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)I have been a reader of Seth's daily blog posts for a few years now and at one point, before I had a coach of my own, he was an invaluable ally to have. Even though he has challenged me and poked me and pushed me and kind of ridiculed sometimes, his voice has subsequently guided me through my career transition and inevitable occasional self-doubt.
I have a lot of favourite quotes. There is this elegance in the simplicity of his words and metaphors that speaks to me. Some of his posts have penetrated to the very core of who I am. Many of them are printed, pinned on my vision board, included in my journal notes, and the drafts of my future blog posts – they are everywhere really.
He is a Coach
Seth’s versatility is amazing - for marketers he might be an expert in the art of marketing, for writers: in writing and publishing, for others he might be a talented entrepreneur, but for me he is predominantly an expert in the Art of Coaching. Even though I did not have a professional coaching relationship with Seth, I can testify that not only does he help in creating a personal shift by asking uncomfortable questions (much like I do today with my clients); but he also talks about the importance of being indispensible
, which is helpful in understanding the bigger picture of work and how one can fit in. To me, it is a path to discovering one’s professional identity, or in other words: the personal brand.
, which is helpful in understanding the bigger picture of work and how one can fit in. To me, it is a path to discovering one’s professional identity, or in other words: the personal brand. He is an Artist
Seth is a closer. He does not speak for the sake of expressing himself. He makes it clear that shipping is a crucial part of every creative process, no matter what one does professionally, and without this essential component one is not really an artist. And there is no question that Seth is an Artist.
He pushes his readers to be fellow artists as well, and to do work that matters. On top of all that, Seth has paved the way for us to understand how to effectively communicate our newly defined personal brand: he explained the concept of permission marketing
, he taught us why and how to build the tribes
and pointed out how to engage them through storytelling
. He is also a living example of breaking the rules and pushing the boundaries. In essence, the man walks the talk.
, he taught us why and how to build the tribes and pointed out how to engage them through storytelling. He is also a living example of breaking the rules and pushing the boundaries. In essence, the man walks the talk.He ships great content too
Seth has done all that and more, as he has written 13 books to date and continues to ship great content. I have probably overlooked half of his contributions, but this is what I have taken from him to date and what I value dearly. So it is only fitting to say that Seth has been my professional coach way before I made the decision to be one myself. And for that I am very grateful.
I could not have imagined a better Coach. You see, for me much of my traditional co-active coaching training would be incomplete without his big picture thinking; it would be missing a context and would leave me behind the fast paced trends of the world of work.
I encourage you to listen to the interview with Seth produced by his Canadian counterpart, Mitch Joel as well as to read three separate interviews with him on Tom Peters website (#1, #2, #3). Seth is poking the box
nowadays and continues to inspire his tribe.
nowadays and continues to inspire his tribe. |
| ELLE DECOR |
Thanks for this post...really liked two aspects of it. The first is the idea of inspiration, which you talk about explicitly in your opening quote, but also implicitly in your description of how you use Godin's quotes. It's a great reminder that, no matter how committed to a vision or dream we might be, it always helps to have sources of inspiration that fire us up each day. Why should we expect all our passion to be internally generated? We're social creatures, used to taking cues from our environment, so we should create environments that help us achieve our goals.
ReplyDeleteThe second idea I really liked is that you have to "ship" to be an artist. It's a simple notion, but there's a lot in it, because it's not only about finishing something, it's about exposing oneself through the work. That's hard. But we have to do that to get feedback and to grow, and the work needs to live beyond us if we're going to have any impact.
Thanks for these great ideas...I'm going to check out Seth Godin's daily blogs.