Seth Godin Quotes

We've greatly exaggerated the risk of sinking, without celebrating the value of swimming.

Art is the act of navigating without a map.

The purpose of an elevator pitch is to describe a situation or solution so compelling that the person you're with wants to hear more even after the elevator ride is over.

The essence of marketing today is to tell a story to people who want to hear it, in a way that resonates with them so they are likely to either respond or connect to you, or tell their friends.

We are too focused on avoiding criticism and not enough on making a difference.

Every voice doesn't matter--only the voices that move your idea forward, that make it better, that make you better, that make it more likely you will ship work that benefits your tribe.

You market when you hire and when you fire. You market when you call tech support, and you market every time you send a memo.

Human beings, thanks to culture and genetics, are inclined to be pessimistic, fearful, skeptical and believers in conspiracy theories. We also don't like change.

The real power of tribes has nothing to do with the Internet and everything to do with people.

What evidence would you need to see to change your mind about this?

Art is when we do work that matters in a creative way, in a way that touches (people) and changes them for the better.

Be personal. Be relevant. Be specific.

Art is what we're doing when we do our best work.

In a digital world, the gift I give you almost always benefits me more than it costs.

Authenticy in marketing is telling a story people want to hear.

Marketing begins before the product is launched.

Go for the edges. Challenge yourself and your team to describe what those edges are, and then test which edge is most likely to deliver the marketing results you seek.

Marketing used to be what you say Now, marketing is what you do. What you make. How you act. The choices you make when you are sure no one is looking.

By all means, fire the customers who aren't worth the time and the trouble. But understand that the moment you insist the customer is wrong, you've just started the firing process.

Excellence isn't about meeting the spec, it's about setting the spec.

Laptop computers dramatically increased the time people spend doing work. (The internet dramatically decreased it, so we're even).

Marketers want to get their messages in front of you. They must get their messages in front of you, just to survive. The only problem is-do you really want more marketing messages?

The way to get unstuck is to start down the wrong path, right now.

Every activity worth doing has a learning curve.

Real content marketing isn’t repurposed advertising, it is making something worth talking about.

Most people don't see that they have options beyond what society tells them to do. That's the biggest problem. They honestly believe that compliance is the shortcut to success.

New fashions (of all sorts) come from unexpected places, not from the arbiters of what's correct.

At the age of four, you were an artist. And at seven, you were a poet.

Every single important thing we do is something we didn't use to be good at, and in fact, might be something we used to fear.

We have little choice but to move beyond quality and seek remarkable, connected, and new. Remarkable, as you've already figured out, demands initiative.

believe that giving up is the same thing as being realistic.

The job is not your work; what you do with your heart and soul is the work.

The instinct to produce great work doesn't require a fancy notebook.

If you can raise money, you're never going to have trouble getting a job.

Teaching young people to sell is a priceless gift.

'Teamwork' is the word that bosses use when they actually mean 'Do what I say'

As creators, our pursuit of perfection might be misguided, particularly if it comes at the expense of the things that matter.

When you put your ideas in the world, then, and only then, do you know if they're real.

You can be right or you can have empathy. You can't do both.

What I learned: Shun nonbelievers. Ignore critics. Do your best for people who want to dance with you.

As long as you want to please everyone, you won't please anyone.

Seek out habits that help you overcome fear or inertia. Destroy those that do the opposite.

Don't create for the masses. Create for the people who are your kind of weird.

If you're not the best in the world at what you do, then you have to get better.

Positive thinking doesn't guarantee results, all it offers is something better than negative thinking.

The organizations of the future are filled with smart, fast, flexible people on a mission

No one is as smart as all of us.

Surprise and differentiation have far more impact than noise does.

Are you doing work worth doing, or are you just doing your job?

Go ahead and make something for the elites. Not the elites of class or wealth, but the elites of curiosity, passion and taste. Every great thing ever created was created by and for this group.