Seth Godin

some axes for you to choose from

We can’t change the culture, but each of us has the opportunity to change a culture—our little pocket of the world.
The smallest viable market makes sense because it maximizes your chances of changing a culture

Normalization creates culture, and culture drives our choices, which leads to more normalization.

Marketers don’t make average stuff for average people. Marketers make change. And they do it by normalizing new behaviors.

What the marketer, the leader, and the organizer must do as their first job is simple: define “us.”

We need to be braver than that, more articulate, more willing to take initiative in not only reaching our markets but changing them, changing their expectations, and most of all, changing what they choose to tell and show each other.

It should be called “a culture” or “this culture,” because there is no universal culture, no “us” that defines all of us.

Map and understand the worldview of the culture we seek to change.

Focus all our energy on this group. Ignore everyone else. Instead, focus on building and living a story that will resonate with the culture we are seeking to change.

That’s how we make change—by caring enough to want to change a culture, and by being brave enough to pick just one.

Roots and shoots
Here’s an analogy that helps bring to life the ideas we’ve covered so far:

Your work is a tree. The roots live in the soil of dreams and desires. Not the dreams and desires of everyone, simply those you seek to serve.

If your work is simply a commodity, a quick response to an obvious demand, then your roots don’t run deep. It’s unlikely that your tree will grow, or even if it does, it’s unlikely to be seen as important, useful, or dominant. It will be crowded out by all the similar trees.

As your tree grows, it creates a beacon for the community. The early adopters among the people you seek to serve can engage with the tree, climb it, use it for shade, and, eventually, eat the fruits. And they attract the others.

If you have planned well, the tree will quickly grow taller, because the sun isn’t being blocked—there are few other trees in the same area. As the tree grows, it not only attracts other people, but its height (as the dominant choice in the neighborhood) blocks out the futile efforts of other, similar trees. The market likes a winner.

It’s a mistake to show up with an acorn and expect a crowd. Work that matters for people who care is the shortest, most direct route to making a difference.

the patterns are established, time is precious, and risk is something to be feared.