Seth Godin
March 21, 2014
Seth Godin is a remarkable advocate of making things happen. His daily blogging is a wellspring of inspiration for One Percent Collective and his hard-working habit of catalyst thinking is brave and brilliant. An early pioneer of ‘permission marketing’, Vice President of Direct Marketing at Yahoo! until 2000 after selling them his 1990s online start-up Yoyodyne, author of 17 books, and last year inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, Godin is well-versed in making things better and doing it for the right reasons. As he so eloquently puts it, “leading and leaping and doing work that matters is its own reward”. We couldn’t agree more.
What’s happening in the world of Seth Godin for 2014?
Not just my world, our world. It's really tempting to imagine that we each get to set an agenda for ourselves, and the world's job is to line up and help us make it happen. I've learned that the opposite is often the case. The world is more connected than ever before, and the more open and vulnerable we can be to what's possible, the more opportunities present themselves.
Describe the most generous person you know and how they influenced you.
How long is your long run? I know people who measure the world in ten second flashes, and they're happy to do something they call generous for six seconds, as long as they get a payback within ten seconds.
For me, what makes someone inspirationally generous is that they've figured out that the long run might just be forever. That leading and leaping and doing work that matters is its own reward, despite the knocks and the criticism and the failures. The moms of the world are my influencers, the moms that have figured out how to raise kids that care.
Name an everyday action that makes the world a better place, yet is underrated.
I think that blogging every day is a huge gift. Not for the reader (though it might be) but for the writer. If you write something every single day about your journey, your vulnerability and how you can help, it will change the way you think and act. Don't chase an audience, chase your best self.
Tell us three things that inspire you and why.
Books. Pema Chodron, Steve Pressfield, Brene Brown, Lewis Hyde, Tom Peters, Pam Slim ... and the online videos of my friend and hero, Sarah Kay.
Sign up to Seth's blog at www.sethgodin.typepad.com. Connect with the generosity movement at www.onepercentcollective.org. Image by Jill Greenberg.
Join One Percent Collective with your 1%
We’ve partnered with 15 trusted Kiwi-based charities. Choose one, some, or all. Tell us how much you want to give and how often. Set up once, then we’ll do the rest. Easy!
JOIN the collective NOW
