Seth Godin is a writer of well-received business books; simultaneously, he’s a writer whose work has little to do with business. For anyone else this would be an obvious contradiction, but for Godin it’s exactly on target. I’ve read Godin’s books, and blog, for quite some time, and what’s clear to me is that while his primary publishing market is the world of commerce, his vision is by several orders of magnitude larger — it’s about changing the world, one idea at a time.
What makes him different than most writers in his genre is his grasp of key psychological dynamics, such as
narrative immersion, situational influence, and confirmation bias. When you read his books (my favorite being All Marketers Are Liars) you are immediately aware that this is a writer with broad knowledge interests and a well-developed taste for interdisciplinary connection. Refreshingly, this results in work that is certainly applicable to business in all its forms, but far more importantly to communication, learning, and living.
His latest book is called Tribes - about how people are connected by ideas and shared interests in the online era and the accompanying new role of leadership. And with full permission of the author, here’s a link to a free companion e-book called Tribes Q&A .
Below is an entertaining talk Godin gave at TED. Enjoy.
David DiSalvo is a science, technology and culture writer whose work appears in Scientific American Mind, Psychology Today and a variety of other places.
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