Seth Godin Quotes

What most people want in a leader is something that's very difficult to find: we want someone who listens...The secret, Reagan's secret, is to listen, to value what you hear, and then to make a decision even if it contradicts the very people you are listening to. Reagan impressed his advisers, his adversaries, and his voters by actively listening. People want to be sure you hear what they said - they're less focused on whether or not you do what they said.

The habit of doing more than is necessary can only be earned through practice.

Selling is about a transference of emotion, not a presentation of facts.

The linchpin has figured out that we get only a certain number of brain cycles to spend each day. Spending even one on a situation out of our control has a significant opportunity cost.

Managers manage a process they’ve seen before, and they react to the outside world, striving to make that process as fast and as cheap as possible. Leadership, on the other hand, is about creating change that you believe in.

Change isn’t made by asking permission. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later.

She solves problems that people haven’t predicted, sees things people haven’t seen, and connects people who need to be connected.

In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.

Rich is my word for someone who can afford to make choices, who has enough resources to do more than merely survive.

The secret of being wrong isn’t to avoid being wrong! The secret is being willing to be wrong. The secret is realizing that wrong isn’t fatal.

...treasure what it means to do a day's work. It's our one and only chance to do something productive today, and it's certainly not available to someone merely because he is the high bidder. A day's work is your chance to do art, to create a gift, to do something that matters. As your work gets better and your art becomes more important, competition for your gifts will increase and you'll discover that you can be choosier about whom you give them to.

The only choice we have is to begin. And the only place to begin is where we are. Simply begin. But begin.

Consumers are not loyal to cheap commodities. They crave the unique, the remarkable, and the human.

Becoming a linchpin is not an act of selfishness. I see it as an act of generosity,

Perfect is an illusion, one that was created to maintain the status quo. The Six Sigma charade is largely about hiding from change, because change is never perfect. Change means reinvention, and until something is reinvented, we have no idea what the spec is.