The Tale of Two Rejections (8/26/14)

I was recently rejected by a world renowned publication. I could care less about the actual rejection, but I found the elitist tone of the letter, and the hypocrisy of its logic to be classless at best. The funny thing is less than a week later I got the classiest rejection letter I have ever received.

I submitted an application to be a part of a project Seth Godin was putting together. If you don’t know who Seth is, he’s an extremely successful entrepreneur and author, a brilliant marketer, and in my opinion a very interesting person. For all the reasons I laid out Seth has a cult like following all across the globe.

Every so often Seth comes up with an idea, and puts together a project where he opens up the opportunity for anyone to submit to be a part of it. I have heard how these experiences have been life changing for some of the participants in the past. Considering the timing of this project coincided perfectly with my book tour, it was a project that I was qualified to be a part of, and it would have been highly beneficial to my personal development I applied to be a part of it.

I was rejected by a mass email, but that’s where the similarity between these two rejections ends. In the four or five days that Seth was accepting applications he was probably bombarded with hundreds if not thousands of would be applicants that he needed to whittle down to fifteen acceptance letters. I don’t know what the acceptance letter looks like, but I want to show you what a classy rejection looks like.

I confess that when I saw the quality (and the quantity) of applications for my seminar, my jaw dropped.

I was overwhelmed by the heart and soul that you shared, by the quality of work that you’re doing, and by the impact that you and the other applicants are making in the world.

I have no team here, it’s just me, and I gladly put in the time to review every application that came in.

Alas, as you may have guessed, I wasn’t able to find a spot for you in the program.

This is my loss, clearly. I couldn’t even TRY to find the very best people… instead, all I could do was create an interesting cross-section, put together a group of people who I thought might engage with me and with each other in a way that’s greater than the whole.

Please, then, accept my thanks for taking the time and for your continued work in making a difference. 

Seth didn’t have to take the time to put together a heartfelt apology to put into his rejection letter and he didn’t have to assume any responsibility in rejecting anyone, but he did. There’s a reason I follow Seth’s blog and I now laugh at the unnamed world renowned publication; Seth cares and has integrity, the other does not.