Author: admin

My thinking about blogging has been evolving, as I read and learn new theory. So the next two posts will close this digest of marketing guru Seth Godin’s arguments on art. I have been blogging for the past year by pitching ideas widely, to fellow copywriters and other writers, as well as to prospects. Increasingly, this spring, I will be using the blog to engage better with clients and prospects, in content and tone. More on that to come, in future postings.

In my previous blog posting,  however, I reviewed marketing author Seth Godin’s challenge in The Icarus Deception, that since we are well past the Industrial Age, why are we still settling for so little in our art? Today I’ll look at what Godin prescribes—as another approach to art, in an economy of “connection.”

In the last decade, Godin writes, the door to the “connected economy” has been open.  The move is from an “industrial economy that cherishes compliance to a connected economy that prizes achievement” (22). From making stuff, we now try to make meaning, he says.

The challenge of the 21st Century’s economy isn’t to build more and better and faster and cheaper (after the capitalist Industrial model), but to optimize “this brief moment in time . . . when connection is easier to find and cherish than it will . . . be again. While some people are [still] polishing their systems and honing their spreadsheets, an ever-growing cadre of artists is busy creating work that’s worth connecting to.”

For some, even contemplating flying that high is terrifying, because we overestimate the risk or threat of creating new things and underestimate our ability to cope or grow with the challenges we meet.

The challenge of our 21^st C times is “to find a journey worthy of your heart and soul.” Continue reading “Provocations on Art: Reading Seth Godin’s _The Icarus Deception_ Part Three . . . (Portfolio Penguin, 2012)”

In my last posting, I introduced Seth Godin’s theory that we need to work in ways subversive to the status quo. In The Icarus Deception, he discusses comfort and safety zones. He says that for centuries, we have equated the concept of a “comfort zone” with a “safety zone.” We navigate our lives between these two zones, learning when to go and when to stop, and backing off when danger feels near. But because in the 21^st century, we lack the time to re-evaluate the “safety zone” each time we make a decision, we forget it and focus on “its sister, the comfort zone.” We “assume that what makes us comfortable also makes us safe” (3).

Godin argues that the safety zone has changed, but the comfort zone hasn’t, so we are lulled into accepting a day-job, occupying the corner office, attending a famous college—all safe places. In the face of life’s challenges, “We hold back, waiting for a return to ‘normal,’ but in the new normal you can’t be resistant to change. . . . We settled for a safety zone that wasn’t bold enough, that adhered to authority and compliance. And we built a comfort zone around being obedient and invisible, so that,” to refer to the Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus, “we’re far too close to the waves” (4). This is the outcome of the death of the Industrial Age.

Godin’s title refers to the Greek myth of Icarus, who was instructed by his inventor father (and prison escapee) Daedalus, not to fly too high, too close to the sun, or his wax wings would melt. Both knew that it also wasn’t safe to fly too close to the sea, “because the water would ruin the lift to his wings.” Godin’s central provocation here is that it’s more dangerous to fly too low than it is to fly too high, because the “low” feels safe and something to “settle” for. What we settle for is small dreams, so that we shortchange ourselves and others, who “depend upon or could benefit from our work.” Godin argues that the path forward is to “be human,” to do art and “fly higher than we’ve been taught is possible.”

In this context, Godin says that there’s still a “safety zone,” but that it is no longer where you feel comfortable. Instead, it’s the place “where art and innovation and destruction and rebirth occur. The safety zone is the never-ending creation of ever-deeper personal connection” (4). The Industrial age should give way to the “art of connection” (which I’ll discuss in a later posting).

To become “comfortable with the behaviours that make you safe as you progress, you need to create change, be restless with what stands still and disappointed when you haven’t failed recently” (5). There must be room to fail, as writers Smith and Kuipers and Slaunwhite suggest, from their very different perspectives (see my last post, “part one” of this series). Since artists are never invulnerable (we necessarily take things “personally”), the “new safety zone isn’t as comfortable as the last one was.” Continue reading “Provocations on Art: Reading Seth Godin’s _The Icarus Deception_ . . . Part Two (Portfolio Penguin, 2012)”

In his blog on April 12, 2013, Seth Godin observes: “Every day, I get letters from people who found The Icarus Deception at just the right moment in their careers. It has opened doors for people or given them the confidence to keep going in the face of external (and internal) resistance. . . . I tried to create a foundation for people willing to do a better (and scarier) sort of work.”

Godin is speaking of many kinds of “creatives,” including freelance copywriters, on whom MarCom executives often rely to promote their products and services.

In his other best-selling books, Godin’s argues that we should treat our work of marketing as art. And by art, he’s not referring to a “gene” or a “specific talent” for original thought, but to an “attitude available to anyone who has a vision that others don’t have, and the guts to do something about it.” He advocates for a different way of working and a different way of thinking about the work that we do.

At this late time in history, he believes that art “is the truly human act of creating something new that matters to another person. The only refuge left, the only safe path, is to be the one who makes art” (xiii). I remember, for instance, English novelist Zadie Smith saying in an interview that she’d rather write novels that are “loose” and “baggy” and maybe not entirely coherent, if they accomplish a new way of speaking to the reader, or of exploring something previously ignored, that the reader finds valuable. Saskatoon-based novelist Alice Kuipers similarly said in a recent interview that she wants to use the format of the novel to ask questions and explore possibilities, without having to be “perfect” or critically acclaimed. As Godin says, “the opposite of coherent is interesting” and “art is almost never coherent.” Continue reading “Provocations on Art: Reading Seth Godin`s _The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?_ . . . .Part One (Portfolio Penguin, 2012)”

In his blog today on Hubspot, writer Cory Eridon provided 10 tips on how to overcome writer’s block. Visit  http://bit.ly/11sq7k5 to read more.

But in today’s blog posting, I have five tips of my own, a couple of which overlap with Cory’s and others which have come from my own writing experience. Read on.

(1)   “What should I write about? “ This question comes up when you don’t know how to choose (or even think up) a topic for your blog posting, social media stream, etc.  When you’re surfing the net or reading anything at all, keep a list (hard copy, if necessary) of interesting and useful topics. AWAI-trained, Ontario-based copywriter John Wood has written powerful articles on combatting the topic shortage, available as free content. See  http://bit.ly/YXDFlf

If you’re an organization or company, hire me to write for you! I’m a curious and creative copywriter and editor, with wide-ranging interests.

(2)   “I’m not comfortable with my writing ‘persona’ or voice. As Cory himself suggests, write as if you were speaking to a valued colleague in your field. Be sure to avoid jargon and bafflegab.  It’s your ideas, not the language in which you couch them, that determine the value of your writing. Don’t try to disguise a lack of thinking in big language. Continue reading “5 Steps to Dissolve Your Writer’s Block (with nods to Cory Eridon, Seth Godin & Nick Usborne)”

In today’s blog posting, I’ll conclude my reporting on some of the highlights of Breitbarth’s five-part online tutorial on “How to Optimize Your New Li Profile” (on his powerformula site for LinkedIn). My goal is to help you optimize your use of LI, either as a client of a service or as someone who provides that service to another. So let’s continue . . . .

Tip 3: Your Unique Brand

Some people don’t know that under “Edit Profile,” you can use the up-down arrow to move any section of the profile into a different position (i.e. change the order of sections). This will help you put sections of greater importance nearer to the top of your profile, which statistically increases your chance that it will be read.

Under the “Summary” section, you can click the icon to upload media files, and then make connections that increase your credibility and differentiate you from competitors. You’ll have a similar effect by placing links on the sections on projects, languages, publications, organizations, honours and awards, test scores, courses, certifications, volunteering and causes, and even patents.

Under “Job Experience,” you can list many jobs (Breitbarth recommends listing all you’ve ever held), and have their organization’s/company’s logo appear.

Under “Education,” you can include links to videos, presentations and slide shows.

Under “Interests,” you can add hobbies and newly here is displayed the feature “in Common With” that enables you to share with others who have similar interests.

And the earlier standardized list of content preferences has been replaced with a new section, “Advice for Contacting.” Here you share your preferred method of contact, so people can reach you (e.g. email, phone, etc.).

Continue reading “5 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Make Your Business Grow (Courtesy of Wayne Breitbarth. . . Part Two)”