Joel, this was my first watch of your show. You are a unique and extraordinary interviewer. You studied the subject and the guest and asked brilliant questions. And of course Seth was stunningly profound as usual
Seth Godin: "People who are super rich and are still chasing only the money are broken." It makes me cry because today - after the election - it can be applied to all of the United States. I am grieving the idea of America as the land of the free. I am so worried about the future. Greetings from Berlin, Germany. 😢
I am a devote student of Godin (and rarely do I think he needs correction). So, I was delighted to see he has written a book explicitly about strategy. I heard him say lots of people were coming to him for proposed marketing advice, when in fact what they wanted was strategy advice. Understandable. Now for the disagreement. At 23:45 there is a discussion of Seth's claim that people are rarely rational. I love Seth's work but this claim is categorically false. He says most people simply follow/obey culture, and I agree. But, to claim following culture is irrational is to admit an misunderstanding, because following culture is a rational decision. In fact, I would argue following culture is the easiest path to the three things Seth says people want: freedom from fear, affiliation and status. I am not an arsonist, and I have little tolerance for arsonists. Meaning, as a general rule, one shouldn't tear down a position without replacing it with something better. To that end, I would love to see Seth make a tiny adjustment and realize people are usually rational yet rarely conscious. Most people are on auto-pilot most of the time, but it is a rational behavior. People who are familiar with Seth would probably be comfortable saying he is a chocolate sommelier, and people in the ketogenic community could easily claim being a chocolate sommelier is irrational (and those people would be wrong). Very often people label things they don't understand or agree with irrational, but the fact that alotta people claim something doesn't make it true
IMO there’s perhaps an issue of word choice here. IMO Seth’s framing and definition of ‘rational’, the notion we might hold in our minds when we work off an assumption that everyone (else) is rational, is that everyone thinks through their decisions, actions etc. in a deliberate manner. Put another way, perhaps to borrow the word as you describe - ‘consciously’. IMO it’s indeed likely that the majority of us aren’t wholly conscious overall, or when it comes to specific areas of our life. To use Seth’s example, we might not eat certain foods because that’s just not the norm in the culture we were given, grew up with, inhabit. But we might explain it as “it’s weird” (ie there’s something inherently and irrefutably deviant about it) or that it’s absurd and there’s no legitimate, sane basis as to why anyone would eat that. We don’t consider, and it’s perhaps largely invisible to us, as to why and what the underpinnings are. Per Seth’s suggestion about “broken” rich people he knows (in contrast to the host and his decisions), the reading is that these rich folks perhaps don’t even know, aren’t even conscious as to why they want ever more money. It seems like just a chase for ever more riches to no end, possibly at all cost
Joel, this was my first watch of your show. You are a unique and extraordinary interviewer. You studied the subject and the guest and asked brilliant questions. And of course Seth was stunningly profound as usual
Joel, appreciate you putting this together.
Seth, thank you for all that was shared.
Actionable metaphors throughout.
47:56 Putting family first. That's huge! Hard but huge.
Thanks for the lesson!
Seth Godin: "People who are super rich and are still chasing only the money are broken."
It makes me cry because today - after the election - it can be applied to all of the United States. I am grieving the idea of America as the land of the free.
I am so worried about the future.
Greetings from Berlin, Germany. 😢
Golden Content from Godin! Congrats, man! Sorry for the terrible joke
I am a devote student of Godin (and rarely do I think he needs correction). So, I was delighted to see he has written a book explicitly about strategy. I heard him say lots of people were coming to him for proposed marketing advice, when in fact what they wanted was strategy advice. Understandable.
Now for the disagreement. At 23:45 there is a discussion of Seth's claim that people are rarely rational. I love Seth's work but this claim is categorically false. He says most people simply follow/obey culture, and I agree. But, to claim following culture is irrational is to admit an misunderstanding, because following culture is a rational decision. In fact, I would argue following culture is the easiest path to the three things Seth says people want: freedom from fear, affiliation and status.
I am not an arsonist, and I have little tolerance for arsonists. Meaning, as a general rule, one shouldn't tear down a position without replacing it with something better. To that end, I would love to see Seth make a tiny adjustment and realize people are usually rational yet rarely conscious. Most people are on auto-pilot most of the time, but it is a rational behavior.
People who are familiar with Seth would probably be comfortable saying he is a chocolate sommelier, and people in the ketogenic community could easily claim being a chocolate sommelier is irrational (and those people would be wrong). Very often people label things they don't understand or agree with irrational, but the fact that alotta people claim something doesn't make it true
IMO there’s perhaps an issue of word choice here. IMO Seth’s framing and definition of ‘rational’, the notion we might hold in our minds when we work off an assumption that everyone (else) is rational, is that everyone thinks through their decisions, actions etc. in a deliberate manner. Put another way, perhaps to borrow the word as you describe - ‘consciously’.
IMO it’s indeed likely that the majority of us aren’t wholly conscious overall, or when it comes to specific areas of our life. To use Seth’s example, we might not eat certain foods because that’s just not the norm in the culture we were given, grew up with, inhabit. But we might explain it as “it’s weird” (ie there’s something inherently and irrefutably deviant about it) or that it’s absurd and there’s no legitimate, sane basis as to why anyone would eat that. We don’t consider, and it’s perhaps largely invisible to us, as to why and what the underpinnings are. Per Seth’s suggestion about “broken” rich people he knows (in contrast to the host and his decisions), the reading is that these rich folks perhaps don’t even know, aren’t even conscious as to why they want ever more money. It seems like just a chase for ever more riches to no end, possibly at all cost
The compass and map illustration caught my attention.
❤you guys this topic is so amazed and very good conversation take care and god bless🤭👍