Cold reading (Seth Godin)

Cold reading (Seth Godin)

Psychics, advertisers and coaches work hard to create interactions that feel direct. They'd like you to think that their work is about you, (lots of people thought that the song was actually about them) that they know what you're thinking and what you want.
The tsunami of data available online makes this easier than ever. It's not hard to buy data, not only about your demographics, but about how you spend your time on the web.
Which means that it seems as though that site or this ad is just for you. What could be better?
The important distinction is this: the content might be for you, but it's not necessarily about you. Take what you need, but ignore the rest.

Bigger vs. better (Seth Godin)

Bigger vs. better

It's not always one or the other, but sometimes the trade-off is unavoidable. It's clear that more is not always compatible with our other goals.
Like most choices, this one usually works better if you make it on purpose.

Soft and Hard (by Seth Godin)

Soft and hard

The hard stuff is measurable, quantifiable and easy to put into a spreadsheet. This concrete stuff gives you an easy way to demand a bonus or track progress.

The soft stuff is merely essential, the real reason you do what you do.

Ironically, then, hard is easy and soft is difficult.

The question, I guess, is whether or not you and your team spend most of your time on the hard stuff, merely because it's easier to measure, to argue about and to hide behind?

Anticipation vs. anxiety (Seth Godin)

Anticipation vs. anxiety

If we define anxiety as experiencing failure in advance, we can also understand its antonym, anticipation.
When you work with anticipation, you will highlight the highs. You'll double down on the things that will delight and push yourself even harder to be bold and to create your version of art. If this is going to work, might as well build something that's going to be truly worth building.
If you work with anxiety, on the other hand, you'll be covering the possible lost bets, you'll be insuring against disaster and most of all, building deniability into everything you do. When you work under the cloud of anxiety, the best strategy is to play it safe, because if (when!) it fails, you'll be blameless.
Not only is it more fun to work with anticipation, it's often a self-fulfilling point of view.

(Com as devidas diferenças, é como andar de moto. Aqui temos como que um giroscópio que funciona a 360º. Ao mesmo tempo, antecipamos o que os carros vão fazendo. Claro que aselhices  nossas ou de terceiros...podem não ser previsíveis)
 

 

Four questions worth answering (by Seth Godin)

Four questions worth answering (by Seth Godin)

Who is your next customer? (Conceptually, not specifically. Describe his outlook, his tribe, his hopes and dreams and needs and wants...)

What is the story he told himself (about the world, about his situation, about his perceptions) before he met you?

How do you encounter him in a way that he trusts the story you tell him about what you have to offer?

What change are you trying to make in him, his life, or his story?

Start with this before you spend time on tactics, technology or scalability.

This is the best I can do" vs. "It's not good enough."

"This is the best I can do" vs. "It's not good enough." (which problem do you have)

Both are symptoms of a huge problem that doesn't even have a name.
Entire industries lull themselves into believing that what they make and how they make it is good enough--until someone comes along and turns the market on its head by proving them wrong.
At the same time, countless projects go unlaunched, improvements hidden, thoughts unstated--because the person behind the idea is hiding behind the false understanding that their work isn't good enough yet.
Which problem do you have?

You can't argue with success (by Seth Godin)

You can't argue with success...

Of course you can. What else are you going to argue with? Failure can't argue with you, because it knows that it didn't work.
The art of staying successful is in being open to having the argument. Great organizations fail precisely because they refuse to do this.

The best way to get unstuck (by Seth Godin)

The best way to get unstuck (by Seth Godin)

Don't wait for the right answer and the golden path to present themselves.

This is precisely why you're stuck. Starting without seeing the end is difficult, so we often wait until we see the end, scanning relentlessly for the right way, the best way and the perfect way.

The way to get unstuck is to start down the wrong path, right now.

Step by step, page by page, interaction by interaction. As you start moving, you can't help but improve, can't help but incrementally find yourself getting back toward your north star.

You might not end up with perfect, but it's significantly more valuable than being stuck.

Don't just start. Continue. Ship. Repeat.

A Bias for trust ( Seth Godin)

A bias for trust

Two very simple truths:
a. Don't waste your time initiating relationships that aren't going to thrive and benefit both sides.
b. Productive connection requires mutual trust. You can't empathize with someone you don't trust.

If you enter an engagement filled with wariness, alert for the scam, the inauthentic and the selfish, you'll poison the relationship before it even starts. Those you deal with won't be challenged to rise to your expectations of excitement and goodwill. Instead, they'll struggle in the face of your skepticism.

Instead of seeking and amplifying the sharp edges, consider focusing on the dignity and goodwill of the people you're working with.

Sure, there are people out there who will disappoint you. But expecting to be ripped off poisons all your interactions instead of saving you from a few dead ends.

An open mind and an open heart usually lead to precisely that in those that you are about to deal with.
Perhaps we should give people a chance to live up to our trust instead of looking for the gotcha.

Association (by Seth Godin)

Association (by Seth Godin)

Who you hang out with determines what you dream about and what you collide with.
And the collisions and the dreams lead to your changes.
And the changes are what you become.
Change the outcome by changing your circle.

The simple power of one a day (by Seth Godin)

The simple power of one a day



There are at least 200 working days a year. If you commit to doing a simple marketing item just once each day, at the end of the year you've built a mountain. Here are some things you might try (don't do them all, just one of these once a day would change things for you):

•Send a handwritten and personal thank you note to a customer
•Write a blog post about how someone is using your product or service
•Research and post a short article about how something in your industry works
•Introduce one colleague to another in a significant way that benefits both of them
•Read the first three chapters of a business or other how-to book
•Record a video that teaches your customers how to do something
•Teach at least one of your employees a new skill
•Go for a ten minute walk and come back with at least five written ideas on how to improve what you offer the world
•Change something on your website and record how it changes interactions
•Help a non-profit in a signficant way (make a fundraising call, do outreach)
•Write or substiantially edit a Wikipedia article
•Find out something you didn't know about one of your employees or customers or co-workers

Enough molehills is all you need to have a mountain.

The people who came before you (by Seth Godin)

The people who came before you



Maybe I'm not listening to your pitch because the 100 people who came before you abused my trust, stole my time and disrespected my attention.

Perhaps I'm not buying from you because the last time someone like you earned my trust, he broke my heart.

People are never irrational. They often act on memories and pressures that you're unaware of, though.

Why ask why? (by Seth Godin)

Why ask why? (by Seth Godin)

 

"Why?" is the most important question, not asked nearly enough.

Seth Godin ( not me)

Hint: "Because I said so," is not a valid answer.

• Why does it work this way?
• Why is that our goal?
• Why did you say no?
• Why are we treating people differently?
• Why is this our policy?
• Why don't we enter this market?
• Why did you change your mind?
• Why are we having this meeting?
• Why not?

Entre outros que deviam ler este texto, lembro-me dos J´s dos partidos políticos.
Among others that should read this text, I remember the J's from political parties.