Seth Godin

I wish I knew about the discount six days ago :(

Great points, all, Seth!

Sometimes the less we try to understand the more we fear. Fear resides within me when I focus on differences and hope overcomes me when I focus on commonalities. Hope takes time and effort.

Diane - so right, I went down that path just a couple months ago now (let go for being the nail that sticks out of the board as my friend put it). I feel like I have been cut out of a straight jacket...then I read Tribes and it was all reaffirmed - and now one more underscore in reading this blog post. I'm so excited to be all the way outside the box - what an exciting adventure!!

I feel bad for my friends and colleagues who, 30 years after I made the leap to fulltime entrepreneur, are still "working for the man" and struggling in their lives because of it. Old Chinese saying, "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is NOW." Just do it!

Bummin' me out Seth!... true though. Remember the kind of programming that used to be on Bravo and A&E? Now it's commercials and realty shows. And... I'm paying $90/mo. for cable. Commerce can really crap things up... and does.

on it, as always. it's amazing to see the generation just out of school working with concepts that our internet generation invented a decade ago, and building all the new things on top of them

The change we all need, the realization that we share a single planet capable of supporting our life, with finite resources, which subtracts the luxury and inefficiency, not to mention the loss of billions of brilliance and continuous suffering and death of children, women and men, to maintain our global economic class system. The insanity, when we could all have the diversity of aesthetics (adventures and experiences for all our senses), by project managing our world, and equalizing our resource use. No more false competition model, no need for the immaturity of the carrot and the end of conflicts because of the constant threat of deprivation of one by another.

Let's come together this year and call for a Simultaneous Global Ceasefire initiated on 11/11/2010, with the realization that the adults who have received the gift of the privilege of leadership, have failed to disclose who receives the flow of power and the flow of resources, because of these conflicts.

Then we will realize the potential of adopting an Ecologically Sustainable Global Societal Model, a cooperative global societal model initiated by coming together as people of a shared, finite, beautiful blue-green orb that gives us life, and have a new world (not one world goverenment) simultaneous party. Dissolving all borders and finally collaborating together to increase everyone's awareness and knowledge.... See More

Let's come together on 11/11/2011 and really change our world together.

Cheers and Thanks,
Chris Curpen
http://paradigmshift2011.ning.com
http://www.peacejam.org

Maybe this will help him
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=name&id=622802969#/photo.php?pid=3053596&id=622802969

Ready for a FANTASTIC 2010 because of all that I've learned from YOU! Thank all of you for your wealth of knowledge. Time to stop being a sponge and start squeeeeezzzing out some $$$!
Happy 2010!

To echo Branka's post, did you select Cheapest Reliable Alternative Plan with the acronym in mind? Great one!

Many rules are not about healthy boundries as they should be, but about control or are just misinformation...Don't swim after eating, don't use a cellphone while pumping gas, ....I call these "American Mythology"...it would be wise to study the 125 fallacies of logic to free oneself of this false history. I left the corporate world many years ago ... See Moreand found that rules that were practiced/believed inside the marble walls did not represent reality on the sidewalk in front of the company. An example of this is a manager who is promoted after struggling, playing the game, and putting in years of service, to be rewarded with a tiny depressing office that may be more a function of the factory line instead of human aesthetic/ inspiration. That manager is now further rewarded by being allowed to choose one piece of art for the functional office {two pieces of art if they are higher in the management food chain}; Do they get to choose a Van Gogh or Matisse reproduction from home?... oh no, they get to visit the "Basement o' Art" to select something a mite better than "Dog's Playing Poker". I ask, who would put up with this in their own office at the house? How about your yearly Evaluation...Does that process seem like it is built on placing value on your skills and based in reality or some false system that would never hold the light of truth if applied to your real life. I call these silly Corportate rules and practices ==>
"Gravity is Sideways"....on the street 2 + 2 = 4 and if you drop your pen, gravity pulls it toward the pavement. Inside, the marble walls of the corporation some unfathomable rules devised by the President, Board of Directors or Human Resources say that 2 + 2 = 5 and Gravity is Sideways. Remember, the TRUTH will set you free. :-)

how about ot going to the batrhroom for one hour before a plane lands so someone can they arew doing something . they grow not decline

Makes me think of "Who Moved My Cheese"

Very wise post, Seth. I believe it could apply to investments as well. :-)

From Sumitomo's website:

Business Principles (Formulated in 1891)

"1 Sumitomo shall achieve strength and prosperity by placing prime importance on integrity and sound management in the conduct of its business. ... See More

Article 2 Sumitomo shall manage its activities with foresight and flexibility in order to cope effectively with the changing times. Under no circumstances, however, shall it pursue easy gains or act imprudently.

Article 1 shows that the basis of the Sumitomo Business Spirit is the attachment of importance to trust, above all things.
Article 2 shows that Sumitomo as a company should be in pursuit of profits by quickly and exactly taking changes in society into consideration. It emphasizes the importance of positive progressive spirit to decide on the adoption and abolition of business projects continuously without being satisfied with existing business conditions. The latter part, however, admonishes against acting rashly and carelessly in pursuit of immediate temporary benefit, and mentions the importance of trust and soundness."

how it is positioned in ur mind..

any good bands dont usually cave in to the commercial ads tho ; )

The brand of any company should represent the founding story of the company.

Coolness

WE COULD HAVE AN INTERESTING CHAT ABOUT SOMETIME / RSW

Dave Ramsey has Tribes on his recommended reading list. So I put Tribes on my Christmas wishlist. I'm enjoying your work, Thanks!

hire equals temp ! eg. hire a cab but not recruite a cab,

whereas

recruitment equals induction + indoctrination ! eg. recruit soldiers, managers, priests, janitors etc. with long-term lockin.... See More

@Seth Godin, another "spin" to your spin, would be to look at what happens to people after the come out of their recruitments, they become less useful and in most cases useless, as they can never adjust to a normal world !

http://www.erepublik.com/en/referrer/BmGolubovic
Check this!

You are reading from my Playbook with this... Our intial goal for 2010 is to reach 1000 Fans by March 1st... Thus creating the network (Tribe) of consumers exposing our brand.... Buford's Floozy Sauce (Hot, Sweet & Sticky)......
Thanks Seth, have a Merry Christmas......

How many do you have to go through to get the 1000? Thats the question.

another problem, fear of ideas.

Thanks Seth!

Thank you for inspiring this:
Hand in hand - reflective contemplation
http://bit.ly/75mvBz

You are correct that whining doesn't equal intimacy. Only customers believe that.
Intimacy is built with honestly, time and truth. If the brands stays honest with the customer over time, the customer will depend on the company to give them a true product.
www.overcomingoffenses.com.

The serenity prayer! Nice.

Profound.

Love your blogs thank you for sharing...

No wonder it's been so hard for me. Having a "duh" moment. Better late than never!

There are individualists who so like to go their own way that they reject nearly all social convention, ironically, much to their disadvantage and thus, unhappiness.

So, live your dreams, NOT your fears!

I wish I could be there. But I am getting the book.

I had hoped to make it but I was home sick. I'm sure it was a great event. I'm looking forward to reading the book.

It is called "Administration". The world is chaos and we bring order to it. When we fail to bring order it is only due to the fact that the outside world has gotten inside us. Those Administrators who can keep the outside world there, and maintain order, are valuable as Administrators.

Stacie...I am 48 hours away from doing the same thing...10 years of teaching, Master Teacher Award, Department Chair and I am definitely moving on as we already have had no cost of living for 4 years and now a 2.5% cut in pay...No time like this time to strike out on your own!

First: Great eBook! As usual, it's a gem. Kudos to you for being so generous w/ your gift for 'triggering our thought juice'!

Now, to your comment. I agree with Lonn Dugan.

When the WEB becomes, truly 'easy', it will no longer be of value. It will cease being extraordinary. It will become simply... ordinary. ... See More

People get tired and leave now, because they aren't willing put in the time necessary to build a base-of-understanding.

The base necessary to work with the existing technology and pave the way for being better trained to deal with the learning curve to come.

Technology is not easy. The only thing to "think" that way, is a machine.

Those people who do invest their economics into the process of learning to truly 'use the WEB', are those who reap the rewards. And, rewards are not always measured in simple economic returns. They will be - and are - as varied as the fortune seekers plying the seas of technologic change.

If gold lay strewn all about the ground, it would no longer be valuable. Diamonds and other gems are valuable only because they exist in a few locations, are hard to extract and even harder to 'create' into jewelry, and are controlled by people who want to keep them valuable. And the list goes on.

No. The answer is NOT- an easier WEB. The answer is much harder than that.

The ANSWER is: the attitude about the web, must be an attitude of value.

To truly reap the VALUE of the WEB and it's related services, people as a whole, must learn to see it as VALUABLE. Again, VALUE is not always measured simply in the monetary economic. Those who today work in concert with the WEB and it's technology, are valued assets. Because such individuals are rare among the populace.

However, the WEB is more feared than appreciated. When that fear is replaced by value-added-appreciation, then more people will share in the wealth it offers.

When this happens, people will not drop-out. They will dig in to learn. Then is when the WEB will be seen as - and in turn become, a true treasure.

Unfortunately, this will also be when it will be built with dead-bolts and time-locks and seriously dangerous guardians impenetrably attached.

It will no longer be an open door to whatever ones imagination can conjur. It will be owned with tightly controlled access. Because, it will be seen as valuable.

In time, even this too, will pass and the WEB will eventually become merely ... ordinary. Just study the value system of the Maya. Gold was plentiful and used widely, but cacao was valuable! It's purely a matter of perspective.

For now: Sorry, no free lunch. We can't have our cake-and-eat-it-too. And I'm sorry Virginia, but society lied to you, there ain't no Santa Claus.

Life isn't easy. There is death, right along side life. Truth is not determined by the 'mind's eye of the beholder'. And there just isn't always a happy ending.

But life does become easier when we put in the effort to learn the ropes and accept reality as companion, instead of combatant.

Thus, the WEB is not easy. And Thank goodness it's not! Otherwise ... well, y'all get the picture. I hope!

The ebook is fabulous! Nice of you to offer. I can only imagine all the work that went into it! Thank you!

Thanks for sharing! :)

THANK YOU!

seth is on a roll with all the tips lately.

twitter?

good point abdurashid that i had not thought of. i don't think seth will ever see your post though.

Thanks to Seth sir :)

ain't that the truth! (but yeah, i think it's higher than 2% from my experience... I would say much higher as in a group of 20, i could easily have one or two.) .But, factoring in this does lead to better instructions (albeit, longer and perhaps for the rest of the group, redundant or irritating, or worse "intelligent insulting" extra instruction)

I love option number 2...annoy, demonize and lose the 2% (who could very well be different every time) sounds like a hell of a lot of fun!

My wife and I are arguing about packaging. I want to put our products in a cool bag inside the box and she says it's a waste of money. Why companies spend so much money on packaging? Would you do a blog about the value of presentation or should I just ask Jon Dale?

You are a genioussssss. Congratulation for your creative mind!