Seth's Blog : Without training wheels

Without training wheels

If you'd like to teach a kid to ride a bike, training wheels are a bad idea. You're much better off with a small bike with no pedals. 

All training wheels do is confuse, distract or stall.

The same thing is true for marketing. You don't need to go to school for four years. You need to do marketing. Find a worthy charity and do a promotional event to raise money for them (you don't even need to ask first). Start a micro business. Sell things on eBay.

And the same thing is true for leadership. Find something worth doing, find others to join in. 

Merely begin.

       

• Email to a friend •

More Recent Articles

• Uniquely unique
• Three things about good jobs in a new economy
• I knew it!
• Is patience a skill?
• A parody of yourself

[You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.]

Don't want to get this email anymore? Click the link below to unsubscribe.

---

Click here to safely unsubscribe from "Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect."
Click here to view mailing archives, here to change your preferences, or here to subscribe • Privacy

---

Email subscriptions powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 365 Boston Post Rd, Suite 123, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA.

Seth's Blog : Uniquely unique

Uniquely unique

Of course, each of us is different. Different histories, different narratives. You have an appendix, she doesn't. You are different from everyone else, from your DNA to the kind of morning you had today.

No one can possibly understand you completely.

The same thing is true for your organization, but multiplied (or even raised to the power of) the number of people who work there. 

Such complexity. Originality. Unique uniqueness.

And yet...

And yet we can go to the same doctors.

And yet we can read the same books.

And yet it's possible our organizations can benefit from the same interventions and insights.

Because, while we're each unique, we have far more in common than we're comfortable admitting. Amplifying our differences may make us feel special, but it's not particularly useful when it comes to getting better.

Being unique is a great way to hide from the change we need when someone offers us a better future. Learning from the patterns and the people who have come before, though, is the only way any of us advance.

       

• Email to a friend •

More Recent Articles

• Three things about good jobs in a new economy
• I knew it!
• Is patience a skill?
• A parody of yourself
• The two risk mistakes

[You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.]

Don't want to get this email anymore? Click the link below to unsubscribe.

---

Click here to safely unsubscribe from "Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect."
Click here to view mailing archives, here to change your preferences, or here to subscribe • Privacy

---

Email subscriptions powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 365 Boston Post Rd, Suite 123, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA.

Seth's Blog : Three things about good jobs in a new economy

Three things about good jobs in a new economy

The reason that Uber drivers will always struggle

They don't have a relationship with the customer. It turns out that finding a customer and knowing where he wants to go is almost as valuable as having a car and knowing how to drive it. Because Uber and other middlemen are earning permission to connect with their customers, the driver will always get the short end of the stick.

They can easily replace the driver, but the driver can't easily replace Uber.

It's clearly difficult to gain the trust and attention of customers. Which is precisely why it's the best way to build an asset.

The world is here, knocking at our door

The Almond range extender is a pretty cool wifi device. Mine had a hiccup, so I called tech support. In just a few minutes on a toll free line, Maan Thapa graciously identified and fixed my problem, throwing in a few suggestions as well. Maan is from Nepal and he works in India. The Almond is manufactured in Taipei and their marketing is done in Dubai. 

Proximity is overrated.

If the boss can write it down, she can find someone cheaper than you to do the work

Probably a robot. The best jobs are jobs where we don't await instructions, where using good judgment and taking initiative are far more important than obedience.

The economy is now powered by connection, not industry. Connection and innovation and the instant movement of data means that the rules most of us grew up with are quickly becoming obsolete.

In Linchpin and Icarus, I laid out the math of our future at work. All the demagoguery doesn't matter, because those old-fashioned, well-paid common factory jobs, powered by a steam engine or an assembly line—they're not coming back.

Instead, we have a chance to invent something extraordinary in their place.

       

• Email to a friend •

More Recent Articles

• I knew it!
• Is patience a skill?
• A parody of yourself
• The two risk mistakes
• It happens around the edges

[You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog.]

Don't want to get this email anymore? Click the link below to unsubscribe.

---

Click here to safely unsubscribe from "Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect."
Click here to view mailing archives, here to change your preferences, or here to subscribe • Privacy

---

Email subscriptions powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 365 Boston Post Rd, Suite 123, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA.