I first learned of Seth Godin through his blog. At the time, several years ago now, he wrote a lot about permission marketing. In his own words, "Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. It recognizes the new power of the best consumers to ignore marketing. It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention."
His words resonated with me — still do. They create a vision of how companies should establish trusting relationships with customers, earning their loyalty. My personal experience of that was when Keysight Technologies was HP and I had not yet abandoned the technical ladder for the dark side. Periodically, HP would come through town offering a daylong technical seminar, including lunch, at a local hotel. A team of HP engineers would present tutorials on a range of measurement topics. Their motivation was to sell more HP test equipment, of course, yet company management recognized that HP's success depends on their customers designing products that succeed in the market, which requires accurate measurements.
Seth Godin subsequently started writing about personal empowerment, exploring the idea that the Internet enables societies to democratize. His writing suggests a frustration that we don't exercise the freedom we have. "What to Do When It's Your Turn (and it's always your turn)" is his latest book addressing this theme. He writes "Your turn to: Ship. Speak up. Stand out. Build a following. Market a product. Make a connection. Solve an interesting problem. Write, sing, invent, create, ask a question, launch a product, organize a protest, open the door for someone, question authority, make a short film, direct, produce, create, or adopt. Learn a new skill. Help someone who needs you. Be missed if you're gone. Your turn to make a ruckus."
Seth Godin recognizes that we often fail to exercise our freedom because we know it comes with responsibility and the real possibility of failure. He argues that risking failure will lead us to our human potential.
As with virtually all of Seth Godin's writing, I find his ideas in "What To Do When It's Your Turn" thought provoking and compelling. The book is artfully designed and written to be consumed in short reads. In just one or two pages, he creatively constructs an idea worth mulling over. His ideas are best savored, not speed read. Godin also designed the book to share. If you order one, you'll get two. Order three, he ships you five. Keep one for yourself and give the others away.
There are few books I've read that I have found potentially transformative. This is one.
To order this book, contact:
www.yourturn.link
160 pages, paperback
Buy one, get two for $34
ISBN: 978-1936719327