Project Idealism
On Thursday I went to the best business session I've ever been to. Seth Godin presented for about an hour and then followed it up with roughly six hours of question and answer with the group of about 75 business owners, marketers, and others navigating through the challenges associated with running a business.
There was fantastic information, insight and advice. Seth talked about being remarkable, and that doing so requires the willingness to fail. He talked about focusing obsessively on a nitch, and being the best at it. He talked about how you need to be prepared for the people that will criticize you for being remarkable. That taking a stand, having opinions, and being noteworthy will win you fans, but it will also earn you some detractors. And that this is okay.
There were so many themes for the day that it may not even be appropriate to try and sum it up in one statement. I'll try anyway though by saying that the collective message I took away was that in order to win, you must be willing to lose.
The Yankees could have opted to not try and win the World Series. That would have been ridiculous though right? They were willing to lose for the glory you get when you win.
When we're sitting out, not taking the action that we know we need to take; it's not that we're losing, we're forfeiting. We're not even playing. We took our ball and went home. Isn't that terrible?
Duarlander may not be as big of a hit as I think it can be. GoFind! may never become the next must-have application. The new things I'll be doing with Ideal Project Group may not win over everyone. But I will not forfeit.
I'm trying to win; and I'm willing to risk losing in order to do so.
There was fantastic information, insight and advice. Seth talked about being remarkable, and that doing so requires the willingness to fail. He talked about focusing obsessively on a nitch, and being the best at it. He talked about how you need to be prepared for the people that will criticize you for being remarkable. That taking a stand, having opinions, and being noteworthy will win you fans, but it will also earn you some detractors. And that this is okay.
There were so many themes for the day that it may not even be appropriate to try and sum it up in one statement. I'll try anyway though by saying that the collective message I took away was that in order to win, you must be willing to lose.
The Yankees could have opted to not try and win the World Series. That would have been ridiculous though right? They were willing to lose for the glory you get when you win.
When we're sitting out, not taking the action that we know we need to take; it's not that we're losing, we're forfeiting. We're not even playing. We took our ball and went home. Isn't that terrible?
Duarlander may not be as big of a hit as I think it can be. GoFind! may never become the next must-have application. The new things I'll be doing with Ideal Project Group may not win over everyone. But I will not forfeit.
I'm trying to win; and I'm willing to risk losing in order to do so.