide this.
Ignore Everybody is designed thoughtfully—perfect for a plane ride of a couple of hours, visual and ridiculously easy to digest. It’s also written in Hugh’s trademark naked honesty and cut the bullshit language. And of course it features dozens of his instantly recognizable cartoons. Each one will make you think—each one will make you question your own experiences. If you let them.
The book is based around 40 super short chapters—it’s essentially a lengthy manifesto.
Rather than list them, I’m going to pull out a few phrases from the book that stop you in your tracks. The book is full of them.
“Good ideas come with a heavy burden; which is why so few people execute them. Few people can handle it.“
“The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will”
“The first rule of business, is never sell something you love. Otherwise you may as well be selling your children”
“Stop worrying about the technology. Start worrying about the people who trust you”
“No one person can be good at everything. The really good artists, the really successful entrepreneurs figure out how to circumvent their limitations”.
You get the idea. There’s a lot of business books out there right now telling you how to blog, tweet, build communities and personal brands. Here’s my advice to you—go against the grain and pick up this little treasure first. You’ll be glad you did.
Original Post: http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2009/06/ignore-everybody.html
