Today, I spoke to Seth Godin, Seth is the author of Linchpin: Are You Indispensable, as well as the bestselling 
author of Tribes, The Dip, Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars, and other international bestsellers that have changed the way business people think and act. His books have been translated into +20 languages. He’s the most influential business blogger in the world and consistently one of the 25 most widely read bloggers. He’s also the founder of Squidoo.com. He was recently chosen as one of 21 Speakers for the Next Century by Successful Meetings and The Prime Minister of Permission Marketing by Promo Magazine. He holds an MBA from Stanford, and was called “the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age” by Business Week.
You can connect with Seth via @Facebook @Twitter @Blog
Mohammed: You defined Art as “The act of bringing humanity and connection to change someone else.”, how can we build an artist personal brand?
Seth: I guess the goal is to make connections through generosity and to make change by pushing the envelope. None of that is easy, but it’s really the only way.
Mohammed: When we were children, we dreamed big and visualized things we never imagine to have it now. Why we stopped dreaming when we become older?
Seth: I think there are two reasons:
1. As we get older, we sense we have more to lose.
2. School burned it out of you. It’s a lot easier to run a school if everyone is compliant.
Mohammed: You said: “You are not your resume. You are your work.” with the rescission around the world. What do you advice jobseekers who don’t have a job but have time, energy and unique perspective?
Seth:
A report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers annual student survey said that 20 percent of 2009 college graduates who applied for a job actually have one. So, what should the unfortunate 80% do?
How about a post-graduate year doing some combination of the following (not just one, how about all):
- Spend twenty hours a week running a project for a non-profit.
- Teach yourself Java, HTML, Flash, PHP and SQL. Not a little, but mastery. [Clarification: I know you can't become a master programmer of all these in a year. I used the word mastery to distinguish it from 'familiarity' which is what you get from one of those Dummies type books. I would hope you could write code that solves problems, works and is reasonably clear, not that you can program well enough to work for Joel Spolsky. Sorry if I ruffled feathers.]
- Volunteer to coach or assistant coach a kids sports team.
- Start, run and grow an online community.
- Give a speech a week to local organizations.
- Write a regular newsletter or blog about an industry you care about.
- Learn a foreign language fluently.
- Write three detailed business plans for projects in the industry you care about.
- Self-publish a book.
- Run a marathon.
Brand Word: Waiting for inspiration is another way of saying that you’re stalling. You don’t wait for inspiration, you command it to appear.
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Spotlight: His latest book LINCHPIN hit the top ten on Amazon the first day it was released!
“This is what the future of work (and the world) looks like. Actually, it’s 
already happening around you.” ~ Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com
“If Seth Godin didn’t exist we’d need to invent him-that’s how indispensable he is! You hold in your hands a compelling, accessible, and purpose-filled book. Read it, and do yourself a big favor. Your future will thank you!” ~ Alan Webber, Founder, Fast Company
“Thousands of authors write business books every year, but only a handful reach star status and the A-list lecture circuit. Fewer still – one, to be exact – can boast his own action figure… Godin delivers his combination of counterintuitive thinking and a great sense of fun.” ~ BusinessWeek
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branding expert. Chris is the founder of 
