Background Image
Yes, I Think It's Okay To Abandon The Big, Established, Stuck Tribe. It's Okay To Say To Them, "you're Not Going Where I Need To Go, And There's No Way I'm Going To Persuade All Of You To Follow Me. So Rather Than Standing Here Watching The Opportunities Fade Away, I'm Heading Off. I'm Betting Some Of You, The Best Of You, Will Follow Me.
-Seth Godin
Please Wait....
Translating....

Yes, I Think It's

Seth Godin
Yes, I Think It's Okay To Abandon The Big, Established, Stuck Tribe. It's Okay To Say To Them, "you're Not Going Where I Need To Go, And There's No Way I'm Going To Persuade All Of You To Follow Me. So Rather Than Standing Here Watching The Opportunities Fade Away, I'm Heading Off. I'm Betting Some Of You, The Best Of You, Will Follow Me.
Views: 2
Topic
Opportunity
Thinking
Needs
More From Seth Godin
Every Day I Meet People Who Have So Much To Give But Have Been...frighten Ed Enough To Hold It Back. It's Time To Stop Complying With The System And Draw Your Own Map. You Have Brilliance In You, Your Contribution Is Essential, And The Art You Create Is Precious. Only You Can Do It, And You Must.
Art
People
Giving
Market-driven Design Builds The Success Of The Product's Marketing Into The Product Itself.
Design
Marketing
Driven
Just Because The Tide Is Out, Doesn't Mean There Is Less Water In The Ocean.
Wise
Wisdom
Clever
The Enemy Of Creativity... Is Fear. We're All Born Creative, It Takes A Little While To Become Afraid. A Surprising Insight: An Enemy Of Fear Is Creativity. Acting In A Creative Way Generates Action, And Action Persuades The Fear To Lighten Up.
Creativity
Creative
Enemy
Do You Know What People Want More Than Anything? They Want To Be Missed. They Want To Be Missed The Day They Don't Show Up. They Want To Be Missed When They're Gone.
People
Want
Gone
I Think The Most Productive Thing To Do During Times Of Change Is To Be Your Best Self, Not The Best Version Of Someone Else.
Thinking
Self
Things To Do
Most People Are Searching For A Path To Success That Is Both Easy And Certain. Most Paths Are Neither.
People
Path
Easy
The Goal, Then, Isn't To Draw Some Positioning Charts And Announce That You Have Differentiated Your Product. No, The Opportunity Is To Actually Create Something That People Choose To Talk About, Regardless Of What The Competition Is Doing.
Opportunity
People
Goal
What Marketers Used To Do Is Make Average Products For Average People. That's What Mass Marketing Is. They Would Ignore The Geeks, And - God Forbid - The Laggards. It Was All About Going For The Center. I Don't Think That's The Strategy We Want To Use Anymore.
Thinking
Average
People
One Bad Review Doesn't Ruin My Day Because I Realize What A Badge Of Honor It Is To Get A Bit Of Criticism At All.
Honor
Criticism
Ruins
Please Stop Waiting For A Map. We Reward Those Who Draw Maps, Not Those Who Follow Them.
Funny
Waiting
Maps
Great Work Is Always Shunned At First.
Firsts
Great Work
The Question Isn’t Whether Or Not You Should Wait To Be Picked, The Question Is Whether You Care Enough To Pick Yourself.
Waiting
Care
Enough
Insulate Yourself... From Anonymous Angry People Expose Yourself To Art You Don't Yet Understand Precisely Measure The Results That Are Important To You Stay Blind To The Metrics That Don't Matter Fail Often Ship Lead, Don't Manage So Much Seek Out Uncomfortable Situations Make An Impact On The People Who Matter To You Be Better At Your Baseline Skills Than Anyone Else Copyedit Less, Invent More Give More Speeches Ignore Unsolicited Advice
Art
Impact
Skills
If There's Time For An Emergency, Why Isn't There Time For Brilliance, Generosity Or Learning?
Generosity
Choices
Emergencies
By The Time There Is A Case Study About Your Industry, You Are Already Too Late.
Too Late
Study
Case Studies
Art Is The Work Of A Human Being – Something A Person Does With Generosity To Touch Someone Else To Make A Change For The Better.
Art
Generosity
Doe
What I Mean By Art Is The Human Act Of Doing Something That Connects Us To Someone Else
Art
Mean
Art Is
The Time To Look For A New Job Is When You Don't Need One. The Time To Switch Jobs Is Before It Feels Comfortable.
Jobs
New Job
Needs
Good Marketers Measure.
Business
Marketing
Marketers
How Dare You Settle For Less When The World Has Made It So Easy For You To Be Remarkable?
Entrepreneur
World
Social Media
The Myth That The Ceo Is Going To Discover You And Nurture You And Ask You To Join Her For Lunch Is Just That, A Hollywood Myth.
Life
Work
Lunch
Instead Of Focusing On Arguing With People Who Say No, It Might Be Easier To Get Near The People Who Like To Say Yes.
People
Might
Arguing
The Reason They Want You To Fit In... Is That Once You Do, Then They Can Ignore You.
Mediocrity
Want
Fit
But What If I Fail? You Will. A Better Question Might Be, ‘after I Fail, What Then?’ If You’ve Chosen Well, After You Fail You Will Be One Step Closer To Succeeding, You Will Be Wiser And Stronger And You Almost Certainly Will Be More Respected By All Of Those That Are Afraid To Try.
What If
Stronger
Trying
Marketing Is The Art Of Seeing (and Then Creating) What Might Be Interesting To More Than Our Friends
Art
Creating
Interesting
I Find That I Have About Six Bloggable Ideas A Day. I Also Find That Writing Twice As Long A Post Doesn't Increase Communication, It Usually Decreases It. And Finally, I Found That People Get Antsy If There Are Unread Posts In Their Queue.
Communication
Writing
Ideas
The Only Reason To Buy A Paper Book Any Longer Is To Own It And Cherish It And Remember It And Tell A Story About It.
Book
Stories
Paper
Tell Your Lizard (brain) To Shut Up.
Brain
Lizards
Shut Up
Great Leaders Create Movements By Empowering The Tribe To Communicate. They Establish The Foundation For People To Make Connections, As Opposed To Commanding People To Follow Them.
People
Empowering
Leader
If You're Remarkable It's Likely That Some People Won't Like You.
People
Like You
Remarkable
The Only Thing Worse Than Starting Something And Failing... Is Not Starting Something.
Inspirational
Motivational
Inspiring
Things That Look Like Shortcuts Are Actually Detours (disguised As Less Work).
Looks
Detours
Shortcuts
Art Is What We Do When We're Truly Alive.
Art
Alive
Art Is
You Want It To Be Hard. If It's Hard, Then That Means Others Can't Do It Easily And You Can Charge For That Value.
Mean
Want
Hard
Leadership Is Scarce Because Few People Are Willing To Go Through The Discomfort Required To Lead.
Leadership
People
Management
The Market And The Consumer And Idea Trump The System.
Business
Ideas
Trump
Art Is The Act Of Doing Work That Matters While Dancing With The Voice In Your Head That Screams For You To Stop.
Art
Voice
Dancing
As The Amount Of Inputs Go Up, As The Number Of People And Ideas That Clamor For Attention Continue To Increase, We Do What People Always Do: We Rely On The Familiar, The Trusted And The Personal. The Incredible Surplus Of Digital Data Means That Human Actions, Generosity And Sacrifice Are More Important Than They Ever Were Before.
Inspirational
Mean
Sacrifice
Or, If I Take That Same Auditorium And I Make It Much Bigger And Put More Space Between Seats, It'll Be Quieter Because It's Much Harder When You're Not In Physical Contact With People To Spread A Virus From Person-to-person, Right? There Are All Sorts Of Patterns That We See In Epidemiology That Help Us Understand Why Something Spreads.
Epidemiology
Space
People
The Cul-de-sac ( French For "dead End" ) ... Is A Situation Where You Work And Work And Work And Nothing Much Changes
Dead Ends
Ends
Situation
The Way I Understand Gifts Is That The Giver Must Make A Sacrifice, Create An Uneven Exchange, Bring Himself Closer To The Recipient, Create Change And Do It All With The Right Spirit.
Sacrifice
Way
Spirit
It Might Be Bold To Put Your Work Into The World Unadorned, But It's Probably Ineffective.
World
Might
Be Personal. Be Relevant. Be Specific.
Greatness
Relevant
Leadership, On The Other Hand, Is About Creating Change You Believe In.
Leadership
Believe
Hands
Before You Promise To Change The World, It Makes Sense To Do The Hard Work Of Changing Your Neighborhood.
Hard Work
Promise
World
If You Measure It, It Will Improve.
Ifs
Perhaps Marketing Is About To Transition To A New Kind Of Profession, One That Requires Insight, Dedication And Smarts.
Smart
Dedication
Marketing
I See Things Differently When I'm Focused On Opening Doors For Other People, And More Often Than Not, My Doors Are Opened As Well.
Doors
People
Wells
Discomfort Brings Engagement And Change. Discomfort Means You're Doing Something That Others Were Unlikely To Do, Because They're Hiding Out In The Comfortable Zone. When Your Uncomfortable Actions Lead To Success, The Organization Rewards You And Brings You Back For More.
Mean
Organization
Engagement
If It's Worth Listening To, It's Worth Questioning Until You Understand It.
Listening
Questioning
Ifs
If It's Worth Doing, It's Worth Doing Well.
Best Effort
Worth Waiting For
Chinese Proverb
Successful People Are Successful For One Simple Reason: They Think About Failure Differently.
Successful
Simple
Thinking
Not Only Must You Be An Artist, Must You Be Generous, And Must You Be Able To See Where You Can Help But You Must Also Be Aware. Aware Of Where Your Skills Are Welcomed.
Artist
Skills
Able
The Future Of Publishing Is About Having Connections To Readers And The Knowledge Of What Those Readers Want.
Want
Connections
Reader
We Need Students Who Can Learn How To Learn, Who Can Discover How To Push Themselves And Are Generous Enough And Honest Enough To Engage With The Outside World To Make Those Dreams Happen.
Dream
Needs
World
An Artist Is Someone Who Uses Bravery, Insight, Creativity, And Boldness To Challenge The Status Quo. And An Artist Takes It Personally.
Art
Business
Creativity
The Secret Of Getting On The Shortlist Is Doing Your Best Work Fearlessly For A Long Time Before You Get On The List.
Long
Secret
Lists
If Failure Isn't An Option, Then Success Isn't Either. Success Is Just Failure Repeated Until It Works.
Ifs
The Resistance Is The Voice In Your Head Telling You To Use Bullets In Your Powerpoint Slides...it’s The Voice That Tells You To Leave Controversial Ideas Out Of The Paper You’re Writing, Because The Teacher Won’t Like Them. The Resistance Pushes Relentlessly For You To Fit In.
Teacher
Writing
Ideas
When In Doubt, Tell Yourself The Truth.
Doubt
When In Doubt
Art Is What We Call...the Thing An Artist Does. It's Not The Medium Or The Oil Or The Price Or Whether It Hangs On A Wall Or You Eat It. What Matters, What Makes It Art, Is That The Person Who Made It Overcame The Resistance, Ignored The Voice Of Doubt And Made Something Worth Making. Something Risky. Something Human. Art Is Not In The ...eye Of The Beholder. It's In The Soul Of The Artist.
Photography
Art
Wall
It's Not An Accident That Successful People Read More Books.
Motivational
Success
Reading
The Conversation Is Happening About Your Brand Whether You're A Part Of It Or Not.
Conversation
Brands
Happenings
Fans, True Fans, Are Hard To Find And Precious. Just A Few Can Change Everything. What They Demand, Though, Is Generosity And Bravery.
Generosity
Bravery
Fans
Popular Is Not The Same Important, Or Often, Not The Same As Good.
Important
Catering To The Passionate Is Exactly What You Should Do.
Passionate
Should
Catering
Little Changes Cost You. Big Changes Benefit You By Changing The Game, But Only If You Go First.
Change
Games
Cost
Developing Expertise Or Assets That Are Not Easily Copied Is Essential; Otherwise You're Just A Middleman.
Business
Essentials
Assets
Leadership Is A Choice. It's The Choice Not To Do Nothing.
Choices
Will You Succeed Because You Are More Well-rounded Than Others? Because You Fit In Better Than Everyone Else? Bloody Unlikely. We Succeed When We Are Trusted To Be The Best At What We Do.
Succeed
Fit
Being The Best
If You Set Your Bar At 'amazing' It's Awfully Difficult To Start. Your First Paragraph, Sketch, Formula, Sample Or Concept Isn't Going To Be Amazing. Your Tenth One Might Not Be Either. Confronted With The Gap Between Your Vision Of Perfect And The Reality Of What You've Created, The Easiest Path Is No Path. Shrug. Admit Defeat. Hit Delete. One More Reason To Follow Someone Else And Wait For Instructions. Of Course, The Only Path To Amazing Runs Directly Through Not-yet-amazing. But Not-yet-amazing Is A Great Place To Start, Because That's Where You Are.
Running
Reality
Perfect
Copy, Not From Your Industry, From Others. You Have To Go Where There Is No Competition.
Competition
Copies
Industry
The Only Path To Amazing Runs Directly Through Not-yet-amazing
Running
Path
Real Change Comes From Finding And Embracing And Connecting And Amplifying Those That Are Inclined To Like You And Believe In You. Ideas Spread From Person To Person, Not So Much From You To Them. So Find Your Biggest Fans And Give Them A Story To Tell.
Real
Believe
Ideas
Faith In Yourself, In Your Friends, In Your Colleagues And Most Of All, Faith In Your Ability To Impact Our Future Is The Best Strategy I Know.
Impact
Achievement
Strategy
The Problem With Competition Is That It Takes Away The Requirement To Set Your Own Path, To Invent Your Own Method, To Find A New Way.
Competition
Requirements
Way
If You Can Raise Money, You're Never Going To Have Trouble Getting A Job.
Jobs
Trouble
Raises
If You're A Marketer Who Doesn't Know How To Invent, Design, Influence, Adapt, And Ultimately Discard Products, Then You're No Longer A Marketer. You're Deadwood.
Design
Marketing
Influence
Perfect Can't Possibly Be The Goal, We're Left With Generous, Important And Human Instead.
Perfect
Goal
Important
If You Don't Get It Built, The Work Doesn't Matter.
Matter
Built
Ifs
Measurement Is Fabulous. Unless You're Busy Measuring What's Easy To Measure As Opposed To What's Important
Important
Fabulous
Measurement
Sharing An Idea You Care About Is A Generous Way To Change Your World For The Better.
Ideas
World
Care
One Way To Sell A Consumer Something In The Future Is Simply To Get His Or Her Permission In Advance.
Marketing
Way
Permission
It's More Important That You Be Passionate About What You Do All Day Than It Is To Be Passionate About The Product That Is Being Sold.
Important
Passionate
Products
One Option Is To Struggle To Be Heard Whenever You're In The Room... Another Is To Be The Sort Of Person Who Is Missed When You're Not. The First Involves Making Noise. The Second Involves Making A Difference.
Struggle
Differences
Making A Difference
It Always Feels Too Soon To Leap. But You Have To. Because That's The Moment Between You And Remarkable.
Moments
Remarkable
Leap
Human Nature Is To Need A Map. If You’re Brave Enough To Draw One, People Will Follow.
People
Brave
Needs
Great Marketers Don't Make Stuff. They Make Meaning.
Stuff
Marketers
Art Changes Posture And Posture Changes Innocent Bystanders.
Art
Bystanders
Innocent
Here's Conventional Wisdom: Success Makes You Happy. Happiness Permits You To Be Generous. In Fact, It Actually Works Like This: Generosity Makes You Happy. Happy People Are More Likely To Be Successful.
Successful
People
Generosity
I Feel Like I'm Treating People As I'd Like To Be Treated.
People
Feels
Treated
Choose Your Customers, Choose Your Future.
Business
Your Future
Our Future
Fundamentalist Is A Person Who Considers Whether A Fact Is Acceptable To Their Faith Before They Explore It. As Opposed To A Curious Person Who Explores First And Then Considers Whether Or Not They Want To Accept The Ramifications.
Curiosity
Firsts
Facts
Waiting For Perfect Is Never As Smart As Making Progress.
Perseverance
Monday
Business
Whining Isn't A Scalable Solution.
Whining
Solutions
The World Doesn't Owe You A Living, But Just When You Needed It, A Door Was Opened For You To Make A Difference.
Doors
Differences
Making A Difference
Art...is The Intentional Act Of Using Your Humanity To Create A Change In Another Person...passion Is Caring Enough About Your Art That You Will Do Almost Anything To Give It Away, To Make It A Gift, To Change People.
Art
Passion
Caring
The Minute There's A Map, There Is No Art. Paint By Numbers Is Not Art. Paint By Numbers Is A Mechanical Activity.
Art
Numbers
Maps
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.
Team
Challenges
Marketing
Art Isn't Only A Painting. Art Is Anything That Is Creative, Passionate And Personal. Art Is The Unique Work Of A Human Being Created To Touch Another. Art Is Created To Have An Impact, To Change Someone Else.
Art
Unique
Impact
What People Want Is The Extra, The Emotional Bonus They Get When They Buy Something They Love.
Emotional
People
Marketing
Competence Is No Longer Scarce.
Competence
Scarce
Evolution Is The Most Popular Way We Have For Dealing With Change.
Way
Evolution
If You Borrow Money To Make Money, You've Done Something Magical. On The Other Hand, If You Go Into Debt To Pay Your Bills Or Buy Something You Want But Don't Need, You've Done Something Stupid. Stupid And Short-sighted And Ultimately Life-changing For The Worse.
Life Changing
Stupid
Hands
The Largest Enemy Of Change Isn't 'no', It's 'not Yet' - That Is The Easiest Way To Forestall Change.
Enemy
Way
Marketers Have To Move Upstream Now. We Have To Stop Being The Last Step In The Process And Start Being The First Step.
Moving
Lasts
Firsts
As Creators, Our Pursuit Of Perfection Might Be Misguided, Particularly If It Comes At The Expense Of The Things That Matter.
Perfection
Might
Matter
You Dont Need To Convince Everyone. All You Need To Do Is Motivate People Who Choose To Follow You.
People
Needs
Convince
No One Knows More About The Way You Think Than You Do.
Thinking
Way
Knows
In Contemporary Art Or Movies, It Makes Perfect Sense To Be Focused On The Bleeding Edge, On The New Idea That's Never Been Previously Contemplated. But When We're Discussing Our Goals, Our Passion And The Way We Interact With The Culture, It Seems To Me That What Works Is Significantly More Important Than What's New.
Art
Passion
Ideas
Seek Out Habits That Help You Overcome Fear Or Inertia. Destroy Those That Do The Opposite.
Opposites
Overcoming
Helping
If You Think Your Organization Needs A Bigger Marketing Budget, Maybe You Just Need To Be Less Average Instead.
Thinking
Average
Organization
The Goal Of A Marketing Interaction Isn't To Close The Sale, Any More Than The Goal Of A First Date Is To Get Married. No, The Opportunity Is To Move Forward, To Earn Attention And Trust And Curiosity And Conversation.
Moving
Opportunity
Goal
Initiating Is Really And Truly Difficult, And That's What Leaders Do. They See Something Others Are Ignoring And They Jump On It.
Motivational
Leadership
Initiative
Your Drudgery Is Another Person's Delight. It's Only A Job If You Treat It That Way. The Privilege To Do Our Work, To Be In Control Of The Promises We Make And The Things We Build, Is Something Worth Cherishing.
Jobs
Promise
Delight
Desire Can't Be Sated, Because If It Is, The Longing Disappears And Then We've Failed, Because Desire Is The State We Seek.
Leadership
Desire
Engagement
Just As We Don't Spend A Lot Of Time Worrying About How All Those Poets Out There Are Going To Monetize Their Poetry, The Same Is True For Most Bloggers.
Funny
Thoughtful
Worry
If You Take Action, You Will Be Judged. There's No Way Around It. The Alternative, Of Course, Is Much Safer. To Be Ignored. Up To You.
Alternatives
Up To You
Way
If We Live In A World Where Information Drives What We Do, The Information We Get Becomes The Most Important Thing. The Person Who Chooses That Information Has Power.
Important
World
Information
Figure Out The People Part And The Technology Gets A Whole Lot Simpler.
Technology
People
Figures
Our Job Is Obvious: We Need To Get Out Of The Way, Shine A Light, And Empower A New Generation To Teach Itself And To Go Further And Faster Than Any Generation Ever Has.
Jobs
Learning
Light
Any Customer That Walks Away, Disrespected And Defeated, Represents Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars Out The Door, In Addition To The Failure Of A Promise The Brand Made In The First Place. You Can't See It But It's Happening, Daily.
Doors
Promise
Dollars
Black Friday Is A Media Trap, An Orchestrated Mass Hallucination Based On Herd Dynamics And The Media Cycle.
Friday
Media
Black
If It Scares You, It Might Be A Good Thing To Try.
Inspirational
Philosophical
Bravery
Somewhere In The World, Someone Is Doing Something That You Decided Couldn't Be Done.
Done
World
Decided
Make A Decision. It Doesn't Have To Be A Wise Decision Or A Perfect One. Just Make One.
Wise
Business
Perfect One
It's Clearly More Fun To Make The Rules Than To Follow Them.
Fun
Good Marketers Tell A Story.
Marketing
Stories
Marketers
No, The Only Way To Know What People Think Is To Watch What They Do, Not What They Say. Do They Come Back For More? Do You Cause Them To Change Their Behavior? Can You Make Them Smile?
Thinking
People
Watches
The Problem With Working With A Coach Isn't That We Don't Know What To Do. The Real Problem Is That We Don't Want To Change Our Mind.
Real
Marketing
Mind
There's A Big Difference Between Not Settling And Not Starting.
Differences
Settling
Starting
Communication Is The Transfer Of Emotion.
Communication
Emotion
Transfers
The Only Thing All Successful People Have In Common Is That They're Successful, So Don't Waste Your Time Copying "the Successful Strategies" Of Others.
Creativity
Successful
People
It's Far Easier To Put Your Future Into Someone Else's Hands Than It Is To Slog Your Way Forward, Owning The Results As You Go.
Hands
Way Forward
Easier
The Way To Get Unstuck Is To Start Down The Wrong Path, Right Now.
Way
Path
Wrong Path
More And More People Now Have Jobs That Require Them To Confront The Risk Of Appearing Stupid On A Regular Basis.
Jobs
Stupid
People
The Job Is Not Your Work; What You Do With Your Heart And Soul Is The Work.
Life
Motivational
Jobs
Marketing Management Is Now Tribal Leadership.
Marketing
Management
Criticism Comes To Those Who Stand Out.
Criticism
Standing Out
We Notice What We Choose To Notice.
Choices
I Have Something To Say. I Know How To Do Something. I’m Doing It. If You Want Me To Do It With You, Raise Your Hand.
Hands
Want
Raises
Being Charismatic Doesn't Make You A Leader. Being A Leader Makes You Charismatic.
Leader
Charismatic
Being A Leader
I've Found That Giving Gifts Is Transformative. It Makes Me Better. It Clarifies My Thinking And Allows Me To Do Better Work.
Thinking
Giving
Found
Don't Find Customers For Your Products, Find Products For Your Customers.
Motivational
Business
Loyal Customers
Reputation Is What People Expect Us To Do Next. It's Their Expectation Of The Quality And Character Of The Next Thing We Produce Or Say Or Do. We Control Our Actions (even When It Feels Like We Don't) And Our Actions Over Time (especially When We Think No One Is Looking) Earn Our Reputation.
Character
Thinking
People
The One Path That Never Works Is The Most Common One: Doing Nothing At All.
Doing Nothing
Path
Tribes
If You Treat Your Employees Like Mushrooms (keep Them In The Dark And Regularly Throw Crap On Them), It's Entirely Likely You Will Get Precisely The Work You Deserve In Return.
Dark
Mushrooms
Return
Someone Can Always Do Your Job A Little Better Or Faster Or Cheaper Than You Can.
Jobs
Littles
Faster
Change Is Not A Threat, It's An Opportunity. Survival Is Not The Goal, Transformative Success Is.
Inspirational
Business
Opportunity
The People Who Are Good In The Long Run Fail A Lot, Especially At The Beginning. So, When You Fail Early, It Might Be Worth Realizing That This Is Part Of The Deal, The Price You Pay For Being Good In The Long Run. Every Rejection Is A Gift. A Chance To Learn And To Do It Better Next Time. An Opportunity To Figure Out How To Bounce, Not Break. Don't Waste Them.
Motivational
Running
Opportunity
Speak Up. Not Just Tomorrow, But Every Day.
Tomorrow
Speak
Skepticism Doesn't Help You Hear.
Helping
Skepticism
The Mistake So Many Marketers Make Is That They Conjoin The Urgency Of Making Another Sale With The Timing To Earn The Right To Make That Sale. In Other Words, You Must Build Trust Before You Need It. Building Trust Right When You Want To Make A Sale Is Just Too Late.
Mistake
Book
Marketing
The Edge Is A Great Place To Be. Inside The Box Is Too Dark. Outside The Box, There's No Leverage. But On The Edge Of The Box, You Can Get Things Done!
Dark
Done
Boxes
Fitting In Is A Short-term Strategy That Gets You Nowhere. Standing Out Is A Long-term Strategy That Takes Guts And Produces Results.
Positivity
Long
Strategy
The Opportunity Of A Lifetime Is To Pick Yourself. Quit Waiting To Get Picked; Quit Waiting For Someone To Give You Permission; Quit Waiting For Someone To Say You Are Officially Qualified... And Pick Yourself.
Opportunity
Giving
Waiting
If You're Different Somehow And Have Made Yourself Unique, People Will Find You And Pay You More.
Unique
People
Different
The Best Way To Be Missed When You're Gone Is To Stand For Something When You're Here.
Gone
Way
Stand For Something
The Universal Truth Is Beyond Question-the Only People Who Excel Are Those Who Have Decided To Do So.
People
Truth Is
Universal Truth
If You Can’t State Your Position In Eight Words, You Don’t Have A Position.
Eight
States
Position
Anxiety Is Practising Failure In Advance. Anxiety Is Needless And Imaginary. It's Fear About Fear, Fear That Means Nothing.
Mean
Anxiety
Imaginary
Art Isn't Only A Painting; It's Anything That Changes Someone For The Better, Any Nonanonymous Interaction That Leads To A Human (not Simply A Commercial) Conclusion.
Art
Painting
Conclusion
Caring, It Turns Out, Is A Competitive Advantage, And One That Takes Effort, Not Money.
Caring
Effort
Advantage
At Least At First, The New Thing Is Rarely As Good As The Old Thing Was. If You Need The Alternative To Be Better Than The Status Quo From The Very Start, You'll Never Begin.
Old Things
Needs
Alternatives
People Who Make A Difference Never Wait For Just The Right Time. They Know That It Will Never Arrive.
Differences
People
Waiting
Leaders Lead When They Take Positions, When They Connect With Their Tribes, And When They Help The Tribe Connect To Itself.
Leader
Tribes
Helping
What Evidence Would You Need To See To Change Your Mind About This?
Mind
Needs
Evidence
The Tragedy Is That Society (your School, Your Boss, Your Government, Your Family) Keeps Drumming The Genius Part Out. The Problem Is That Our Culture Has Engaged In A Faustian Bargain, In Which We Trade Our Genius And Artistry For Apparent Stability.
School
Government
Boss
That The Horrible Zika Virus Or Hiv, We Can Look At What It Means To Be Patient Zero, What It Means To Need Not Much Contact To Spread, And All Of Those Things Follow Into The Way Ideas Spread.
Zero
Mean
Ideas
If You Want Customers To Hear About You, Make Something Worth Talking About.
Talking
Want
Customers
Why Waste A Sentence Saying Nothing?
Successful
Inspire
Marketing
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.
Believe
People
Shortcuts
Decide, Before You Start, That You're Going To Change Three Things About What You Do All Day At Work. Then, As You're Reading, Find The Three Things And Do It. The Goal Of The Reading, Then, Isn't To Persuade You To Change, It's To Help You Choose What To Change.
Business
Reading
Goal
If You're Going To Invest A Valuable Asset (like Time), Go Ahead And Make It Productive. Use A Postit Or Two, Or Some Index Cards Or A Highlighter. Not To Write Down Stuff So You Can Forget It Later, But To Create Marching Orders. It's Simple: If Three Weeks Go By And You Haven't Taken Action On What You've Written Down, You Wasted Your Time.
Business
Taken
Writing
Leadership Is The Art Of Giving People A Platform For Spreading Ideas That Work.
Leadership
Art
Ideas
Surprise And Differentiation Have Far More Impact Than Noise Does.
Impact
Doe
Differentiation
Studying Entrepreneurshi P Without Doing It... Is Like Studying The Appreciation Of Music Without Listening To It.
Appreciation
Listening
Study
The Status Quo Is Persistent And Resistant. It Exists Because Everyone Wants It To. Everyone Believes That What They've Got Is Probably Better Than The Risk And Fear That Come With Change.
Believe
Risk
Want
No Is The Foundation That We Can Build Our Yes On.
Foundation
One Way To Think About Running A Successful Business Is To Figure Out What The Least You Can Do Is, And Do That.
Running
Business
Successful
Two Elements Of Successful Leadership: A Willingness To Be Wrong And An Eagerness To Admit It.
Successful
Two
Elements
Low Price Is A Great Way To Sell A Commodity. That's Not Marketing Though, That's Efficiency.
Marketing
Way
Commodity
Developing Expertise Or Assets That Are Not Easily Copied Is Essential; Otherwise You’re Just A Middleman. “ “don’t Try To Be The ‘next’. Instead, Try To Be The Other, The Changer, The New. “ “everyone Is Not Your Customer. “ “fire The Committee. No Great Website In History Has Been Conceived Of By More Than Three People. Not One. This Is A Deal Breaker.
Fire
People
Trying
All Artists Are Entrepreneurs. All Entrepreneurs Are Artists.
Artist
Entrepreneur
Believe That Giving Up Is The Same Thing As Being Realistic.
Giving Up
Believe
Realistic
The Public Square Is More Public Than Ever, But Minds Are Rarely Changed In 140 Character Bursts And By Selfies.
Character
Squares
Mind
I Don't Like Offending People, And It's Easy To Offend People When You Don't Know As Much As They Do. This Group Knows More About What It Takes To Lead In This Way Than I Ever Will. My Goal Is To Push People, But I Need To Do It From A Place Of Respect.
Humility
Offending
People
Risking The Appearance Of Weakness Takes Strength. And The Market Knows It.
Weakness
Appearance
Knows
Go Ahead And Act As If Your Decisions Are Temporary. Because They Are. Be Bold, Make Mistakes, Learn A Lesson, And Fix What Doesn't Work. No Sweat, No Need To Hyperventilate.
Mistake
Sweat
Decision
In The Long Run, Doing Work That's Important Leads To More Happiness Than Doing Work That's Merely Profitable.
Running
Long
Important
You Can Win With Consistent Benefits, Delivered Over Time. You Win By Incrementally Earning Share, Attention And Trust.
Winning
Marketing
Attention
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.
Moving
Ideas
Voice
If You Don't Require The Journey To Be Easy Or Comfortable Or Safe, You Can Change The World.
Journey
World
Safe
If You're Not Willing To Face The Abyss Of Choice, You Will Almost Certainly Not Spend Enough Time Dancing With Opportunity.
Opportunity
Dancing
Choices
If You're Working With A Spreadsheet Or A Thread Of Correspondence Or A Set Of Data, I'm Not Sure You're Doing Your Best Work If You're Doing It On An Iphone.
Iphone
Data
Doing Your Best
By My Definition, Most Art Has Nothing To Do With Oil Paint Or Marble. Art Is What We're Doing When We Do Our Best Work.
Art
Oil
Definitions
Either You Defend The Status Quo, Or You Invent The Future.
Status Quo
If You Want To Dig A Big Hole, You Need To Stay In One Place.
Change
Needs
Want
So By Giving People A Tool That They Can Share And Benefit From, It's A Form Of Media That Isn't Controlled By Rupert Murdoch Or The Guys At Viacom. It Is A Form Of Media That Is Earned Every Single Time It Spreads.
Media
Giving
People
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


Trending Author
David Schwimmer
Kate Smith
Thomas Paine
Bob Kane
Alyson Hannigan
Dave Grohl
Category
Information