In this video, I sat down with my friend and bestselling author Seth Godin to discuss a lot of important business issues, but Seth’s advice about being successful is probably far from what you’d expect. Most, if not all of our interview was about soft skills. That is, the personal skills necessary to navigate today’s choppy business waters. Things like listening, empathy, courage, integrity and more. At one point I asked Seth if there were indicators or signs when we will know that we’re sufficiently prepared. His answer is below.
"You will never be ready," Seth said. "You should be prepared, but you will never be ready. Because what it means to be 'ready' is that it [your business idea] is going to work. When Gutenberg launched the printing press . . . 94 percent of the people in Europe were illiterate. So, it was a stupid time to launch the printing press.
"When Carl Benz launched the car, it was against a lot of laws, there were no roads and no gas stations. It was a dumb time to launch the car.
"He couldn't possibly be ready. So, what I'm arguing is not that you should ship something that's sloppy, or flawed, what I'm saying is, if the thing that's holding you back is you're saying to yourself, 'It's not ready, it's not perfect . . . . ' Those are the symptoms of fear, and you'll never get over that fear."
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Just Google “Seth” to find out what Seth Godin is up to...
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