Compulsory Education is an oxymoron (back-to-school rant)

Effective education is rarely done TO people. It's done with them. I had my first professional teaching gig forty years ago this summer. Since then, I've taught at institutions like NYU and Tufts, at community colleges, from the stage, one...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Irresistible is rarely easy or rational

There's often a line out the door. It's not surprising. The ice cream is really good, the portions are enormous, and a waffle cone costs less than three Canadian dollars. And it's served with a smile, almost a grin. It's...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Getting serious about remarkable

It's not sizzle or hype or a fad, not when you're serious about it. Consider FCP Euro, for example. They sell high-performance auto parts. Things like brake pads, oil, oil filters, etc. People always whine about the fact that they...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

One step at a time

If you want to teach, to change minds or to cause action, a consistent curriculum is always better than a single event. Drip by drip, with enrollment.        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

"Nothing matters more than results"

Except for: Community, contribution and what our friends think Trust The perception of quality How much we like doing business with you Side effects and self-esteem. Also... doing work that matters, with people we care about. It seems like almost...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Resilience and the high end

The high end is brittle, unstable and thus, expensive. The car that wins a race, the wine that costs $300, the stereo that sounds like the real thing... The restaurant that serves perfect fruit, the artisan who uses rare tools...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Fear of escalation

In any organization of more than two people, there's the opportunity to escalate a problem. When the software doesn't work, or the customer is in a jam or something's going sideways, you can hand the problem up the chain. Escalation...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

"I got it!"

The secret of the fly ball is that you don't shout, "you've got it." It's not up to us to assign who will catch it. If you can catch it, you call it. The thing about responsibility is that it's...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Marketing about power and with power

Often overlooked is the decision every marketer makes about how they will treat the issue of power (asymmetrical or not) in their marketing. Consider insurance. Companies like Allstate don't market themselves as the dominant force in the relationship. They don't...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

The toxic antidote to goodwill

Anyone who has done the math will tell you that word of mouth is the most efficient way to gain trust, spread the word and grow. And yet... It only takes a moment to destroy. Only a few sentences, a...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

What you know vs. what you do

In 1995, my book packaging company published one of its last titles, an anachronism called, Presenting Digital Cash. It was the first book on digital cash ever aimed at a mass audience. And it was ahead of its time, selling...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Did you publish?

They (whoever 'they' is) made it easy for you to raise your hand. They made it easy for you to put your words online, your song in the cloud, your building designs, business plans and videos out in the world....        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Don't forget the second step

The first step is learning how to do it. Finding and obtaining the insight and the tools and the techniques you need. Understanding how it works. But step two is easily overlooked. Step two is turning it into a habit....        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Rejection (and the four paths)

If you seek to make change or do something important, your work will be rejected along the way. This is not in dispute. What will you do after that? Determine that what actually happened was that you were rejected, not...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

The market for used eclipse sunglasses

It doesn't matter how many you have. It doesn't matter how much you paid for them. It doesn't matter how long the line was yesterday... The market is gone. It's a sunk cost. Falling in love with what you have...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Valuing hygiene factors

A hygiene factor is something you miss when it's gone, but barely notice when it's there. Clean sheets at a hotel, for example. The base salary at a job. Your title. Every time you add one of these factors to...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Preparing (for the test of time)

We have a word for the fruitless search for perfect: perfectionism. And we have a word for what we do when we dumb something down to get approval: the committee. But what do we call it when we work to...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

The problem with direct experience

"I'll know it when I see it," or perhaps, "I'll see it when I know it..." We're hardwired to believe and understand the things we can actually experience. That's why no one argues about Newton's laws, but most people panic...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Faux intimacy

True connection is a frightening prospect. When you are seen by someone else, really seen, it hurts even more if you're ultimately rejected. When we connect, we make promises, buy into a different future, engage with another, someone who might...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

"I have fear"

There's a common mistranslation that causes us trouble. We say, "I am afraid," as if the fear is us, forever. We don't say, "I am a fever" or "I am a sore foot." No, in those cases, we acknowledge that...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

On being discovered

Wouldn't that be great? Great if you could share all your wisdom on a popular podcast, or be featured on Shark Tank? Great if you had a powerful agent or bureau or publisher? Great if you could get admitted to...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Sloppy science

We can measure it. For decades, every single year, scientists have visited the Galapagos and measured the beaks of a particular species of finch. And year after year, with each generation, the beaks change, exactly as we'd expect from the...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

"But we needed the eggs"

Addiction to substances has been around ever since someone fermented grapes a million years ago. The opioid epidemic is the latest addiction tragedy, brought on by greed and disinformation. It took longer for behavioral addictions to arrive, but they're just...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Questions for the underinformed

For the jingoistic sign carrier, the impatient shareholder, the late-night goofball and the nascent entrepreneur in search of cash... We've heard your rants, your threats, your plans. We understand that you are in a hurry for a simple, dramatic, obvious...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Waves are free

When someone lets you into the flow of traffic, or holds a door, or takes a second to acknowledge you, it's possible to smile and offer a wave in response. This, of course, costs you nothing. It creates a feeling...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

An audience of one

More than ever, people, lots of people, hordes of anonymous people, can watch what you do. They can see your photos, like your posts, friend your digital avatar. An essentially infinite collection of strangers are in the audience, scoring you,...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Seeing and believing

It turns out that the more you watch TV, the more you believe that the world is dangerous. It turns out TV watchers believe that an astonishing 5% (!) of the population works in law enforcement. And it turns out...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Appearing to care

We know that your customers will put up with imperfect, but one thing that they'd like in return is for you to care. Marketers keep making big promises, and organizations struggle to keep those promises. Sooner or later, it leads...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Bought

How much does it cost you in tolls to drive across town? In most cities, the answer is nothing. How much does it cost you to take a bus or subway across town? In most cities, if it's available at...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

On beating yourself up

Almost everyone does it. I'm not sure why. After the fact (or even during it) all the blame, second-guessing and paralysis. We say things to ourselves that we'd never permit anyone else to say. Why? It leaves us bruised and...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

When in doubt, connect

That's what fast-growing, important organizations do. Making stuff is great. Making connections is even better.        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

The taxi or the cruise ship?

The successful cab owner knows this: Every ride is custom People choose a cab precisely because they can ride alone, on their own terms Empty trips are part of the job, and it's okay, because the next ride will pay...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

The money maximization distraction

The Rolling Stones have grossed more than a billion dollars in ticket sales and endorsements. Does that mean that they're better than Beethoven, John Adams and Zoe Keating, put together? Were the Bay City Rollers better than Patti Smith? There...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

The Peter Possibility

Dr. Laurence Peter understood the promise and peril of bureaucracy better than most. Fifty years ago, he wrote, "managers rise to the level of their incompetence." The Peter Principle states that if you do a good job, you get promoted,...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Feels risky

The gulf between "risky" and "feels risky" is huge. And it's getting bigger. It turns out that value creation lives in this gap. The things that most people won't do (because it feels risky) that are in fact not risky...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

The management of whales

In online gaming, a whale is someone who plays far more than the typical player. It's not unusual for 2% of the player base to account for 95% of all the usage. The same thing is true at the local...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Anti-glib: Knowing what you're talking about

Glibness is a disease that's particularly virulent in Silicon Valley, politics, entertainment and the executive suite. Someone has an insight (or gets lucky) and then amasses power. Surrounded by more than they're willing to understand, they substitute the glib statement, … | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

You've arrived

It's easy to fall in love with the GPS version of the universe. There, just ahead, after that curve. Drive a little further, your destination is almost here. Done. You've arrived. Of course, that's not how it works. Not our...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

"My side, right or wrong"

The alternative is, "My side is wrong this time, but we can learn a lot, fix it, and do it better next time." Which path gets us (however you want to define 'us') closer to what we seek? Which leads...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Ocellate

It means "eye-like" as in the spot on a stingray that makes it appear to be looking at you. As far as I know, there are no words for nose-like or even ear-like. We're hardwired to be aware of eyes....        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

He deserves it, but do you?

He's a jerk, a two-timer, a double-crosser. He deserves everything you throw at him, your cutting remarks, your sarcasm, your enmity. You're totally justified in spending a lot of time and energy in evening the score. You are the avenger....        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Sham surgery

The data shows that more than 600,000 people got arthroscopic knee surgery in the US in 2010. It's expensive and painful. It turns out that sham surgery works just as well. That just about as many people would have found...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Last call for The Marketing Seminar, summer edition

We teach modern marketing. Marketing that doesn't involve spam or tricks or hype. Marketing that sees a world bigger than you currently serve, and a market small enough to actually care about what you make. And marketing that isn't defined...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Cultural density

In your organization, how many decisions and interactions are driven by culture first? While it's possible to imagine an organization that has no culture, one that is merely a context-free meritocracy and game-theory driven machine, that's unlikely. The higher your...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Be the different one

Leonard Nimoy created one of our culture's singular fictional characters. Gene Roddenberry gave him the opportunity, but it was Nimoy who developed Spock. A key moment came in one of the first episodes. Everyone on the bridge was freaking out...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Instead of the easy numbers...

What is it that you hope to accomplish? Not what you hope to measure as a result of this social media strategy/launch, but to actually change, create or build? An easy but inaccurate measurement will only distract you. It might...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

All deals are handshake deals

The only variable is how specific you're willing to be about who is promising what. Specific contracts don't completely protect you from dishonorable people. What they do is make it really clear about what it takes to do what you...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago

Upcoming speaking and teaching schedule

Today at 1:15 NY time, I'll be doing a Facebook Live, answering your questions about marketing. You can join us here. (Facebook archives these, so it's okay if you don't see it live... but if you're there when it happens,...        | Continue reading


@sethgodin.typepad.com | 7 years ago