Seth's blog: Ranking for signal to noise ratio

Ranking for signal to noise ratio:

A whisper in a quiet room is all you need. There's so little noise, so few distractions, that the energy of the whisper is enough to make a dent.
On the other hand, it's basically impossible to have a conversation (at any volume) in a nightclub.
Signal to noise ratio is a measurement of the relationship between the stuff you want to hear and the stuff you don't. And here's the thing: Twitter and email and Facebook all have a bad ratio, and it's getting worse.........

Until you remove the noise, you're going to miss a lot of signal.

Seth's blog: Dedicating the merit

Dedicating the merit:

For an author, one of the nicest parts of the traditional book is the dedication page. The dedication is far more than an acknowledgement to someone who helped you write the book, it's a permanent signpost, a capstone to the work of a year or more.
Even if the person you've dedicated the book to can't read it, the writer benefits from the knowledge that a connection was made and that a memory was preserved.
Here's the thing: you can dedicate just about anything. A project, a meeting, a tweet. You don't have to tell anyone but yourself. This blog post, like all the posts before it, has a dedication page, at least in my head.
When you start creating for and in honor of those that have made a difference to you, your work changes.

Seth's Blog: Why ask why? (including one important hint)

Why ask why?

"Why?" is the most important question, not asked nearly enough.

Hint: "Because I said so," is not a valid answer.

• Why does it work this way?
• Why is that our goal?
• Why did you say no?
• Why are we treating people differently?
• Why is this our policy?
• Why don't we enter this market?
• Why did you change your mind?
• Why are we having this meeting?
• Why not?

Seth's Blog: Don't expect applause

Don't expect applause:

Accept applause, sure, please do.

But when you expect applause, when you do your work in order (and because of) applause, you have sold yourself short. That's because your work is depending on something out of your control. You have given away part of your art. If your work is filled with the hope and longing for applause, it's no longer your work--the dependence on approval has corrupted it, turned it into a process where you are striving for ever more approval.

Who decides if your work is good? When you are at your best, you do. If the work doesn't deliver on its purpose, if the pot you made leaks or the hammer you forged breaks, then you should learn to make a better one. But we don't blame the nail for breaking the hammer or the water for leaking from the pot. They are part of the system, just as the market embracing your product is part of marketing.

"Here, here it is, it's finished."

If it's finished, the applause, the thanks, the gratitude are something else. Something extra and not part of what you created. To play a beautiful song for two people or a thousand is the same song, and the amount of thanks you receive isn't part of that song.

Seth's Blog: Bandits and philanthropists

Bandits and philanthropists:

The web is minting both, in quantity.

Bandits want something for nothing. They take. They take free content where they can find it. They fight for anonymity, for less community involvement. They want more than their fair share, and they walk past the busker, because they can hear him playing real good, for free.

The spammer is a bandit, stealing your attention because he can get away with it, and leaving nothing in return.

Philanthropists see a platform for giving. They support the tip jar. They argue for community standards and yes, for taxes that are more fair to the community. They support artists online, and when they can, they buy the book.

The artist who creates a video that touches you, or an infographic that informs you--she's giving more than she gets, leaving the community better than it was before she got there.

Both types have been around forever, of course. But the web magnifies the edges. It's easier than ever to be a free rider, to make your world smaller and to take. And easier than ever to be a big time contributor, even if you don't have any money. You can contribute your links or your attention or your energy...

The fascinating thing for me is how much more successful and happy the philanthropists are. It turns out that when you make the world smaller, you get to keep more of what you've got, but you end up earning a lot less (respect, connections, revenue) at the same time.

Seth's Blog: Is everyone entitled to their opinion?

Seth's Blog: Is everyone entitled to their opinion?

Is everyone entitled to their opinion?

Perhaps, but that doesn't mean we need to pay the slightest bit of attention.

There are two things that disqualify someone from being listened to:

1. Lack of Standing. If you are not a customer, a stakeholder or someone with significant leverage in spreading the word, we will ignore you. And we should.
When you walk up to an artist and tell her you don't like her painting style, you should probably be ignored. If you've never purchased expensive original art, don't own a gallery and don't write an influential column in ArtNews, then by all means, you must be ignored.
If you're working in Accounts Payable and you hate the company's new logo, the people who created it should and must ignore your opinion. It just doesn't matter to anyone but you.
I'm being deliberately harsh here for a reason. If we're going to do great work, it means that some people aren't going to like it. And if the people who don't like it don't have an impact on what happens to the work after it's complete, the only recourse of someone doing great work is to ignore their opinion.

2. No Credibility. An opinion needs to be based on experience and expertise. I know you don't like cilantro, but whether or not you like it is not extensible to the population at large. On the other hand, if you have a track record of matching the taste sensibility of my target market, then I very much want to hear what you think.
People with a history of bad judgment, people who are quick to jump to conclusions or believe in unicorns or who have limited experience in the market--these people are entitled to opinions, but it's not clear that the creator of the work needs to hear them. They've disqualified themselves because the method they use for forming opinions about how the market will respond is suspect. The scientific method works, and if you're willing to suspend it at will and just go with your angry gut, we don't need to hear from you.

If these two standards sound like precisely the opposite of what gets you on talk radio or active in anonymous chat rooms, you're right. Running your business or your campaign or your non-profit or your sports team based on what you hear on talk radio is nuts.

Seth's Blog: Why isn't it better?

Seth's Blog: Why isn't it better?

Why isn't it better?

• Perhaps you don't know enough
• Perhaps you don't care enough, or
• Perhaps you're unable to execute because of committees, the status quo and fear

These might be three ways to say the same thing.
The combination of fear and ignorance (two sides of the same coin) can be paralyzing

Seth's Blog: The ironic truth about sincerity

Seth's Blog: The ironic truth about sincerity:

No one cares how much you care.
That salesperson who will surely die if he doesn't close this sale, that painter who is sweating blood to get her idea on the canvas, that student who just pulled an all-nighter...
In fact, we're hyper alert to the appearance of caring. We want to do business with people who appear to care, who appear to bring care and passion and dedication to their work. If the work expresses caring, if you consistently and professionally deliver on that expression, we're sold.
The truth is that it's what we perceive that matters, not what you bring to the table. If you care but your work doesn't show it, you've failed. If you care so much that you're unable to bring quality, efficiency and discernment to your work, we'll walk away from it.
And the irony? The best, most reliable way to appear to care when it matters--is to care.

Seth's Blog: "It's not business, it's personal"

Seth's Blog:

"It's not business, it's personal"

It's too easy to blame the organization and the system and the bottom line for decisions that a person would never be willing to take responsibility for.
Whenever you can, work with people who take it personally.

Seth's Blog: Stick to what you (don't) know

Stick to what you (don't) know

One of the dumbest forms of criticism is to shout down an expert in one field who speaks up about something else. The actor with a political point of view, or the physicist who talks about philosophy. The theory is that people should stick to what they know and quietly sit by in all other situations.
Of course, at one point, we all knew nothing. The only way you ever know anything, in fact, is to speak up about it. Outline your argument, support it, listen, revise.
The byproduct of speaking up about what you don't know is that you soon know more. And maybe, just maybe, the experts learn something from you and your process.
No one knows more about the way you think than you do. Applying that approach, combining your experience, taking a risk--this is what we need from you.

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Seth's Blog: The honest broker

Seth's Blog: Insatiable

Seth's Blog: "Straight up"

 Blogger's Note: a blog worth following

“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”

Seth's Blog: Loyalty

Seth's Blog: The blizzard of noise (and the good news)

Seth's Blog:
"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 experience I have with you as a customer or a friend is far more important than a few random bits flying by on the screen. The incredible surplus of digital data means that human actions, generosity and sacrifice are more important than they ever were before."

Seth's Blog: Are you a bullfrog in a china shop?

"They make a lot of noise but don't break anything.
They're annoying but not dangerous.
They create a swirl but no impact.
They don't ship."

Seth's Blog: Trying to please

"Trying to please

Who is your marketing or your product or your effort trying to please?
Every campaign that I've ever seen fail has failed for precisely the same reason: it pleases the wrong person. Think about it... it wouldn't have launched if it hadn't pleased the boss or the client, right? Pleasing the wrong person meant failure.
The same thing is true on a deeper level in your career choice or what you write or what you say or what you sell or how you sell it: if you are working hard to please the wrong people, you'll fail.
Does that critic or that buyer or that spouse or that girlfriend or that investor really matter as much as you think they do?"