Reality
A guy is riding in the first class cabin of a train
in Spain and he notices, to his delight, that he’s sitting
next to Pablo Picasso.
Gathering up his courage, he turns to the master and
says, “Señor Picasso, you are a great artist, but why is
all your art, all modern art, so screwed up? Why don’t
you paint reality instead of these distortions?”
Picasso hesitates for a moment and asks, “So, what do
you think reality looks like?”
The man grabs his wallet and pulls out a picture of his
wife. “Here, like this. It’s my wife.”
Picasso takes the photograph, looks at it and grins.
“Really? She’s very small. And flat, too.”
This book is about love and art and change and fear.
It’s about overcoming a multi-generational
conspiracy designed to sap your creativity and
restlessness. It’s about leading and making a
difference and it’s about succeeding.
I couldn’t have written this book ten years ago,
because ten years ago, our economy wanted you to fit
in, it paid you well to fit in and it took care of you if
you fit in. Now, like it or not, the world wants
something different from you. We need to think hard
about what reality looks like now.
What if you could learn a different way of
seeing, a different way of giving, a different
way of making a living? And what if you could
do that without leaving your job?
This is not a book for the wild-haired crazies
your company keeps in a corner. It’s a book for
you, your boss and your employees, because
the best future available to us is a future where
you contribute your true self and your best
work. Are you up for that?
One promise: the world to come (and this
book) is neither small nor flat.
SETH GODIN is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent
of change