Leading Change – Seth Godin Style

I wish I could quit Seth Godin.

Almost every day, in fact, I start my morning with a good cup of coffee and Seth’s blog. And, every morning he leaves me with more questions than answers. Damn him!

What I’ve figured out, however, is that his lessons (and questions) are beautifully simple (and hard) and apply to leading change in business and in life. For example, consider these two nuggets of leading change:

1. Focus like hell on what matters most—figure out what that is for you, for your organization, and quit everything else. Quitting frees to you excel. It takes guts to quit. It takes leadership to quit. “Strategic quitting is the secret of successful organizations” (Seth Godin, The Dip).
2. Change is hard in the middle (known as The Dip in Seth lingo)—so game up! No one said it would be easy. The Dip is the part of any change after the initial excitement—you know the tough part. The part where you start to question. The Dip is the muck you slog through after starting something and before you turn it into mastery, a skill, a successful change. The Dip is to be expected. Are you ready to slog through it? Consider the following quote from Seth Godin’s smart book, The Dip.

   Quit the wrong stuff.
   Stick with the right stuff.
   Have the guts to do one or the other.

Mr. Godin, I wish I could quit you, but I can’t. You frustrate me. You never skip the hard questions. Each morning you leave me wanting more, questioning more. I won’t quit reading your blog and your books because, you say you write about marketing, but you write about life really. So be gentle, I’m learning, and keep inspiring me to ask the tough questions.

Photo credit Joi.