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What Matters Now

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Some people are creative with music, others with art. Some are wonders with architecture and others can do amazing things through the beauty of dance. Seth Godin is hyper-creative with words (that is his art). Not just any old words, but words about business.

It actually goes well beyond the words that the best-selling business book author writes, and into how we read them. He is generous with him time and generous with his thoughts (just take a read through his Blog: Seth’s Blog). Part of his generosity involves getting others to think creatively with words. Today, Seth Godin launched a new (and free) e-book titled, What Matters Now. In What Matters Now, Godin asked many people he knows to choose a theme and write one page worth of insights on that theme (take a look at who contributed – talk about star-studded!).

It is an amazing journey of business and leadership thought.

I was honoured that Godin asked me to contribute to this project. The theme I chose is: "compassion". Here’s a part of it:

"We spend more than 50% of our lives at work. Why would anyone want to wake up in the morning and go to work with that attitude? If you don’t make it

personal, and if you don’t make it count, what’s the point? Business is missing one important core value: compassion."

Being only one small cog in this What Matters Now wheel is fun, but reading what everybody else came up with and seeing how beautiful the layout and design of this e-book is, is what makes this project so special.

You can check it out right here (and yes, you can download and share it with everyone for free): What Matters Now.

11 comments

  1. Great post, love the description of Seth using words as his art. I’m about halfway through the ebook now. Love the section by Hugh MacLeod especially these:
    “The more talented somebody is, the less they need props” and “If you accept the pain, it can not hurt you”.
    … Curious to know why you tagged this with dance and music?
    Best,
    Justin McCullough
    “You do not need permission from others to follow your dream. “”

  2. Hey Mitch,
    I am currently on page 21 and I am totally blown away at the authenticity and the passion of the contributors on this project. All of the people who contributed have love for what they do and this easily translates into this great e-book.
    This is one of my favourite quotes from it-
    “Until Fear is gone, (and realize he may never completely leave) make the decision to be courageous. The world needs your story in order to be complete.”
    I want to thank you for contributing to contributing to this great project and for telling your story every day on this medium.
    For anyone that will read this comment- Be genuine and share your story with the world. And of course, read – What Matters Now.
    Alex “What Matters” Ikonn

  3. I liked that you both tagged and titled this post with music and dance. I was instantly drawn to the post being an artist myself. Seth Godin’s book enables people to express themselves artistically in their own interpretation of what “artistic� is. Art is a passion, what people possess. To a surfer on the east coast of Australia, his art may be catching the perfect wave and the perfect moment. Art to a florist, may be an immaculate bouquet. To a lawyer, a wonderfully phrased brief. Music and dance were appropriately placed in your tags.
    Seth Godin gives people the opportunity to express their passion in life. I am very excited to read What Matters Now. Because, in the end, now is really all that matters.

  4. Amazing! I am sending it to everyone I know. I keep saying ‘wow’ as I read and think about what I am reading.
    What a great gift to start off the new year. Congrats to you Mitch on being part of something really special.

  6. I see your explination of talent and art. Like the surfer analogy and I “get” how you can tag this with dance and music in that sense, but I still wonder why those tags are there 🙂

  7. Those kind of project are really inspiring and anyone who have the chance to partitipated in such a project must thank his guest for asking to join the team. I’ve had the chance to participated in that kind of project and it is amazing how you work hard to do a good job and the lessons learned you get from it.
    It’s a real pleasure to read what you’re building right now.

  8. Yes your right Mitch , Seth is one of the best writers in Marketing and Business in our times , he is (as the chris Borgen said in Trust Agents ) creating his own game , and he is defiantly One Of US

  10. Elisabeth Gilberth caught my attention with her page on EASE…
    I did a reset a few years ago…I did pump the brakes…but it was hard to do…it took me over a year to lose this feeling of urgency…
    I agree so much with your take on compassion…my life has changed since I started to integrate my work into my life and not the other way around…everything I do now is close to me…Bringing what you do up close and personal enables a more compassionate, family like interaction with all those around you…
    Great post, thanks for sharing…

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