Lessons From Seth Godin – Part 4 – Follow No One

“How long have you been following Seth?”

The question seemed innocuous enough, and yet it really rubbed me the wrong way.  I was asked this while sitting outside after the event.  I don’t consider myself a “follower” of Seth Godin.  He is someone that I pay attention to, listen to, and certainly respect.  Follow?  No. I can’t, and it would do me no good anyway.

The people that make a real difference are those that borrow from the past but chart their own course into the future.  One of the central themes of the questions being asked throughout the day was “What’s the magic formula where I will wake up and be someone different than I am right now?”  The tough answer to hear was, of course, that there is no genie’s lamp to rub.  We all get to figure this stuff out for ourselves because we are all different.

It made me think that Twitter needs a new verb to replace Follow.  Following implies that I will go where you have already gone.  We don’t need more of that.  I like Listen as a verb.  I will Listen to what you say and then figure out what it means for me.