Seth's Blog : We can't talk about it

 

We can't talk about it

We can't talk about how we could do things better around here

We can't talk about what isn't working

We can't talk about the countless opportunties we ignore

We can't talk about what hurts

We can't talk about dignity

We can't talk about how to make magic happen

We can't talk to our boss, our employees, our board, our investors

We can't talk about the things we can't talk about

That's a shame.

       

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More Recent Articles

• Stumbling your way to greatness
• The fear of freedom
• The problem with problems
• The last minute glitch
• A three-step marketing ladder

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Seth's Blog : Stumbling your way to greatness

 

Stumbling your way to greatness

One reason people who spend a lot of time thinking about and working on a problem or a craft seem to find breakthroughs more often than everyone else is that they've failed more often than everyone else.

       

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More Recent Articles

• The fear of freedom
• The problem with problems
• The last minute glitch
• A three-step marketing ladder
• Sign your work

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Seth's Blog : The fear of freedom

 

The fear of freedom

What will you do next?

What can you learn tomorrow?

Where will you live, who will you connect with, who will you trust?

Are questions better than answers? Maybe it's easier to get a dummies book, a tweet or a checklist than it is to think hard about what's next...

It's certainly easier to go shopping. And easier still to buy what everyone else is buying.

We live in an extraordinary moment, with countless degrees of freedom. The instant and effortless connection to a billion people changes everything, but instead, we're paralyzed with fear, a fear so widespread that you might not even notice it.

We have more choices, more options and more resources than any generation, ever. 

[Reminder: Black Friday is a media trap, an orchestrated mass hallucination based on herd dynamics and the media cycle.] 

       

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More Recent Articles

• The problem with problems
• The last minute glitch
• A three-step marketing ladder
• Sign your work
• The jobs only you can do

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Seth's Blog : The problem with problems

 

The problem with problems

We have limits. There are challenges, limited resources, people or organizations working against you. Your knee hurts, the boss is a jerk, the systems are down.

We have opportunities. There are opportunities, new sources of leverage and ideas just waiting to be embraced. You can share something, give something, make something better.

There are always limits, and there are always opportunities. The ones we rehearse and focus on are the ones that shape our attitude and our actions. How many times a day do you think about or announce the limits you face, the people who cannot be trusted, the problems that are weighing you down?

The problem with problems is that they always keep us from focusing on opportunities, on a chance to contribute and to make something better. Focus on our opportunities doesn't mean the problems don't exist, it merely means that we are far more likely to do something that matters.

Gratitude and opportunity create more of the same.

       

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More Recent Articles

• The last minute glitch
• A three-step marketing ladder
• Sign your work
• The jobs only you can do
• A little more than a bushel, a little bit less

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Seth's Blog : The last minute glitch

 

The last minute glitch

I got a note from Joni Mitchell yesterday. 

Well, not just me. Everyone who got her new boxed set got the note.

The note takes responsibility for some of the tracks on the CD not matching the order of the liner notes. Apparently, the brilliant artist needed more time, and cared enough about her work to re-arrange it until the last minute, and was brave enough to speak up and take responsibility.

So, it's not just you. The last minute looms large.

The glitch is in how we define the last minute. We can't make the feeling go away, but we can be clear about when the last minute occurs. And for professionals, it must occur before the deadline. Because they call it a deadline for a reason.

Now, long before your next last minute, do an honest assessment of the cost of going beyond the time that's been allotted for your work. In almost every case, you'll see that the benefit of having the last minute not coincide with the deadline is huge.

The last minute is a feeling. The deadline is an event. When professionals are involved, they shouldn't happen at the same time.

       

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More Recent Articles

• A three-step marketing ladder
• Sign your work
• The jobs only you can do
• A little more than a bushel, a little bit less
• The tragedy of the last 10%

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Seth's Blog : A three-step marketing ladder

 

A three-step marketing ladder

Probably worth reviewing at your next marketing meeting (or every marketing meeting)... There's a three-step ladder:

Awareness

Education

Action

Awareness is when someone knows you exist. The knock-knock part of the knock-knock joke, the person who has another interest and trust to want to know more. 

• Awareness is sexy
• You don't need to be known by everyone (or even most people) merely the right ones
• Awareness probably isn't as much of your problem as you think it is
• Awareness-seeking is addictive (and easy to measure)

Education is the story we tell, the transfer of information and emotion from us to the aware consumer. 

• Most marketers are too self-absorbed to educate well
• Education takes time
• Education takes many forms, but without a doubt, experience is the most trusted and high-impact way to educate

Action is the last step, but the only one that the CFO is measuring. If you sacrifice the first two steps to boost this one, you'll regret it.

• Natural actions happen more often than ones that require a leap
• Anticipated action generates fear
• "Later" is a much more likely response than "no"
• Most people aren't going to act, but if you treat them well, they might just tell their friends (see awareness & education) 

       

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More Recent Articles

• Sign your work
• The jobs only you can do
• A little more than a bushel, a little bit less
• The tragedy of the last 10%
• Inventing a tribe

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