Seth's Blog
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Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect
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Restrictive design
Design of any kind requires empathy. If you’re making it for yourself, it’s a hobby. Everything else is for someone else. Great designers know who it’s for. And the design is for them, not for the designer. Annie Jean-Baptiste teaches us about restrictive design. This is what happens when the…
Ambiguity or clarity?
This is a choice we rarely name. Putting effort into how much ambiguity we can handle can define a career and give us a path forward in our social and cultural interactions as well. Our desire for clarity is based on safety and how we think about risk. If you know exactly what to expect, […]
Start
The cultural impresario has always had leverage. Invest time and money and put on a show. Start a cable network, a book publishing company or become a concert promoter. You’re the gatekeeper, an adjudicator of status, a person who can transform people’s lives simply by amplifying and spreading…
Reviewing the game tapes
A long time ago, football coaches realized that watching previous games was a good way to help players learn to do better. Alas, the only thing we do with “this call may be recorded…” is use it as a cudgel for unempowered shift workers. If we actually want to improve our interactions, perhaps we…
Inconvenient brands
For an upcoming blog post, I’m collecting a list of small businesses that are worth bypassing Amazon for. Holiday shopping is around the corner, and sometimes people want to put in the effort to buy something that takes more than a click. Folks like Burlap and Barrel, Gramercy Tools or Askinosie…
George Washington’s error
In his farewell address, he said, “Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course.” It’s easy to fall in love with the idea that we live in a detached and distant situation. To imagine that culture and society and events out there have no impact on the lives…
The power of sync
There’s an overlooked power tool right in front of us. Every individual and organization can use it well, but rarely does. I could write a book on this, but here’s the post instead: Synchronized work happens together, on a shared schedule, in real time. Asynchronized work (my spellchecker says this…
The emotions of voting
Futility: It might feel like it doesn’t matter.Fear: Of choosing wrong, or doing it wrong.Responsibility: It isn’t given, it’s taken. Which is why so many leave it on the table.Possibility: Showing up to have your say could change things for the better.Identity: This is what people like us do, it’s…
Trees can’t run
That changes everything. This is the spot, your spot, a spot worth protecting. Trees understand the power of the neighborhood and the value of good neighbors. Trees can’t be anonymous, and they succeed by standing tall and sticking it out. Trees do better in a forest, surrounded by other trees. And…
“Not yet”
The reason we train is to get better. Every successful product goes from version 1.0 to 2.0, eventually. Very few people still drive a Model T. It’s not perfect, not yet. But we ship the work because it’s on the way to the next step. Perfect isn’t possible. Better always is.
The Hallmark dilemma
The slogan is “when you care enough to send the very best.” But more accurately, it’s “when you don’t care enough to be on the hook.” For a low-stakes social interaction, the Hallmark card is a convenient and safe solution. Low-risk, it gets the job done. People don’t blame you for letting someone…
Cooperation (the fall book list)
Last week’s book list was a success, and I realized that it would work even better with others. Bookstores work precisely because they stack the books right next to each other. Even though each of these authors has a book out this fall, they’re not my competition. Too often, we avoid cooperation…
Explaining funny
This is one of the most famous comedy bits of all time: But why is it funny? The disconnect between experiencing it and explaining it represents one of the challenges of teaching. It’s also at the heart of leadership, marketing and culture. Design, good taste, genre, communication style–these are…
Be careful what you wish for
At a recent Q&A, a small businessperson asked how to get clients to be more alike, willing to engage in systemic work that would be easier to deliver and offer a simpler path to getting the job done. Of course, once there’s a manual, anyone can do the work, and anyone will. It might be […]
The half-life of disappointment
When things don’t turn out the way you pictured, how long does it take for you to move on? Reducing this window of disappointment unlocks the path to creativity and leadership. People who get over disappointment more quickly aren’t less excited about the project than the others. They realize that…
Is our attitude up to us?
If the stakes are high enough and the duration you need to keep it together is short enough, can you control your response? Because if we can do it then, we can learn to do it now. Acknowledging that it’s a choice is difficult, because choices come with responsibility. “I’m not a patient person,”…
Hospitality in the mirror
Danny Meyer and Will Guidara have each written fabulous books about hospitality. They missed one thing. The customers who get the most authentic and lasting hospitality are the ones who deserve it. And the ones who deserve it actually enjoy it the most. Extraordinary hospitality offers someone more…
Caveman leadership and the CDO*
We don’t have written records, but I’m imagining that groups of cavemen made decisions around the fire in largely the same way we run sophisticated organizations today. About a hundred years ago, three disciplines helped create the modern world: Scientific management used a stopwatch and the…
The relentless math of bandwagoning
It often seems that everyone is talking about what everyone is talking about. No one cares about a song or a movie or a political issue–and then they do. Then it’s everywhere. But of course, that’s precisely why. Most people feel safe when they’re engaging within the expected social norms. It’s…
The hotlist
I just built a page containing many of my books. Click on any one of them and it’ll take you to a directory of where you can get a copy. And the page then re-indexes based on which ones get the most clicks. https://hotlist.sethgodin.com Thanks for reading.
In the directory since 25 Sept 2026 · last checked 9 Nov 2026 · RSS