Seth Godin's Blog, page 30

We are not the enemy (if we try)

Fewer than 1% of our population works hard to divide us. To pit people against one another for their selfish aims.

These are the pundits, divisive politicians, media companies and short-term trolls who have decided that schisms and fights are a good way to achieve their aims.

But if everyone is demonizing the other, then everyone is the enemy to someone.

We end up spending our time fighting each other instead of fighting for the things that really matter. We end up focusing on the current thing while something more important shrinks away in the background.

It’s possible to be fierce, fierce in your dedication to change, to what’s right, to making things better–without finding the source of your power in the destruction of others.

We ought to be fighting inequality, corruption and inefficiency. Working to stamp out ignorance and missed opportunities while creating access and possibility. Keeping our promises and making things better.

Every system is improved when it’s in sync, and the narcissism of small differences is a seduction that keeps us from focusing on creating real value by doing important work.

Realizing that things can get better (they can always get better) opens the door for productive conversations, conversations that aren’t based on prior decisions about what team someone is on, and instead, on putting our shoulder to the work, taking responsibility and actually making things better.

We can fight injustice without becoming pawns in a boxing promoter’s game.

            

Work that matters for people who care

That’s the actual title for my new book.

Or maybe it’s, “people like us do things like this.”

It’s technically called, “This Is Marketing.”

It’s about modern marketing, the way we spread ideas when we care enough to do it with respect, empathy and humility.

It’s on sale now, and ships in November. It might change things. Because that’s what marketers do.

            

Big software/lousy software

Capitalism is fueled by choice. It’s choice that drives suppliers to do better work, because they know you can pick a competitor. Choice moves power from the supplier to the customer.

Software works as a business. The cost of supporting one more user is very low, and the network effect is a miracle.

Any time someone builds software that works better when others are using it too, the network effect has a chance to kick in. Word dominated because you were better off using the same word processor as your peers, so you could exchange files.

Online, the network effect allows some companies to clear the table, signing up hundreds of millions of users, creating software dynasties.

And then, almost always, the software gets lousy.

Because we don’t have a choice (for now).

Paypal has a notoriously slow and weak search capability. Facebook used its hegemony to get careless about their UI and sloppy about public policy issues. Apple’s software rarely gets significantly improved…

Because we don’t have a choice (for now).

It’s surprising to me that capitalism’s most outspoken supporters aren’t clear about the difference between companies that exist in competitive markets, and those that have achieved lock in. The lock in that comes with the network effect almost ensures that the company will cease to innovate or optimize on the part of the customer. They’re paying attention to costs and profits, not long-term impact or customer satisfaction.

If you believe in free markets, then net neutrality and portability are essential building blocks for the future.

As more and more of our life involves networks (and their effects) a bias toward owning data and having other options in software is the best way we have to make sure we have a say on how we engage with the network.

[More here].

            

Learning without doing

It’s certainly possible.

But it’s unlikely you could learn to ride a bike by watching a lot of videos about it.

Or teach a toddler to walk.

In fact, it’s unlikely that you could learn to sell, to design useful objects or to solve interesting problems either.

You can try to learn without doing.

But why?

 

[Also, while we’re on the topic… Today’s the last day to sign up for the Podcasting Fellowship. Details are here.]

            

“Here we go again”

We all say that to ourselves.

The question is: when do you say it?

Do you say it when you're being rejected, failing, stuck, panicked, overwhelmed or alone?

Or do you say it when you're engaged, winning, changing things and in the groove?

Because the more you rehearse this feeling, the more it's going to happen.

We get what we expect.

And we expect what we get.

The easiest way to change this cycle is to alter the scale we play in. If you keep failing at the big stuff, it's worth honing the habit of succeeding at the small stuff first. And if you're finding yourself in a rut, a cycle of failure, walk away from that series of projects and find a new field to plant your seeds in.

            

Mirror, mirror

When you see someone walking down the street with new sunglasses on, do you stare at them? Really stare at them, from every angle?

If you're fortunate enough to have a selfie with President Obama, with Bono or with Sarah Jones, what do you look at when you look at the picture? Do you focus on the tie he was wearing, or her earrings? Or are you worried about the bit of parsley that was in your teeth or the ridiculous jacket you were wearing that day?

We like to see.

But mostly, we're worried about being seen.

We spend far more time looking at ourselves in sunglasses than anyone else ever will.

And social media might appear to be about seeing what others are doing. But it's actually about our juxtaposition with those others, our standing, our status… The reason we want to know what people are saying behind our backs isn't because we care about them, it's because we care about us.

The culture of celebrity that came with TV has shifted. It's no longer about hoping for a glimpse of a star. It's back to the source–hoping for a glimpse of ourselves, ourselves being seen.

            

In and of itself

Culture is changed by design, and design by culture.

There are things that look ‘right’, and others that don’t. We notice the mistyped word, the straight quote, the lousy kerning.

But then, the paradigm shifts. An illuminated manuscript and a dime-store novel are both books, but neither would look right to someone accustomed to the other.

The challenge of breakthrough design is in doing it with intent. To deliver more, not less of the change you seek to make, the leverage you seek to provide. To do the work with knowledge and care, not laziness or haste.

There’s an internal consistency to breakthrough design. It’s of itself, it reflects the intent of the designer. Copying the status quo is easy, commodity work. Creating a new paradigm, one that resonates, is the real work the designer seeks to offer.

            

Useful constructs

We find knowledge (and express it) by dividing the world into grids and segments, and explaining how this organization works.

The periodic table is a useful construct.

Useful constructs are replicable and they’re predictive.

If I tell you the rules needed to organize the elements, you’ll come up with the same table as every other scientist.

And if you know where something is on that table, you can make accurate predictions about how the element will behave.

On the other hand, race is not a useful construct. Neither is ethnicity. It’s not a replicable approach—every person who tries to organize other humans by race will come up with a different system. And it’s not predictive—it doesn’t tell us anything about how someone will act going forward.

Engineers build their work around useful constructs. And often, people who are in politics waste their time arguing about constructs that aren’t useful at all.

If we’re going to influence the culture, grow our organizations, lead people and engage in the marketplace, finding useful constructs (as opposed to established superstitions) is essential work.

            

Organized for browsing

In the traditional world, most things are organized so you can find them when you’re looking for them. That’s why you keep your tools in your tool chest and the forks in the silverware drawer. That’s why books are stored in alphabetical order, by author.

But in the digital world, finding is easy. Type what you want in the search bar.

What we’re still exploring, and not very successfully, is how to organize things for browsing. How do you bump into the thing you didn’t know you were looking for? How do you decide what your next home improvement project should be, or the next movie you should see?

Dancing along the edge of facilitated discovery is one of the most important frontiers that marketers are challenged to do. And we’re not doing it very well yet.

            

Podcasting is the new blogging

Not as a way to make big dollars (blogging didn’t do that either). But as a way to share your ideas, to lead your community, to earn trust.

Podcasting is a proven technology that is still in its infancy. It’s an open mic, a chance for people with something to say to find a few people (or perhaps more than a few people) who’d like to hear them say it.

And podcasting is the generous act of showing up, earning trust and authority because you care enough to raise your hand and speak up.

Over the summer, Alex DiPalma ran the Podcasting Fellowship, and I was lucky enough to be invited along to help out.

I was thrilled at the results.

https://seths.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/TPF-Testimonial-compressed.mp3

More than 300 people signed up to be part of it, and the creativity was electric. People from all over the world, from 18 years old to 60, learned how to create a podcast they could be proud of. They didn’t just learn. They did it.

Learning the technology is the easy part. It’s the peer support, the community and the bias for shipping that really matter.

Because you asked, we’re going to run it one more time. You can read all the details right here.

Signups and engagement begin today, the lessons (delivered, no surprise, in podcast format) begin a few days later and we close signups on October 15th. It costs about $10 a day, and there’s an early bird discount if you hurry. You can do it at your own pace, and an hour a day is probably enough to get you going (though you can put more into it and get more out of it).

I’ve said before that my decision to blog is one of the best I’ve ever made for my career, for the work I do, and most of all, for my continued posture of teaching and leaping. If you’ve considered that this might be your moment to leap, I hope you’ll consider investing in The Podcasting Fellowship and joining Alex, her coaches and me in this 45 day journey together.

PS My Akimbo podcast is now in its third season. You can subscribe or hear it at Akimbo. Here are the most recent show notes.