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Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect
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Bringing goodwill to the conversation
Education is distinct from learning. Organized education is a form of indoctrination and certification. Sometimes it leads to learning, but not always. You can win at education by figuring out...
Walk away or dance
AI and LLMs pose a particularly visceral threat to the typing class. Writers, editors, poets, freelancers, marketing copywriters and others are voicing reasonable (and unreasonable) objections to the pace and...
Possibility vs. certainty
It is impossible to make a perpetual motion machine, you’ll waste your time if you try. It is possible to write a book of poetry that will sell 10 million...
Food bonus post
It’s been awhile… Coconut Cult is a new sort of probiotic magic that’s actually delicious (the chocolate is great, the strawberry is magnificent). A tablespoon a day, try it for...
Brittle systems
Large organizations are purpose-built to do what they do, under prevailing conditions. People are hired, assets are acquired, measurements are put in place–all to optimize what’s happening right here and...
Poison
Don’t swallow Polonium-210. You won’t last long, and it won’t be pleasant. There are poisons all around us. The arsenic in your rice, the drain cleaner under your sink. Alas,...
For people who don’t care that much
If someone snuck into my closet and switched out one brand of sneakers for a similar model from another company, it wouldn’t bother me much. Popular cars like the Camry,...
Confusing good luck with skill
If 1,000 people toss a fair coin three times, 125 of them will get three heads in a row. Perfect score. And 125 will lose every time. We probably shouldn’t...
Mirrors and hats
No one buys a hat without looking at themselves in a mirror first. Ever. There were hats before there were mirrors, so I’m not sure how it used to be,...
Job churn
Since I was born, humans have created 6 billion jobs. All while technology relentlessly disrupts existing industries. The pin making machine replaced the hand-crafted pin. The ox-pulled plow replaced millions...
“GET OUTTA MY WAY”
Pedestrian traffic in Grand Central Station is a bit of a miracle. Thousands of people, all walking quickly, in almost non-Euclidian chaos, headed toward different trains. And no one collides....
Aha!
Teaching is not about assignments, textbooks or authority. It’s about the pedagogy, connection and approach that creates the conditions for a willing student to change their mind. Everything else is...
Centering
Conversations and projects usually revolve around an axis. It could be a goal or an urgency or a person. It might be the boss. Wondering what they want, what they...
The violinist problem
Two hundred years ago, there were a lot of violinists. Many made a living at it. If you were of means and wanted to hear music, your best option was...
All that torque
A screwdriver works because the handle is bigger than the screw. You can twist the handle with leverage, causing the screw to turn. The bigger the handle, the more leverage...
“No” is an option
“Maybe” is the problem. If you’re serious, say, “yes.” And if it’s not for you, walk away. But endlessly reconsidering opportunities without forward motion is a place to hide.
An invitation to vibration
Many organizations have a widget or service, something people already need or want, and they work to sell it to people. Some seek monopoly power so they can force others...
What sort of success?
“Who’s it for?” is not simply a question about your target customer. Milton Friedman offered to let us off the hook–the only thing the work is for is to maximize...
Disenchanted
Where does hope come from? It’s probably hard-wired, the result of an evolutionary process. A creature with hope is less likely to give up and more likely to raise offspring,...
The new Kickstarter is live
More than ten years ago, we broke records with my previous Kickstarter. Now I’m back with a suite of AI-powered cards. For the last five months, I’ve been in full...