Seth Godin

some axes for you to choose from

you are not expected (or welcome) to bring us every one of your insecurities, innermost fears, and urgent demands.
You’re here to serve.

That’s fine, because revealing isn’t what better looks like. Revealing is reserved for your family and your closest friends, not the marketplace.
Protect yourself. You’ll be needed tomorrow.

And when we do the best version of our best work, our responsibility isn’t to make it for ourselves . . . it’s to bring it to the person we seek to serve

onnect us to our purpose and vision for our career or business.
Allow us to celebrate our strengths by remembering how we got from there to here.
Deepen our understanding of our unique value and what differentiates us in the marketplace.
Reinforce our core values.
Help us to act in alignment and make value-based decisions.
Encourage us to respond to customers instead of react to the marketplace.
Attract customers who want to support businesses that reflect or represent their values.
Build brand loyalty and give customers a story to tell.
Attract the kind of like-minded employees we want.
Help us to stay motivated and continue to do work we’re proud of.

Better is up to the users, not up to you

Within that framework, though, there’s plenty of room. Room for you to dig in deep and decide what change you want to make, and how (and who) you seek to serve.

Instead, it’s a different extreme, a different story, a different sort of scarcity.

We don’t do this work because we feel like it in the moment. We do this work, this draining emotional labor, because we’re professionals, and because we want to make change happen.

he same is true of your product or service. You may say you’re offering a widget, but don’t believe it. When you’re marketing change, you’re offering a new emotional state, a step closer to the dreams and desires of your customers, not a widget.