Seth Godin's Blog, page 168

A field guide to the Meeting Troll

The meeting troll is a common creature, one that morphs over time and is good at hiding (snaring you when it's too late to avoid him.)

The meeting troll has a neverending list of reasonable objections. It's the length of the list that makes the objections unreasonable.

The meeting troll never says 'we'. It's all about 'you.'

The meeting troll doesn't actually want you to fail, but is establishing a trail so that if you do, he's off the hook.

Despite his protestations about how much he hates meetings, the meeting troll actually thrives on them, because, after all, this is the only place he gets to do his best work. The very best way to extinguish the meeting troll is to extinguish meetings. The second best way is to not invite him.

A key giveway: The meeting troll will use the phrase, "devil's advocate." More than once.

Growth hackers look for a yes at every turn. The meeting troll thinks his job is to find the no.

The meeting troll never eagerly calls a project meeting, nor does he bring refreshments, volunteer to organize follow up or encourage others to push their ideas even further. He's eager, though, to host the post mortem.

One particularly noxious type of meeting troll says not a thing at the meeting. He uses body language and eye rolling to great advantage, though, and you can be sure that there will be quiet one-on-one undermining going on as soon as the meeting is over. The modern evolution of this is the instant messaging of snide remarks during the meeting.

The meeting troll has a perfect memory for previous failures and complete amnesia when it comes to things that have worked.

Analogies, particularly to vivid flameouts (regardless of how rare or irrelevant) is the easy tool for the amateur troll. He's also good at equating your desire to deal with negative change with the assertion that you somehow caused or were in favor of that negative change.

Open-ended questions that merely hint at failure are sufficient for the experienced troll. He knows that he doesn't have to kill the new project for it to die. He just has to stir up sufficient unease.

The meeting troll is afraid, not merely evil. Change is a threat, and trolling is his well-intentioned but erroneous response to the threat of change.

The loneliness epidemic

The next time you feel lonely, disconnected or unappreciated, consider that unlike many other maladies, this one hits everyone. And unlike other challenges, this one is easily overcome by realizing that you can cure the problem by connecting, appreciating and leading.

The minute we realize that the person sitting next to us needs us (and our tribe, our forward motion and the value we create), we're able to extinguish their aloneness as well as ours.

When you shine a light, both of you can see better.

Is the new Kindle Zero the sign of things to come?

It was always going to happen, but most of us didn't think it would happen so soon. Every Kindle has been cheaper than the one before it...

This afternoon, Amazon is going to announce the Kindle Zero, (screenshot) the first ebook reader that's free (to Prime members, of which there are millions). If you want one, you should hurry, because free goes quick... (here's a sneak preview of the prototype Zero)

The trend has been clear--electronic devices always get cheaper, and locking people into a platform has always been profitable. Hotmail, search engines... free is the driver of attention.

Beyond the surprise of leaping into the free reader, though, are the announcements from Random House and Wiley that 10% of their titles (the ones that used to be free) will now come with a cash incentive. (HT to Kevin for the original idea).

Read a book, get paid in cash. This is beyond free.

People have long treated reading books as a chore, as work, as something to do as little as possible. Now, for the first time, you can get paid for the drudgery of reading.

What this means is simple: you can now order 150 books and a new Kindle and get paid more than $3,000 just for accepting them and reading them when you can. Dense, difficult books like Russian tragedies and others earn you even more, up to $45. Per book. And of course, how-to books earn you hundreds of dollars each, but you do have to read them.

Of course there will be ads. Once it's free, you're not the customer any more, you're the product.

As a pioneer in free ebooks more than ten years ago, I feel like I have to keep up, hence my announcement today that to go with the new Kindle Zero, the free edition of my new book comes with a new Buick LeSabre or a large fig newton, your choice. While supplies last, one per customer.

Just the good parts

"I want to be an actress, but I don't want to go on auditions."

"I want to play varsity sports, but I need to be sure I'm going to make the team."

"It's important to sell this great new service, but I'm not willing to deal with rejection."

You don't get to just do the good parts. Of course. In fact, you probably wouldn't have chosen this path if it was guaranteed to work every time.

The implication of this might surprise you, though: when the tough parts come along, the rejection and the slog and the unfair bad breaks, it makes sense to welcome them. Instead of cursing or fearing the down moments, understand that they mean you've chosen reality, not some unsustainable fantasy. It means that you're doing worthwhile, difficult work, not merely amusing yourself.

The very thing you're seeking only exists because of the whole. We can't deny the difficult parts, we have no choice but to embrace them.

Urgent, please read asap

That's what gets done, of course. The urgent.

Not the article you haven't gotten around to writing, the trip to the gym that will pay off in the long run, the planning for your upcoming birthday party, dinner with your parents (who would love to see you), ten minutes to sit quietly, saying thank you to a friend for no real reason... no, we do the urgent first.

The problem, of course, is that the queue of urgent never ends, it merely changes its volume as it gets longer. 

Yes, we've heard it said that it's the important, not the urgent, that deserves attention. But it understates just how much we've been manipulated by those that would make their important into our urgent.

"But what do people really think?"

You know, behind your back...

What do they think of your product or your sales pitch or your speech? What do they think of your new sweater or your new friend?

Hint: You won't find out by searching for yourself on Twitter or Facebook. You won't find out by eavesdropping in the lounge, either. Or by reading the reviews.

Sure, you'll hear what people say when they have an audience, you'll hear condensed, pointed, witty takedowns, but no, you won't hear what they really think. All you'll do is bring yourself down and strengthen the resistance.

No, the only way to know what people think is to watch what they do, not what they say. Do they come back for more? Do you cause them to change their behavior? Can you make them smile?

Howard Cosell was loud, but he was more entertaining than right. The same is true for the armchair critics (amateur and professional) that have a megaphone they're using to criticize you. 

Create a vacuum, don't fill it

On the path from awareness to a sale, the marketer has to create a vacuum.

The goal of that short film or that sales letter or that invitation to a seminar shouldn't be to answer every question and completely describe what's on offer. No, effective marketing amplifies awareness of a problem or an opportunity, a problem the product or service solves or an opportunity it creates.

I know it's tempting to sell with bullet points and an overwhelming amount of data. It gets you off the hook and requires little in the way of creativity or guts. Storytelling requires both.

Toward zero unemployment

A dozen generations ago, there was no unemployment, largely

because there were no real jobs to speak of. Before the industrial revolution,

the thought that you’d leave your home and go to an office or a factory was, of

course, bizarre.

What happens now that the industrial age is ending? As the

final days of the industrial age roll around, we are seeing the core assets of

the economy replaced by something new. Actually, it’s something old, something

handmade, but this time, on a huge scale.

The industrial age was about scarcity. Everything that

built our culture, improved our productivity, and defined our lives involved

the chasing of scarce items.

On the other hand, the connection economy, our economy, the

economy of the foreseeable future, embraces abundance. No, we don’t have an

endless supply of the resources we used to trade and covet. No, we certainly

don’t have a surplus of time, either. But we do have an abundance of choice, an

abundance of connection, and an abundance of access to knowledge.

We know more people, have access to more resources, and can

leverage our skills more quickly and at a higher level than ever before.

This abundance leads to two races. The race to the bottom

is the Internet-fueled challenge to lower prices, find cheaper labor, and

deliver more for less.

The other race is the race to the top: the opportunity to

be the one they can’t live without, to be the linchpin we would miss if he

didn’t show up. The race to the top focuses on delivering

more for more.

It embraces the weird passions of those with the resources to make choices, and

it rewards originality, remarkability, and art.

The connection economy continues to gain traction because

connections scale, information begets more information, and influence accrues

to those who create this abundance. As connections scale, these connections

paradoxically make it easier for others to connect as well, because anyone with

talent or passion can leverage the networks created by connection to increase

her impact. The connection economy doesn’t create jobs where we get picked and

then get paid; the connection economy builds opportunities for us to connect,

and then demands that we pick ourselves.

Just as the phone network becomes more valuable when more

phones are connected (scarcity is the enemy of value in a network), the

connection economy becomes more valuable as we scale it.

Friends bring us more friends. A reputation brings us a

chance to build a better reputation. Access to information encourages us to

seek ever more information. The connections in our life multiply and increase

in value. Our stuff, on the other hand, 

becomes less valuable over time.

… [this riff is inspired by my new book...]

Successful organizations have realized that they are no

longer in the business of coining slogans, running catchy ads, and optimizing

their supply chains to cut costs.

And freelancers and soloists have discovered that doing a

good job for a fair price is no longer sufficient to guarantee success. Good

work is easier to find than ever before.

What matters now:

Trust

Permission

Remarkability

Leadership

Stories that spread

Humanity: connection, compassion, and humility

All six of these are the result of successful work by

humans who refuse to follow industrial-age 

rules. These assets aren’t generated by external strategies and MBAs and

positioning memos. These are the results of internal struggle, of brave

decisions without a map and the willingness to allow others to live with

dignity.

They are about standing out, not fitting in, about

inventing, not duplicating.

TRUST AND

PERMISSION: In a marketplace that’s open to just about anyone, the only people

we hear are the people we choose to hear. Media is cheap, sure, but attention

is filtered, and it’s virtually impossible to be heard unless the consumer

gives us the ability to be heard. The more valuable someone’s attention is, the

harder it is to earn.

And who gets

heard?

Why would

someone listen to the prankster or the shyster or the huckster? No, we choose

to listen to those we trust. We do business with and donate to those who have

earned our attention. We seek out people who tell us stories that resonate, we

listen to those stories, and we engage with those people or businesses that

delight or reassure or surprise in a positive way.

And all of

those behaviors are the acts of people, not machines. We embrace the humanity

in those around us, particularly as the rest of the world appears to become

less human and more cold. Who will you miss? That is who you are listening to .

REMARKABILITY:

The same bias toward humanity and connection exists in the way we choose which

ideas we’ll share with our friends and colleagues. No one talks about the

boring, the predictable, or the safe. We don’t risk interactions in order to

spread the word about something obvious or trite.

The remarkable

is almost always new and untested, fresh and risky.

LEADERSHIP:

Management is almost diametrically opposed to leadership. Management is about

generating yesterday’s results, but a little faster or a little more cheaply.

We know how to manage the world—we relentlessly seek to cut costs and to limit

variation, while we exalt obedience.

Leadership,

though, is a whole other game. Leadership puts the leader on the line. No

manual, no rule book, no überleader to point the finger at when things go

wrong. If you ask someone for the rule 

book on how to lead, you’re secretly wishing to be a manager.

Leaders are

vulnerable, not controlling, and they are racing to the top, taking us to a new

place, not to the place of cheap, fast, compliant safety.

STORIES THAT SPREAD:

The next asset that makes the new economy work is the story that spreads.

Before the revolution, in a world of limited choice, shelf space mattered a

great deal. You could buy your way onto the store shelf, or you could be the

only one on the ballot, or you could use a connection to get your résumé in

front of the hiring guy. In a world of abundant choice, though, none of these

tactics is effective. The chooser has too many alternatives, there’s too much

clutter, and the scarce resources are attention and trust, not shelf space.

This situation is tough for many, because attention and trust must be earned,

not acquired.

More

difficult still is the magic of the story that resonates. After trust is earned

and your work is seen, only a fraction of it is magical enough to be worth

spreading. Again, this magic is the work of the human artist, not the corporate

machine. We’re no longer interested in average stuff for average people.

HUMANITY: We

don’t worship industrial the way we used to. We seek out human originality and

caring instead. When price and availability are no longer sufficient advantages

(because everything is available and the price is no longer news), then what we

are drawn to is the vulnerability and transparency that bring us together, that

turn the “other” into one of us.

For a long time to come the

masses will still clamor for cheap and obvious and reliable. But the people you

seek to lead, the people who are helping to define the next thing and the

interesting frontier, these people want your humanity, not your discounts.

All of these assets, rolled into one, provide the

foundation for the change maker of the future. And that individual (or the team

that person leads) has no choice but to build these assets with novelty, with a

fresh approach to an old problem, with a human touch that is worth talking

about.

I can’t wait until we return to zero percent unemployment,

to a time when people with something to contribute (everyone)  pick themselves instead of waiting for a

bureaucrat’s permission to do important work.

Studying entrepreneurship without doing it

...is like studying the appreciation of music without listening to it.

The cost of setting up a lemonade stand (or whatever metaphorical equivalent you dream up) is almost 100% internal. Until you confront the fear and discomfort of being in the world and saying, "here, I made this," it's impossible to understand anything at all about what it means to be a entrepreneur. Or an artist. 

Most people, most of the time (the perfect crowd fallacy)

Most people, most of the time, aren't creative, generous or willing to stand up and contribute worthwhile work to the community. At least not the contributions you're hoping for.

The myth of wikipedia is that, when given the chance, hordes of people stepped up and built it. In fact, 5,000 people contribute most of the value on the site.

The myth of ebooks is that now that anyone can publish, enormous numbers of people will use this new platform to create countless numbers of new classics. In fact, most self-published ebooks just aren't very good.

And the same is true for just about everything that's open. A few people do an enormous amount (non-profit volunteers, community organizations, online sites), a few people are vandals or merely taking what they can take, and the masses participate, but aren't at the heart of the project.

To dismiss the crowd is a huge mistake, though.

Here's the fascinating part, call it the golden shoulder: We have no idea in advance who the great contributors are going to be. We know that there's a huge cohort of people struggling outside the boundaries of the curated, selected few, but we don't know who they are.

That means that the old systems, the ones where just a few people were anointed to be the chosen authors, chosen contributors, chosen musicians--that system left a lot of people out in the cold. The new open systems embrace waste. They understand that most people won't contribute and most contributions won't be any good. But that's fine, because this openness means that the previously unfound star now gets found.

The curated business, then, will ultimately fail because it keeps missing this shoulder, this untapped group of talented, eager, hard-working people shut out by their deliberately closed ecosystem. Over time, the open systems use their embrace of waste to winnow out the masses and end up with a new elite, a self-selected group who demonstrate their talent and hard work and genius over time, not in an audition.

Go ahead and minimize these open systems at your own peril. Point to their negative outliers, inconsistency and errors, sure, but you can only do that if you willfully ignore the real power: some people, some of the time, are going to do amazing and generous work... If we'll just give them access to tools and get out of their way.

(The curated block isn't reality, it's merely what the curator claims--that his magical powers will find all of the great talent, without error or waste. Of course, a quick look at Hollywood or even an expensive mutual fund shows that this is a fable. The 'open' block includes the low-quality stuff as well, but since that work is created without a lot of expense, pruning it is no tragedy. The secret is embracing the talented and dedicated people who choose themselves.)