4.5 335 why care about the categorical imperative?
John 14:27. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
SETH GODIN Boundaries and limits
They serve different purposes.
The fence near the train tracks is a boundary. You can go near it without risk. The electrified third rail, on the other hand, is a limit. If you touch it, you’re done.
Boundaries can give us room to innovate and thrive. Budgets, schedules and specifications all exist to show us where the safe areas are. Sure, go to the edges and challenge the boundaries, that’s why they’re there.
But limits aren’t boundaries. Limits are the end, the danger zone, the thing to avoid.
Some people bristle at boundaries. They’d like to have a project with no budget and no deadline. The problem with living without boundaries is that the limits sneak up on you, and then, boom, it’s over.
We shouldn’t always color inside the lines, but creative work is better when there are lines.
JUNE 14, 2024
4.4 343 Good-bye Aunt Marie
Let’s pray…
Jesus said, “Repent and believe in the good news; the kingdom of God is in our midst, its within us.”
Let’s nurture your presence within us, seeking wisdom and courage;
Let’s not fear having the power and audacity to imagine better versions of ourselves and our community:
People who love you with all our Heart, and mind, and soul;
People who love one another as Jesus loves us; and
People who love ourselves with no conditions.
Let’s pray for those who persecute us;
Let’s pray for those living on the margins of society, in inhumane life conditions;
may they not be overlooked by institutions and never considered of lesser importance.
Amen.
Let’s pray…
Jesus said, “Repent and believe in the good news; the kingdom of God is in our midst, its within us.”
Let’s nurture your presence within us, seeking wisdom and courage;
Let’s not fear having the power and audacity to imagine better versions of ourselves and our community:
People who love you with all our Heart, and mind, and soul;
People who love one another as Jesus loves us; and
People who love ourselves with no conditions.
Let’s pray for those who persecute us;
Let’s pray for those living on the margins of society, in inhumane life conditions;
may they
4.3 354 what is practical leadership?
Mark 5:36 …don’t be afraid, just believe
SETH GODIN Did we give up before AI arrived?
Plenty of creative pundits are decrying the speed and cost of creating pretty good work with an AI. It can often draw, write and compose as well as a mediocre freelancer, sometimes better.
But why were there mediocre freelancers?
The system that pushed us to turn our writing into oatmeal and our art into paint by numbers was here long before OpenAi showed up.
When the bar is raised, it challenges each of us to do what we already had the power to do–exceed the minimum.
JUNE 12, 2024
4.2 351 what is pure leadership?
Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
SETH GODIN What spoiled wrecks
There’s nothing wrong with abundance and joy.
But being spoiled causes two real problems:
it makes it difficult to appreciate what you have. If perfect is the standard, it’s rarely met and never exceeded.
it leads to tantrums. Tantrums about sharing, about the lack of ‘more’ and about the endless poverty of comparison.
As a community increases in wealth, the number of spoiled citizens increases as well.
It’s often the acid that corrodes the magic that created the wealth in the first place.
Whining is a symptom, it’s rarely a cure for anything.
JUNE 11, 2024
4.1 357 what is crisis leadership?
John 14:27. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
SETH GODIN After the emergency
If we need to wait until after the short-term emergency is settled, it’s unlikely we’re ever going to get to work on the long-term important work.
Of course, we want to do “everything we can” when an emergency strikes. But the standard for that has always involved tradeoffs. Perhaps we should resist trading the important work for the urgent distraction of right now.
JUNE 10, 2024
3.7 354 G.school #44 / what do you worship?
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN The half apology
What a waste.
Something went wrong, and the other person cared enough about the relationship to let you know.
Perhaps they’re hoping that you can rebuild a bridge. That you can see what they see and care enough to do something about it.
A half apology is a little like half a balloon. It takes effort, but it doesn’t have much utility.
Honoring the moment, an apology is a chance to reconnect and actually move forward. If that’s not your goal, a half-apology might be fine, but don’t expect much to come of it. If you can’t see or accept the other person’s situation, you haven’t responded to the very thing that prompted the apology in the first place.
The opportunity for an apology is just that–an opportunity to demonstrate to the person you care about that you see them, understand them, and are concerned enough to extend yourself.
The useful apology celebrates the relationship and takes responsibility for what went wrong. It’s hard to minimize your way through this moment. Empathy and care might be a more useful alternative than trying to get it over with without too much responsibility taken.
JUNE 9, 2024
3.6 357 G.school #43 / Jesus as a child (?)
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
SETH GODIN An overlooked and powerful editing tool
Consider building a word cloud of your writing.
It might be all the text on your website, or the last 50 emails you sent. It might be your new book or the speech you’re going to give at Rice University.
It only takes a few minutes. I use wordclouds.com because it’s easy and free.
Click the ‘word list’ menu and ‘extract words from text’. Paste in your text (it can handle an entire book) and it will generate a word cloud. Here’s Kennedy’s speech on the mission to space:
At a glance, you’ll discover the essence of your tone, whether you have some stop words to be edited out (I use “just” too much) and what your audience is going to experience as the work unfolds.
It can be particularly useful for less formal interactions, like email.
JUNE 8, 2024
3.5 363 "Show me the money"?
Luke 17:21 … behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
SETH GODIN Perfect pavement
Paving the ground might be an option.
Pavement is invisible to the driver. It’s expected, smooth, resilient and gets out of the way. You only notice a road when it’s not paved well.
Nature, on the other hand, is never perfect. All untouched forests are natural, yet each is different. That’s the point.
Hardness can be perfect. You can measure it. Softness, on the other hand, is multi-dimensional.
There are moments in our engagements with customers or clients where we want the steps to be paved. A simple route from here to there. If you’re going to pave something, make sure it’s perfect.
But the rest of the time, the texture and variability of what we create is part of the magic.
JUNE 7, 2024
3.4 360 the magical science of storytelling?
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Let’s pray…
Jesus said, “Repent and believe the good news! The kingdom of God is in your midst”, “it is within you”,
Let’s nurture and share that presence;
Seeking the power and audacity to imagine better versions of ourselves and our community:
People who love God with all our Hearts, and minds, and souls;
People who love one another as Jesus loves us; and
People who love ourselves with no conditions.
Let’s cultivate the wisdom and courage to aid those people living on the margins of society,
in inhumane life conditions; may they not be overlooked by institutions and never considered of lesser importance.
Amen.
3.3 353 People don't buy what you do?
John 14:27. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
SETH GODIN What does the world owe us?
This question is a trap. It’s based on scarcity and entitlement, and most of all, the world isn’t listening. When more and more people focus on this question, it simply pushes us apart.
On the other hand, “what do I owe the world?” opens the door for endless opportunity. When lots of people ask this question, the contributions add up, the connections are solidified and better is possible.
The best part is that waiting for the world to get things just right is exhausting and frustrating, while taking responsibility for what we might be able to contribute or lead can be energizing and fun.
JUNE 5, 2024
3.1 346 Tribal leadership
Luke 17:21 … behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
SETH GODIN “Not your best ever”
In order to have a best ever, hearing this is part of the deal.
Each thing is not going to top everything that came before it. Progress is rarely smooth.
JUNE 3, 2024
2.2 340 G.school #42 / WYTAYBA
John 4:24 God is spirit…
SETH GODIN Are you pitching or are you asking?
There are two easy ways to tell:
First, if you have a script or a highlighted goal in mind, you’re pitching. You’re simply asking questions to create connection, tension or forward motion.
Second, if you’re willing to learn and change your point of view as a result of the conversation, you’re asking. That’s rare.
People can tell.
JUNE 2, 2024
2.5 359 The placebo effect
John 7:37-39 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’
SETH GODIN The third impossibility
The first was radio and television. Humans around the world spending a significant portion of their waking hours consuming audio and video recordings of other people.
The second was the internet. Five to ten hours a day interacting, in real time, with other people, many of them strangers.
And the third is AI. We’re about to spend almost all of our time interacting with software that appears to have an understanding of us and the world around us. All the time, in real time.
MAY 31, 2024
2.4 356 How dangerous is stress?
John 14:27. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
SETH GODIN Assume goodwill
There’s often doubt.
Giving someone the benefit of that doubt enables us to move forward, and that requires us to realize that our doubt might be unfounded.
Systems that assume goodwill create possibility, connection and utility far easier than those that don’t. Being invited to find a place in those systems is a privilege worth earning.
MAY 30, 2024
2.3 353 it's hard 95% of the time
Galatians 6:9 Don't give up
SETH GODIN Incrementally better
Massive leaps in utility and quality are extraordinary events. Going from ver 2.0 to 3.0 is a step change.
But that is almost never what improvement looks like.
Instead, the persistent commitment to slightly better on a regular schedule inexorably makes a difference over time.
MAY 29, 2024
2.2 362 Neurotransmitters anyone?
John 14:27. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
The Cookie Thief
by Valerie Cox
A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. . .grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”
With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!
She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.
If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.