1.1 273 No VUM (!) (?)
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.
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SETH GODIN Speed, creativity and AI
A little faster is a market advantage.
A step change in speed changes the market entirely.
Fedex was faster mail. It allowed them to grow and profit.
Email, on the other hand, completely changed communication.
In the discussions of AI, most people are failing to consider the step change in speed. A logo made in Kittl might not be as magical as one made by Milton Glaser, but it can be created 1,000 times faster. That means that the number of polished graphics being created will grow exponentially.
When an AI can give you a pretty good diagnosis in real time, it changes the way you deal with the medical system.
Just as email isn’t as humane or thoughtful or memorable as a hand-written letter, these faster alternatives aren’t better… they’re simply different. And, as the market often does, it prizes convenience and speed.
And so, good, fast and inexpensive is now possible.
This opens the door to two opportunities:
We can start building real-time insight into more and more components of our daily life.
We can start doing human-constructed creative work that’s worth waiting for. Great, not good.
Once again, it’s the mediocre middle that’s going to be devalued.
December 2, 2024
4.7 274 G.school #94 A 4-legged table
Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
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SETH GODIN Thinking about jobs
Since I was born, the planet has invented 6 billion jobs.
Technology is said to threaten the replacement of human labor, yet, somehow we’ve found useful activities for a rapidly growing population.
Coordinated without a coordinator, people go to work each day, often doing something that’s only vaguely related to their own sustenance. We show up and create value for strangers we might never meet. And somehow, all that effort comes together in just the right way. And then we do it all again tomorrow.
And, once someone achieves success and probably doesn’t have to do a job to feed their family, they not only show up to work some more, they often put in even more time and emotional energy than we’d expect.
It’s a system, a largely invisible one. Sometimes, we notice it when it creates inequities, unwelcome side effects and dead ends. But we often fail to notice that it has rebuilt our culture from the ground up, redefining how we spend our days and where we might find meaning.
We shouldn’t take it for granted, not if we want to make it better.
December 1, 2024
4.6 281 G.school #93 The still small voice within
1 John 2:15-17 NIV — Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
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SETH GODIN Books and more, winter 2024
They’re a gift that lasts forever, because your friend will remember what they learned and how they felt… and they can keep it on their bookshelf or hard drive as a reminder in case they forget…
Amazon chose This is Strategy for a Kindle deal today. It’s only $4.
Also, the Strategy Deck continues to surprise people with its elegant effectiveness. And it fits in your pocket.
Hank Green has written a two-book series about social media, alien intelligence and peer dynamics. I listened to the second book without realizing it was a sequel, and that’s the way I recommend you try it out. The audio is brilliantly performed, by the way.
Helen Philips delivers a near-future AI novel that will give you a new way way to think about what we’re building and who we are becoming.
Cathy Heller‘s new book is out in a week or so, and like Cathy, it’s honest, moving and generous.
David Meerman Scott continually raises the bar for what marketing and PR involve today.
Luvvie Ajayi Jones has written a breakthrough book about dancing with imposter syndrome that’s also vulnerable and funny.
Lulu is a Rhinoceros is a new modern classic for kids.
What Technology Wants is more prescient now than it was a decade ago. A must read.
The Curse of Pietro Houdini is lyrical, gripping and memorable. The audiobook is particularly good.
The Coaching Habit is a modern classic.
George Dyson’s book Analogia has been on this list before, but it’s worth repeating. The same goes for The Gift by Lewis Hyde and the Bandwidth series by Eliot Peper.
And, just for the next two days, the audiobook of This is Strategy is half price if you use code NOVEMBER.
November 30, 2024
4.4 296 An Attitude of Gratitude (!) (?)
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV — But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
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SETH GODIN “Thank you” is a complete sentence
It’s a way to offer connection or acknowledgment.
It’s a recognition of feedback and the time it took someone to consider us.
We can use it after we share something important, or someone shares with us.
More than the end of an exchange, it can be the beginning of a relationship.
“Thank you” helps someone feel seen and understood.
It reminds us that we’re not alone.
Most of all, it’s a chance to be kind.
November 28, 2024
4.3 300 the spectrum of Leadership (?)
Galatians 2:20—“It is Christ who lives in me” “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.”
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SETH GODIN The long walk
Before buying a house, it makes sense to spend a day on foot, walking around the neighborhood. You’ll notice things you might have missed in a car.
Before starting a business, spend a few shifts working the cash register at a similar establishment.
And before going into marketing, go make some sales.
In the USA, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Once again, the free Thanksgiving Reader is available for you to print and share and make a part of your family gathering. Here’s to connection, hope and possibility.
November 27, 2024
4.2 307 Moral virtue is enough (!)(?)
James 2:15-17 ESV — If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
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SETH GODIN Understanding pricing
The money we exchange for a service or item isn’t based on how much it cost to make, how hard it was to produce or how much the producer likes it.
That’s hard to hear, because when we make something, we spend most of our time thinking about those very things.
Price is based on the purchaser’s worldview and situation, not the producer’s. The price paid will always be less than the value it creates for the purchaser. And the price is never more than the amount the purchaser can exchange.
If the price tag asks for more than that, no purchase happens.
A painting that cost $4 to produce in 1880 might sell for $40,000,000. That’s because the buyer believes they gain more than that amount in status, satisfaction or future asset value. If they didn’t feel that way, they wouldn’t buy it.
A donation to a worthy cause doesn’t happen because the cause needs the money. It happens because the donor believes the story they’ll tell themselves about the donation is worth more than what the donation costs.
And a life-saving medicine that costs $4,000 won’t be purchased by someone who doesn’t have the resources to exchange for it.
This is one reason why it’s so profitable to sell luxury goods to billionaires who seek status. They regularly over-invest in their quest for standing, valuing it more highly than most people would, and they have the resources to spend on it. It doesn’t matter that the banana and duct tape artwork was cheap to produce or easy to replicate.
At the other end of this spectrum is a trained artisan, or a vendor at a craft fair. They show up, do the work and care a lot about what they’ve produced. But if the shopper doesn’t internalize a story about the product, or doesn’t have the resources to allocate, the sale won’t happen.
There are two valuable lessons here:
The empathy we bring to imagining what our customers need, want and dream of is always part of our work.
Mastery of a craft does not guarantee its commercial viability.
November 26, 2024
4.1 307 "Needs then wants" (!)(?)
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.
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SETH GODIN Is there a market(place)?
Not all needs have a market (yet).
A market is a category. A market is a place with competition. In a market, people have habits and budgets and social pressure to engage. There are buyers and sellers.
In many cultures, there’s a market for all the items that go with a quinceanera, a birthday party for a 15-year-old girl. While girls in other cultures might want or need the sort of attention that comes with this extravaganza, there’s no existing market for it.
It’s tempting to be a market pioneer, to be the one who shows up with the first charge card, the first personal training firm or the first home computer. But it’s a challenging road.
It can be thrilling work, but because creators focus on needs not markets, they often fail to account for just how difficult it is to activate those needs and turn them into a thriving market.
If you’re in market-creation mode, it helps to call it that and be prepared for how difficult it might be.
November 25, 2024
3.7 301 G.school #92 What if? (pt 2)
John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
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SETH GODIN Comfortable with the fuzziness
Atmospheric conditions on Earth limit visibility on a perfect day to less than 200 miles.
Time works the same way.
When we’re doing the same thing, in the same way, our perception of what will happen next can feel crystal clear.
Plant some apple seeds in your backyard, and you’re pretty sure you’ll have an apple tree in a decade (not an oak or maple) but it’s hard to be sure exactly what it’s going to look like.
The most useful work we create causes a change to happen. And the more profound the change, the less predictable it is.
If you need perfect visibility into the future, you’re limiting the impact and power of your work.
November 24, 2024
3.6 309 G.school #91 What if?
John 14:21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
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SETH GODIN Toward better
In our work to make things better, it’s easy to overlook two things:
Improvements, connection and possibility rarely come down in a lightning bolt from Mt. Olympus. Instead, they’re the product of the grass roots, of small groups of people finding opportunities and keeping promises.
Better happens incrementally. The first steps aren’t dramatic, and in fact, might even be less effective than what came before. But small steps repeated again and again transform our culture when no one is looking.
The best way to make things better is to begin. Create the conditions for others to join you. Persist.
November 23, 2024
3.5 328 Is this necessary? (!)
John 14:21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
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SETH GODIN Further vs. faster
Sprints and marathons are both foot races, but they have very little in common. The training is different, and so is the technique.
Which one are you signing up for? What about the thing you sell?
Are we trying to get there faster, or do we promise to go further?
November 22, 2024
3.4 340 Add more chips (?)(!)
John 14:20 you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
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SETH GODIN Compared to what?
Emotions are often tied to events and events feel absolute.
But events are rarely absolute. They’re almost always relative.
How does this compare to what I was expecting?
How does it compare to what others like me are experiencing?
How does it compare to yesterday?
When we change the comparison, the event itself is changed as well.
It’s often difficult to find the relative, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
November 21, 2024
3.3 346 Loosen up. Relax. (?)(!)
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep[a] my commandments.
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SETH GODIN Bongo is here
And you can be the first on your block to play it. It’s free. Click here to see today’s game.
Over the next week, I’m going to do a few bonus posts to explain how we thought about the creation and game design and marketing of this new project. The last eighteen months of development have been delightful, and I hope you get a chance to try it out.
For today, a little history:
My first game design was on a mainframe in 1977. My first commercial games were at Spinnaker in 1983, working with personal heroes like Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke and a brilliant team of game designers and engineers.
In 1989, I developed GUTS for Prodigy and Robert Gehorsam. It had millions of players, making it the most popular online game of its time. And in the 1990s, Yoyodyne used games to make email marketing work.
Bongo, I have no doubt, is the most fun of all the games I’ve been a part of. Zach, Jack, Orta and the team at Puzzmo are the world’s best puzzle collaborators and we’re thrilled to share this with you now.
More on this as we go, but for now, the simple rules of Bongo:
There is a new puzzle every day
You need to find five horizontal words given the letters in the tray. When you begin, multiples of a letter are stacked in the tray, and you don’t have to use all of them.
Words can be three, four or five letters in length. Common words are given bonus points once played.
The points on the letter are multiplied in squares with a 2x or 3x.
The pastel asterisk is a blank and you can make it any letter you choose.
And the vertical grey snake is a bonus word, it reads from top to bottom.
The SHARE button makes it easy to copy your best word to your social media account so friends can join in.
It’s easier to play than it is to explain, give it a try.
Here’s a video if you want to watch me doing my best to solve a Bongo (some people are way better at this than I am…)
Next time: Thoughts on media, systems and business models…
November 20, 2024
3.2 372 What are you afraid of? (!)
ohn 10:30 “I and the Father are one”
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SETH GODIN “I changed my mind”
Who is “I” and how does that “I” have the power to change the mind in question?
What actually happens is this:
A person cares enough to have experiences
Those experiences change the way that person sees the world
After that, the “I” takes credit for it
If you are brave enough to have your mind changed, experience can do that. But it’s rarely as conscious an intentional act as we give ourselves credit for.
November 19, 2024
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.’”
2.7 370 G.school #90 God's plan for you (?) (!)
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
SETH GODIN How to buy a lottery ticket
There are lots of cultural lotteries around us. The next pop song, the book that everyone is talking about, the blog post or video that goes viral… it even applies to who gets into a famous college or is selected by the AI screening for a good job.
The usual advice is: Fit in. Copy what came before. Use the fonts, the rhythms and the code words of previous lottery winners. Helpful guides will share the instructions for exactly how long your viral video should be, how it should sound and when you should post it. This goes beyond the cues of genre–it’s the desire to fit in all the way. Culture is partly built on this adherence to what won the lottery last time.
The thing is, though, that all useful bestsellers are surprise bestsellers. They have titles like To Kill a Mockingbird or The Celestine Prophecy (which make no sense until you read the book) or reviews like those the Great Gatsby got at first, or are biographies of people no one cared about (like The Power Broker). It’s movies like 2001 or Memento. Or perhaps a singer like Rickie Lee Jones or Tones & I. It’s the business card that doesn’t fit into a Rolodex (because it doesn’t belong in a Rolodex.)
Someone is going to win the lottery, but with so many people buying tickets, it’s probably not going to be you.
Perhaps the best strategy for lottery tickets is not to buy one.
Your odds go up when you do useful and remarkable work for people who care.
November 17, 2024
2.6 375 G.school #89 pan or panen (?) (you choose) (!)
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
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SETH GODIN Sincerity is expected
Well, not always. That’s why it’s so important.
We don’t expect an actor to tell the truth. That’s their job.
Musicians and other performers are playing a role.
And social niceties encourage us to put on a smile and share appreciation, even in situations where it might not be fully honest.
On the other hand, organizations like the SEC insist that a CEO actually say true things. “Just kidding” is hard to rely on when making investment decisions. And we expect that the medical and judicial systems we depend on are built on inspectable, consistent truth-telling.
Social media has rewarded people for bringing a post-reality mindset to places where sincerity is expected. In other words, it’s profitable to lie. Inconsistently, often, and with brazen disregard for the consequences. And it feels wrong for important reasons.
Altering the venues where it’s expected that truth will be told is tempting to do and hard to live with.
November 16, 2024