‘Is Your Job a Good Fit?’ with Seth Godin (Summer Series #4.1)
Seth Godin, a globally renowned social entrepreneur, has the keys to finding work that not only pays the bills, but also brings profound personal satisfaction and fulfillment. With his signature blend of wisdom and story-telling, he explains how to align your career with your passions and values, and to create opportunities that lead to your dream job.
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About Our Guest:
For over 30 years, Seth Godin’s zone of genius has sent culture in new directions, where potential was just waiting to be discovered. To put it very plainly, Seth has a knack for recognizing the places in the big picture that deserve our attention, and then offering fresh ways of thinking about those gaps and opportunities, so that leaps of progress for everyone are possible.
He is the author of over 20 bestselling books, and a blog that has been the most popular solo blog in the world at some points. It is the only blog I never miss reading, daily. (If you’re ready for a corner of your mind to be opened and flooded with light every day, Seth’s Blog is surely worth 1-2 minutes of your time.) Oh, and there are five TED talks, too.
Seth’s work covers a range of subjects—from being remarkable, to the spread of ideas, to knowing when to quit. He is famous for concepts like “Purple Cows” and “Permission Marketing,” and advice like, “Find a way to be the only one,” and “Show up as human,” and “Mostly, people are experiencing failure in advance. That’s my definition of anxiety.” He introduced the concept of “permission marketing” in the early days of the internet—recognizing and respecting the power of the consumers long before it was popular and imperative to do that.
Along the way, he’s found countless detours, interesting projects designed to inspire others and turn the lights on for us all. Seth Godin’s catchphrase is simply, “Go, make a ruckus.”
There are so many ruckuses that Seth has started—but he’s here, more specifically, to talk about how to find the job that you’re meant for.
As a champion of talent, Godin proclaims that lack of creativity in the current business climate means we should all treat our work as a form of art. A common topic he revisits throughout all his work is the importance of leadership. It’s a trait he says is central to navigating and finding opportunity.
“Your defining moment is whenever you decide it is, and you get a new chance to lead every day.”
Seth’s latest book, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams, alludes to a fork in the road for us all. He points out that it is possible, in this moment of resignation, rebirth, and reimagining work, to create working lives full of significance and relevance, and cultures of trust.
Seth shares his perspectives on questions like:
- What would happen if this became the best job you ever had?
- What would today be like if you could honestly describe your job that way?
- What if all your co-workers felt the same way?
- What if we built an organization people would genuinely miss if it were gone?
Godin has a degree in computer science and philosophy from Tufts University, and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He runs the altMBA, a global business-thinking workshop, and founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne. In 2013, Godin was one of just three professionals inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, and in May 2018 he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame too.
Seth has an amazing podcast called Akimbo. It’s about our culture and about how we can change it; about seeing what’s happening and choosing to do something.
That word ‘akimbo’ means ‘a strong bend,’ and that very succinctly describes Seth’s fresh perspectives on almost all problems and solutions. Akimbo is an ancient word, used to describe the bend in a river, or the bend in an archer’s bow. It’s become a symbol for strength, a posture of possibility—the idea that when we stand tall, arms bent, looking right at whatever we’re facing, we can make a difference.
This is an interview that will make you feel your own significance.
References Mentioned:
- Seth Godin’s Website
- Book: The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams by Seth Godin
- The altMBA
Chapters:
- 00:00 – Intro & Welcome
- 03:27 – What Makes the Best Job Ever?
- 07:55 – Why We Need Significance
- 09:06 – Break
- 11:24 – Humans Are Not Resources
- 14:51 – Management Is Not Leadership
- 19:29 – Diversity & Collaboration in the Workplace
- 23:57 – The Conspiracy of Goodness
- 26:05 – Criticize the Work, Not the Worker
- 29:15 – Do the Work
- 32:08 – “Page 19 Thinking”
- 33:45 – Closing
