“Your job is to surprise and delight and to change the agenda.”
Seth Godin
I am a huge fan of Seth Godin, as many of you know by how many times his message and books are discussed on my blog. He is not only super smart, but I love how simply he presents meaningful and important business concepts which apply both to small and big business. His post earlier this week really resonated with me, then while sitting with a dear friend at dinner the other night, she brought up the exact same post he wrote, which to me was a sign I needed to blog about it and share it.
Here is Seth’s post from January 28th in case you missed it.
Beyond showing up
“You’ve probably got that part nailed. Butt in seat, smile on your face. We often run into people who understand their job to be showing up on time to do the work that’s assigned.
We’ve moved way beyond that now. Showing up and taking notes isn’t your job. Your job is to surprise and delight and to change the agenda. Your job is to escalate, reset expectations and make us delighted that you are part of the team.
Showing up is overrated. Necessary but not nearly sufficient.”
Wow. Awesome message, right? Now here is my take-away from his post, something for all of us to consider as team members and leaders.
Are You Just Showing Up?
As a team member, you have a responsibility to your leaders, teammates and customers to do more than just show up. If you have an idea, an aha or a breakthrough, it needs to be shared. If you have a way of making a service, product or system better, it needs to be shared. If you have a skill, a talent, or a way to make the customer experience better, it needs to be shared. Your job is to escalate, as Seth says.
Now, this is different than bitching and complaining. That is not the message here at all. This is about being an active participant in your world, and to help make it better.
Have You Created A Just Show Up Culture?
Now on the flip side, if you are a leader, manager or owner, have you created an environment where your team members can participate in the business and be part of delighting your customers or one that shoots down anyone who offers ideas, solutions and better or different ways of doing things? Be really honest with yourself on this one. You see, what happens when you stop listening as a leader, or brush off your teams ideas and suggestions time and time again, they naturally will become spectators, not participants. Wouldn’t you? Think about it.
What do you really want? Butts in seats that just show up ready to take notes or passionate participants wanting and needing to make a difference?
To get more daily wisdom from the awesome Seth Godin, I highly recommend subscribing to his blog.
As many of you know, I heart Seth Godin. It’s one of those professional crushes so to speak. Yes, I have many of those.
His mind, his brain, his ability to turn what may seem complex into the most simple to understand thoughts. Today is a great example of that as Seth talks about the importance of making decisions.
Seth’s Message On Making Decisions
On today’s Blog, Seth says, “You don’t run a punch press or haul iron ore. Your job is to make decisions. The thing is, the farmer who grows corn has no illusions about what his job is. He doesn’t avoid planting corn or dissemble or procrastinate about harvesting corn. And he certainly doesn’t try to get his neighbor to grow his corn for him. Make more decisions. That’s the only way to get better at it.”
Faith Without Works Is Dead
While I am a deeply spiritual person, I do not subscribe to any formal religion. But this statement, which does come from the Bible, is one of my favorites and also one of my mantras.
When I speak about passion, dreams, faith, hopes, believing in yourself, and vision boards, I also mention taking action and executing on those passions, dreams and hopes. Why? Without taking action and making decisions to execute on your ideas, they are just that, ideas, thoughts and dreams that will never materialize into anything. Thus, faith without works is dead. Think about it.
My Secret Recipe
As I wrote in a blog a while back, titled I Think I Can, I spoke about how to turn your dreams into reality. My recipe is take two cups of passion, add a cup of skills mixed with a gallon of execution, and you are well on your way to doing big things. It really is that simple. So many times we miss the last ingredient, and find ourselves no closer to our dreams, simply because we missed that last and most important step.
So my challenge to you, today and always, is to start making decisions. Take action on your ideas. Your dreams. Your hopes. Yes, make that vision board, they are awesome, but also take the time to figure out how you are going to take action on those visions. You can do it, I know you can. I have faith in you. Now get to work!
Click here to subscribe to Seth’s Blog. It’s an easy read, and one that is sure to get you thinking, growing and possibly making more decisions.
(image discovered on Starbucks Loves Pinterest board)
Simple is smart. Yet many times we feel the need to complicate things, thinking more words, more bells and more whistles somehow create more value.
Our hero marketer Seth Godin breaks it down on his blog today. Simple. To the point. Awesome.
Free coffee, next exit
That’s the most effective billboard one can imagine, particularly if it’s typeset properly and if the coffee is good.
Most billboards aren’t nearly as useful, because the wrong service is promoted, or, more likely, because someone saw all that space and worked hard to fill it up.
The same thing is true of most websites. You know so well the why’s and how’s of what you built and how terrific it is, and the thought of using just a few words when a bunch will do is frightening indeed.
No, your solution doesn’t have to be simple or obvious. But the story about what it accomplishes does.
The goal of a marketing interaction isn’t to close the sale, any more than the goal of a first date is to get married. No, the opportunity is to move forward, to earn attention and trust and curiosity and conversation.
Simple, clear and actionable.”
Seth Godin
Which areas of your marketing can you simplify? Your story, website, promotions, service menu?
So go grab your cup of creative fuel and take a fresh look at your stuff. Easy? No. Worth it? Yes.
(shared with LOVE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
Crowd Funding
“The collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money together, usually via the Internet, in order to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations.”
We heart Kickstarter. As the social and digital revolution continues to explode, there are so many great things that have come from it. Kickstarter is one of those really “great things”.
In three short years, Kickstarter has raised over $119M to fund creative peoples dreams. WOW! This is such a cool and innovative way for entrepreneurs and creative types (that’s YOU) to be able to bring their projects to life, and shows so much about the people in our world who will support a total strangers dream if they feel compelled by their message and the projects impact on our world.
Here is one of our favorites, the true passion, love of her craft and creativity in raising funds is just some of the reasons Amanda Palmer raised nearly $1.2 million (her goal was $100K) to fund her music project and passions.
Have you contributed on Kickstarter to help fund a passion?
