Author Seth Godin gives Utahns tips on how to become indispensable

SALT LAKE CITY — In a rapid-fire speech that included Picasso, urinals, bowlers, lizards, Karl Marx and the board game Candyland, Seth Godin told 500 adoring fans Friday how to become "indispensable."

Godin, author of 13 books, including the best-selling "Purple Cow," drew entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs to the standing-room-only event at The Rail.

Here's Godin's hierarchy of work skills, lowest to highest: lift, hunt, grow, produce, sell, connect, create and invent.

His advice: stop being a compliant worker, start becoming an artist. Not a painter, he said, but someone who shakes things up, who teaches people a different way of looking at the world.

"Buy more stuff and do what you're told" — that's what America's corporations have been telling consumers for the past 100 years, he said. "Which of course leads us to public education, a scam to create compliant workers." That line drew a round of applause.

The reason why American wages have, when adjusted for inflation, been flat for decades? Because these are people who simply followed instructions, he said. "We treat everyone like a cafeteria lady," added Godin, who said he owns what is possibly the world's largest collection of cafeteria-lady photos.

But there's no excuse now not to be great, he said. In the Internet Age, there is no middleman. You can do recombinant DNA research at home, publish your own book, make your own music.

Your "lizard brain" will try to stop you, will make you afraid to move forward. And the biggest friend of the lizard brain? The social networking site Twitter, he said. "It's keeping you from the incredibly difficult work of looking people in the eye." It's also wasting your time.

Godin likes to make lists. Here's another one: "make art, give gifts, do work that matters, connect, lead, ship, make a difference." If you type those words into Google, you'll discover that someone Tweeted them after hearing him speak.

All proceeds from Godin's speech at The Rail will go to The Red Cross for Haiti Relief Fund, according event sponsors.

e-mail: jarvik@desnews.com