270 4.4 Moral Virtue (?)
John 15:12 ESV — “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Today’s worksheet
podcast
SETH GODIN How, why and hyperbole
There are three trends in copywriting that have been so overused they should now be avoided. The first two:
Headlines with “why” for articles that don’t actually explain why.
Headlines with “how” that don’t really teach you how.
Explaining why is difficult, which is where the value lies. People would like to understand things that confuse them, so they search for ‘why’ or click on it when an apparently reputable source promises the answer. Even major newspapers are discovering that this is a fine way to get attention. Alas, it’s not a promise that’s easily kept.
And ‘how’, which should be a simpler promise to honor, falls into a similar trap.
With the rise of AI and LLMs, these headlines have gone from fake promises to redundant. We can simply ask an AI for the How and the Why and we’re likely to get better insight than a content farm can offer us… so the few trusted brands that are left ought to make these promises more carefully.
The third trend is becoming more pernicious. I got an email yesterday from a founder I respect, and there was an astounding promise or claim in every third line. The YouTube videos that the email pointed to all had headlines that could have come out of a supermarket tabloid or a late night informercial ad. There was no way the reality could match the hype, and it’s a shame, because the reality was actually useful.
The pressure is real. The argument is that if you don’t follow the trend and out-hype everyone else (“you’ll never believe this secret!”) then you won’t get traffic and you’ll fail.
But the evidence clearly points in the other direction. Trust is what’s in short supply, not attention.
You can always create a short-term commotion to get a bit of attention. But you can’t possibly hype your way into being trusted.
JULY 11, 2024
268 4.3 Practical Leadership (daily drudgery)
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 Projects and the long haul
Rome was built in a day.
It wasn’t finished in a day. In fact, it’s still not finished.
But the day someone said, “this is Rome,” and announced the project, it was there.
Sometimes we get hung up on the beginning, unwilling to start Rome unless we’re sure we can finish it without incident.
Sometimes we get hung up on the finishing, starting things all the time but blinking in the face of Resistance and wandering away.
The long haul is simply your list of completed projects. A career is not a series of tasks. It’s the chance to build things.
JULY 10, 2024
272 4.2 Pure Leadership? what?
Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
SETH GODIN Sudare sette camicie
Sweating through seven shirts…
That was the definition of work when work was the same thing as physical labor.
For many of us, the physical labor is no longer the way we add value.
And it’s tempting to imagine that we simply have to show up for the coffee.
But it’s still called work.
Adding value isn’t easy. As soon as it is, everyone will do it, and our participation becomes less useful.
We need to look for the hard parts, not avoid them.
JULY 9, 2024
264 4.1 What's the incentive?
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.
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN Kazoo lessons
Knowledge and technique used to be closely guarded secrets. Admission to the guild was reserved for a few, and crafts like typesetting, plumbing and medicine were off limits to most folks.
One of the reasons for the explosion in productivity and innovation in the last century is that more tools and leverage are available to more people than ever before.
But, along the way, we began to prize tools that were convenient, easy to engage with and flat. Flat in that more experience didn’t always lead to better results. Five minutes with a kazoo sounds a lot like five hours with one.
We can find more upside when we choose to lean into something worth leaning into.
Just because it feels easy at first doesn’t mean that it’s a worthwhile career path.
JULY 8, 2024
Let’s pray…
Jesus said, "Repent, and believe in the good news!
The kingdom of God is in your midst; it is within you."
Let's fuel that presence with the power and audacity
to imagine better versions of ourselves and our communities:
To love God with all our Heart, and mind, and soul;
To love one another as Jesus loved us; and
To love ourselves with no conditions.
Let's nurture and share that presence to seek the courage
to go to the margins to join those whose burdens are more than they can bear
because, it's the only way that we'll stop throwing people away, and
remind ourselves that we belong to one another.
[We pray for 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.]
In the name of the father, son and holy Spirit,
Amen.
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN Blame your tools
Blame the clients. And blame the conditions.
But then, you’re on the hook to get better tools, find better clients and work in better conditions.
It’s not convenient, but it’s possible.
If it’s not worth the effort, we can simply accept what we’ve chosen and get back to work.
JULY 7, 2024
2.7 302 G.school #51 That's what the Pharisees said (!)
Galatians 6:9 Don't give up
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN Can you draw it on a graph?
Explain it with quadrants?
Translate it into Spanish?
It’s easy to memorize a few words that purport to explain something, but all they do is relabel it.
If you truly understand something, you can use different modalities to help someone else understand it.
The magic of a good graph is that it makes the concept itself visible.
That’s why most graphs aren’t any good. They’re made by folks who don’t actually understand the concept they’re trying to explain.
JULY 6, 2024
276 3.5 TGIF...?
Matthew 12:30 NIV — “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN The paradox of lessons
The people most likely to sign up for coaching or additional learning are the folks who are already good at their craft.
“I’m terrible at this,” can lead to, “and I don’t want to be reminded of it.” Or perhaps, “I don’t want to waste their time,” or, “I’m never going to get better.”
When it’s possible to get better, embracing mediocrity isn’t a useful strategy.
I’d rather have a surgeon who regularly attends trainings, wouldn’t you?
Read a book, find a coach, organize a group. If you’re serious about getting better, you’ll improve.
Learning creates more competence but first, it amplifies our feelings of incompetence.
JULY 5, 2024
276 3.4 Why is there suffering?
Luke 17:21 … behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
SETH GODIN Cat and mouse games
I hope that most of us would agree that driving 50 mph in a school zone where little kids cross the street is a significant safety problem. The speed limit is there for good reason, and if you selfishly and recklessly blow through the crosswalk, you ought to get a summons.
Municipalities can now hire a service that uses an automated speed camera to find the scofflaws and issue summonses directly, without the random luck of getting away with it as a factor.
But of course, cars now have computers in them, and GPS as well, so a car could easily be built so that it cut out the middleman and simply warned the driver and then issued itself a summons.
We’re inconsistent about how we interpret freedom and responsibility. The status quo gets the benefit of the doubt, simply because it’s what we’re used to.
Freedom’s fabulous, but as soon as we interact with others, it comes with responsibility.
As our communities become ever more interwoven and the surveillance of our actions becomes more complete, the cats and mice aren’t going to be nearly as relevant as to what sort of balance we all seek to strike between freedom and responsibility.
It should not be controversial for us to be responsible for the impact of what we say and what we do. Cats and mice have nothing to do with it.
JULY 4, 2024
286 3.3 What do people buy?
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.
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN Avoiding the trap questions
A trick question is designed to fool us into proposing the wrong answer (example below).
A trap question, on the other hand, stops the train completely.
A trap question demands an answer, and the answer will paralyze us and keep us from the work at hand.
“Yes, but how many followers does your brand have on Insta?” is a trap question. So is, “Are you sure you’re prepared enough for the talk you have booked next week?”
Trap questions bring out demands for perfectionism, or amplify feelings of shame. Trap questions ought to be ignored, avoided, or, if we must respond, simply say, “it’s not a priority.”
Time spent on trap questions is time you’ll never get back.
[Here’s the trick question, much easier now that you know that’s what it is. It was in the first batch of questions I created for Guts, the online game launched on Prodigy in 1989…]
Which of the following was a world boxing champion?
Lyndon Johnson
Ronald Reagan
Jimmy Carter
Franklin Delano
Abraham Lincoln
Pat Paulsen
None of the above
˙ɹǝʇɹɐƆ ʇɐɥʇ ʇou ʇsnſ ˙(Ɛ) sᴉ ɹǝʍsuɐ ǝɥ┴ ˙(ㄥ) pǝʞɔᴉd ǝldoǝd ʇsoW
JULY 3, 2024
298 3.2 Small woke minds?
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.
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN Plasticity
It’s pretty easy for some kids to switch gears. They can go from sad to ebullient in seconds, and switch contexts without much fuss. Others have more trouble.
As we get older, our natural ability to thrive in a new situation can decrease. But, like a muscle or a skill, it responds to practice.
The same is true for organizations. As the world changes faster and faster, it seems clear that organizations that prize plasticity will thrive.
JULY 2, 2024
3.1 295 What are your tribes?
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.
Toady’s worksheet
SETH GODIN The lazy jugglers
The best jugglers don’t seem to be trying very hard.
That’s because they understand what the work involves, and they don’t confuse effort with results.
Some approaches to keep in mind:
Focus on the work at hand
Don’t take on more than you can handle
Establish a spec, and ignore perfection
Throws are far more important than catches
Devote a significant amount of time to honing your craft
Consistently add incremental challenges
Frantic leads to more frantic. Let it drop and begin again.
JULY 1, 2024
2.6 298 G.school #49 Clues to Christ
1 Corinthians 6:19 RSV — Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own;
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN Meaningfully informed
Community requires individuals to have the option of speaking up. If we’re in this together, we ought to be able to chime in.
But while every member of the community can speak out, the ones that are heard also have something useful to say. Being informed is a requirement to be heard.
Sometimes, our insight can come from firsthand experience, but it’s most likely that we’ve learned about the issue and the alternatives we face.
Education is at the heart of the conversation. Organized schooling, substantial peer engagement and intelligent media consumption give us a chance to earn our opinion.
Successful communities celebrate learning.
JUNE 29, 2024
2.5 307 why do you believe what you believe?
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.
SETH GODIN “Ready” vs. “Done”
Ready means that time is up, spec is met and the user can engage.
Done might mean that you believe it’s perfect and cannot be improved.
We’ll settle for ready. In fact, meeting spec means we’re not settling. It’s just what you promised.
JUNE 28, 2024
2.4 297 What was Hercules' Choice?
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.’”
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN The Pinocchio protocol
He had a hard time lying because his nose got longer every time he did.
Gas-powered leaf blowers would disappear if the smoke they belched out was black instead of invisible.
And few people would start smoking if the deposits on their lungs ended up on their face instead.
We’re not very good at paying attention to invisible or gradual outputs.
The trick is simple: If it’s important, make it visible. If it happens over time, create a signal that brings the future into the present.
Creating vivid measurements of essential variables that others overlook is a significant competitive advantage.
JUNE 27, 2024
2.3 302 Program the RAS! What?
Galatians 6:9 Don't give up
SETH GODIN The paradox of self skepticism
If we’re to publish, teach, invent, imagine or promote, we need the confidence to believe that we have something to offer. That we are, in some way, right.
But the enterprise of rational thought is based on theories, tests and improvements. We can never be certain, all we have is the best available explanation.
So the hard work is to speak up at the very same time you’re open (in fact, eager) to change your mind based on new data.
One without the other is worthless.
JUNE 26, 2024
2.2 306 Where do feelings come from?
Mark 5:36 …don’t be afraid, just believe
Today’s worksheet
SETH GODIN Return on effort
It’s a pretty simple calculation.
How much value per dollar does a freelancer produce for you? What’s the psychic reward for the time you put into your favorite hobby? That machine that takes time and money to set up and run… what does it create when it’s operating?
Not everything can or should be evaluated on a return on effort basis, but when we’re comparing two alternatives, it’s a fine place to start.
Instead, we often find ourselves focusing on how easy it is to avoid the issue and choose to focus our effort on more of what we did yesterday, or how painful it might be to walk away from a sunk cost or asset. We think about the effort around the effort, instead of the choices we can make each day about what might be worth our focus.
JUNE 25, 2024