If you’ve been around awhile you know that we’re big fans of the inimitable Seth Godin here at Actionable. We’ve poured over our interviews with Seth over the years and our summaries of his bestselling books to compile a list of his best advice, everything from embracing your weird to conquering your fear of failure.
- Get shipping
“Shipping is the act of giving your art – your beyond-the-training-manual-efforts – to the world. Shipping is a major cause of lizard brain [the part of our brain that sees anything that is new – anything that requires independent thought – as a risk to our personal safety]. The uncertainty of the outcome creates fear. Virgin is comprised of over 70 independent businesses. Richard Branson ships. Seth Godin has written 12 books in 11 years. Seth ships. Great leaders and innovators of our time (of all time) are not immune to the lizard brain fear. They feel it, just like the rest of us, and proceed regardless of it.” Read our summary of Linchpin to learn more about shipping. - Fail or you’re fired
We’ve been conditioned from an early age to believe that failure is a bad word, however it’s something Seth Godin wants us to embrace and be unafraid of. This notion, however, shouldn’t be confused with being careless in your work. It’s about trying something new, colouring outside of the lines and if it just so happens that it doesn’t work, learning from your mistakes. Failure is a theme that runs through much of Godin’s work. In 2013’s What To Do When It’s Your Turn (And It’s Always Your Turn) he writes, “If you are not willing to imagine failure, you’re unable to be free.” He also touches on it in our our 2011 video interview. - Embrace your weird
“The chance to become the next Wonder Bread/Budweiser/Chevy is seductive, but no longer practical,” Godin wrote in 2011. “The field is too crowded, and there’s not enough upside after you build a middle-of-the-road normal brand.” To stand out we need to be different, we need to be weird. But embracing your weird is only step one. You also need to know your unique brand of weird. “If you persist in trying to be all things to all people, you will fail,” Godin points out. “The alternative, then, is to be something important to a few people.” Learn more about how you can embrace your weird in our summary of Seth’s We Are All Weird. - Defining your Tribe
We all know the old adage that it takes a village, but who are your villagers? Defining your Tribe is critical to your success. In his seminal work Tribes, Godin describes a Tribe as “a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.” “You have to decide whether your goal is to convert the unconverted or shun the nonbelievers and lead the people who want to be led,” Godin told us in 2014. Learn more about defining your Tribe in episode five of The 21st Century Workplace podcast.
Okay, now it’s your turn. What’s your favourite insight from Seth Godin?
