Seth Godin Partnering with The Idea Guy!

I was recently reading about HubPages acquiring marketing guru Seth Godin’s highly experimental and highly successful web business Squidoo, and I started wondering what would be next for one of my favorite authors and meatball sundae philosopher.

The idea that popped into my head was wouldn’t it be cool if he decided to come work with ME??

I am a big fan of Seth Godin.
I read his books, listen to his audio, watch his videos, and debate (and adapt and recommend and put into practice) his insights. Seth would be a perfect fit for what I try to do in the realm of creativity, ideas, marketing, and development for both individuals and businesses — what if Seth decided to joined forces with me?

That set me on the path of “What Would Seth Do?” if he DID come on board?

• What’s the FIRST thing Seth Godin would do at my company?
• What’s the second thing Seth would do at my company?
• What’s the LAST thing Seth would ever do at my company?
• What would Seth keep doing at my company?
• What would Seth stop doing at my company?
• What would Seth start doing at my company?

And then (being the avid Seth fan that I am) I realized that waiting for Seth Godin to show up and invite himself into my little company is counter intuitive to what Seth is always saying…

“Don’t wait to be picked. Pick yourself.”

There’s nothing stopping me from going ahead with the things I think Seth Godin would be doing if he worked in my company (except me), just like there’s nothing stopping you from implementing the ideas that some ideal guru you admire might do if he or she suddenly became vested in your own business.

Everyday I see companies sharing inspiring quotes and images in social media that contain brilliant wisdom from leaders past and present, but after they post the quote (and click back to see how many Likes or Shares it received) they go back to doing the same thing in their advertising and in their marketing and in their customer service and in their jobs and in their personal life that they’ve always done.

What if Walt Disney showed up at your office tomorrow (barring and zombie-like brain-eating tendencies) and said “I saw that post yesterday about how I said dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them — let’s go do it together.”

Or what if Richard Branson sent you an email that read “thanks for sharing my quote about how every risk is worth taking as long as it’s for a good cause and contributes to a good life — why don’t we work together on that business idea you had?”

Stop waiting for them to stop by (or buy into) your company and invite you to do all the cool things you wish you could work on together, and just act as-if they are already on your side and part of the project.

The key piece is to not just ask “What would [insert guru here] do?” but to specifically ask —
“What would [insert guru here] do …at my company?”

Who knows, perhaps your efforts might even get their attention (maybe not of Walt Disney… but perhaps of The Walt Disney Company.)

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