Seth Godin on Marketing, Meaning, and the Bibs We Wear

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On good days, Seth Godin thinks about all the progress we’re making on climate change. On bad days, he thinks about the problem of racing bibs. Though pieces of paper safety-pinned to runners’ chests seem obviously outdated, the bibs persist, highlighting how difficult it can be to change a culture for the better. And yet Seth also persists to improve the culture around marketing and work, giving hundreds of talks, writing daily blog posts, and publishing 21 best-sellers. His latest, The Song of Significance, explains why workplace culture has gotten so bad and what leaders can do to make it better.

Seth joined Tyler to discuss why direct marketing works at all, the marketing success of Trader Joe’s vs Whole Foods, why you can’t reverse engineer Taylor Swift’s success, how Seth would fix baseball, the brilliant marketing in ChatGPT’s design, the most underrated American visual artist, the problem with online education, approaching public talks as a team process, what makes him a good cook, his updated advice for aspiring young authors, how growing up in Buffalo shaped him, what he’ll work on next, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded May 23rd, 2023

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,
0:09.4	bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems.
0:13.5	Learn more at mercatis.org.
0:16.2	For full transcript of every conversation, enhanced with helpful links, visit
0:21.0	ConversationsWithT Tyler.com
0:24.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to Conversations With Tyler.
0:30.6	Today I am chatting with Seth Goden who has a new book out, The Song of Significance.
0:36.2	Usually I make up introductions for the guests, but the one for Seth on his book is so good
0:41.2	already.
0:42.2	And I quote,
0:43.2	Seth Goden is the author of 21 International Best Sellers that have changed the way people
0:48.4	think about work.
0:49.5	His books have been translated into 38 languages.
0:52.8	Goden writes one of the most popular marketing blogs in the world and two of his TED talks
0:57.6	are among the most popular of all time.
1:00.2	He is the founder of the Alt MBA, the social media pioneer, Squeedoo, and YoYoDine, one
1:06.8	of the first internet companies.
1:08.8	Find out more at Seth's.blog.
1:12.2	Seth, welcome.
1:13.2	What a treat, thank you for having me.
1:15.6	I have so many questions about marketing, let me start with one.
1:19.4	Why is it that direct mail works at all?
	...

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