Seth Godin @ ISB India on 7th July 2010

Good Morning.


Lady luck smiled, as I entered right into the Khemka stadium of ISB, and what I saw in front of me was an ever smiling face, Seth Godin, the Man himself, sipping water, in his usual dress, a cream coat, white shirt, and Blue jeans, standing carelessly talking to people.
The arrangement for Seth Godin's session at ISB was acute, and showed why ISB is the most sought after B-school in India. Everyone appeared professional, and a sense of urgency filled the atmosphere, as it always happens when its Seth Godin involved in anything. Seth Godin appeared just as common as everyone, except the fact that he radiated an aura which was soon to blow most of the minds at ISB.
This post covers the learning's and understandings from Seth Godin's session at ISB on 7th July 2010, from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

1. Seth Godin, began his presentation with one great insight, " We all Live a Life of Chaos" and this Chaos has been there with us for a while.
Before, some 50 Years back, how Marketing was done.
Plan 1: was to Have a Mascot, the mascot must be cute, peppy, and brands must use these mascots everywhere and anywhere they can. The More the OTS, the more will be the brand Noise.

Then some 25 Years back came

Plan 2: Spam people, spam their emails, spam their office, just interrupt. The more a brand can interrupt the better its chances of doing the sale. Thus, came the ever enchanting, "TV industrial Complex".

Now  in 2010,both these plans don't seem to work any more. Customers have become smarter, and no longer are ready to be bugged any time. Hence, they must be taken permission to be told your message.

2. The Only way to succeed today is by having a Tribe, and Seth Godin went into define a tribe as
a group of people who
                                    a. Share a common language.
                                    b. have a desire.
                                    c. Bound by a culture.

once a brand gets this binding together, they are sure to go for the Marketing success.

3. The next slide talked about the ever increasing choice a common consumer faces. Seth Godin, gave the example of the grocery store in his city, which has around 30,000 variety of choice with 17,000 updates every week. It's highly improbable that someone is going to remember all those interruption message.
No customer buys something saying, " I really saw a cool ad that's why I am buying your product".

4. Hence the emphasis was back on " Invent a Tribe". Marketing, Seth told, is about Tribe management, and the CMO which we know as Chief Marketing officer must now become,
Chief Movement Officer.

5. Seth Godin, then changed the subject to explain why we are as we are.
He cited the case of Henry Ford, who invented assembly line system, and it was he who understood the word "Labor".
Labor must always be Cheap, thats the idea a Factory business model works on.
and to ensure that the factory model continue to get this Cheap labor, they made our school system the way it is now.
The idea was to make interchangable parts, because when every part was made out alone individually, it was easier to replace them with the other.
But what these interchangeable parts gave us, is the interchangeable people.
We all have become interchangeable, because once you start to fit in, they can ignore you.

6. He cited an example of the fine dining restaurant. The fine dining restaurant doesnt charge money for the food, food is all the same, you can get more calories from outside stalls, than the restaurant. The restaurant charges for the experience, the fine dishes, the way it is served.

7. Way back, if you wanted to work in a coal mine, you never said, I will save enough to purchase a coal mine, instead, you worked your way up to work in a coal mine. But what the new technology has done is, it has changed the fundamental aspect of manufacturing. You can do everything you want in this small piece of technology called laptop. Because with this you are connected with the world and you can go to places you have never dreamt of.

8. No longer " I am more obedient" is going to pay you for the lifetime. But then, What to do?
Well, as Seth Godin said, its what one has to figure out, because there is No MAP.
its tough and adventurous because no one has ever done it, and thats make it wonderful.

9. Seth Godin went to narrate a story, once he was talking to 5 top straight "A" students from school, and he showed them a small piece of a toy which they havent seen before. After a seconds of thought, all the students took out pen and paper, and said to Seth, " Sir, please tell us how it works, we will note it down".
Seth busted into tears at this sight.
He insisted that schools must push students to solve Problems which have never been solved.
and he went on to say, that, 70% of the ISB students even have no idea what it is to solve a real problem.
and thats much higher for any other B school in country, because we all tend to read Kotler, and how it emphasises on the Manufacturing world.

10. Seth explained that it requires for an artist to give gifts, not presents to the people.
There is no reason that Warren Buffet shares his wisdom with thousands of people. He does it because, he understands that the more empty he becomes, the more knowledge and wisdom can have space to creep in.
Gifts not favors are needed.

11. He finally went in to say that we all needs to "Do work that matters".

The last few words,

" It was my pleasure to be in such a session, and soak in the wisdom from the Man himself.

in case you need a more detailed presentation, and explaination,

I have made a presentation of his talks and how I have come to understand it,

into a small 14 Slides presentation.

Click here to go to my presentation.

Happy reading.