📰 Seth Godin's Blog

Every day, about 16,000,000 hours of tennis are played. The percentage of that devoted to tournament play approaches zero. So why is informal tennis built on a

If a machine makes a painting that no one ever sees, it might be well-crafted or match some objective form of beauty, but it’s not art. Art changes the creator

Bookkeepers do important work. But a bookkeeper is not the head of accounting. Marketers are responsible for anything the organization does that touches the mar

Real artists do all the painting themselves, not like Rembrandt Real artists use brushes, not technology like Cartier-Bresson Real writers write it out by hand,

Trick title. There are at least three kinds of “marketing” we ought to be teaching: Most organized marketing instruction is about the first or second, with some

In simple situations with obvious metrics, transparency earns trust. Voting, for example, benefits from audit trails and inspectability. But transparency can al

It’s possible you use social media to grow your business. Or to enhance your career. Or maybe it’s to find delight and joy. When you add up all the tikking, tok

If that’s not happening, it’s possible you’re not being bold enough, generous enough or creative enough. It might be teenagers, competitors or that stranger dow

To quote the great Steve Wozniak, “Actual Intelligence.” The kind we’re born with and can develop if we choose. It’s worth more now than ever before. Alas, it’s

We create a job whenever someone with the authority to hire decides the value created is greater than the wages paid. In my lifetime, we’ve invented 7 billion o

At 2:30 in the morning, the night clerk at the hotel is a great help if you’ve locked yourself out of your room. But if you want to complain about the hours of

We can search for the perfect option or settle for something better than we have right now. The search for perfect never ends, and it’s a great place to hide. W

Highlighting the non-existent negative is confusing. “Don’t be late,” isn’t as useful as, “We’re going to leave on time.” “I don’t want to be rude, but…” can ea

You’re flying over Mount Ranier and a hole opens up in the bottom of your airplane. In that moment, you think hard about what you’ve done, what you’re doing, an

Runaway selection happens when organizations compete with each other far beyond the point where it’s rational to do so. We see this in species as well–peacocks

Today, using AI is almost always a solo endeavor. From the very start, forty years ago, the internet (inter + network) has amplified the exchange of information

Pay attention to what’s in front of you. Don’t let fear contaminate your understanding of the situation. Act with commitment. Notice the gap between event and r

Multi-tasking is mostly an illusion. What we’re actually doing is slicing our focus, jumping from one thing to another and then back again. All that jumping dec

I bought a snack food the other day, and was disappointed to discover that the thing inside the container had little in common with the picture on the front. It

In terms of cost, serving a small ramekin of toasted pistachio nuts is a tiny portion of what an airline spends in transporting someone first class. In fact, it

[Off topic, but I hope it might be useful] Mindfulness can improve your life. So can stillness and spiritual grounding. This is not a post about that. Breathing

There are more available excuses now than ever before. In just two letters, “AI” is a simple, brand-new, all-purpose excuse for laying people off, averaging thi

New technology often upends the careers of experienced professionals. When the Mac offered typesetting to the masses, typographers were incensed. They had grown

Technology changes things. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. When a powerful new technology arrives, it offers us wishes. Too often, we waste them, asking it t