Seth: Hey it’s Seth, Seth Godin and I just want to let you know I recorded an interview with Josh and I’ll be with you in November. Look forward to talking to you then.

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Joshua: Hey, everyone. Joshua Spodek here. That was Seth Godin and this short recording is a teaser from my full interview with him. He talks about his new book in it. So the full version will come out with his book which is in November. In a second though I’ll play the closing message from our conversation so you can hear more wisdom from him right now. But I have to say a few words about Seth in our conversation because, one, it made a big impression on me and, two, I want to let you know what’s to come.

Though I prepared by reading Linchpin and Purple Cow and watching hours of his videos and reading dozens of his blog posts, probably hundreds actually, since talking to him I’ve re-read and re-watched a bunch of it and it started to come alive beyond my expectation. Because of hearing him speak on this topic many questions I posed to others about leadership and the environment he answered in totally unique ways or at least ways that I hadn’t heard before. So several times I have to say I thought he was off track. And then I realized that he spoke more, that he was steps ahead of others with how to lead people in environmental issues. So I learned a lot about leadership and the environment and this is my topic. So if you haven’t listened to Seth talk about the environment, you’re going to love his application of marketing, leadership, teaching and education to this area. So definitely come back in November.

And let me be clear – you’re going to learn about leadership, you’re going to learn about marketing, you’re going to learn about education, you’re going to learn about personal growth and development. The environment part is just the foil, it’s just what we’re talking about. You’re going to learn about Seth. I’m not sure if I can say it any better than that. What you like about Seth, that’s what you’re going to find here just from a new perspective. Most guests, I have to say, the preparation and the conversations, that’s the most valuable parts with them. With Seth those things were the beginning. I didn’t realize that some core parts of his message and his life that came out when he responded to my questions. He said things that I really didn’t expect. Now I’m re-reading his books and I’m reading them in his voice and the meaning is becoming more clear. I guess this was always available to me. But some things I’d read as repetitive. Now that I’m reading them in his voice they’re becoming encouraging, more nuanced.

I will say that some things I disagreed with or thought that he missed so I’m not blanket or blindly praising him but I will speak to his generosity genuineness and authenticity. Seth and I first connected a couple of years ago when he wrote a blurb for my book. He was generous of then and he was generous this time enough to meet me at his place. Actually, he met me at the train carrying two full bags of vegetables that he just picked up from the farmer’s market and on the way back to his place we joked and talked about CSAs and food and preparation and things like that. I can’t think of anyone who feels more salt of the Earth either relative to his or her notoriety or in absolute terms. So I hope and believe that the openness and generosity that I got from him came out in the conversation with him. Here’s how Seth closed the interview being generous again.

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Seth: I think it’s worth noting that this work you’re doing isn’t easy, it’s time consuming, it’s difficult and it’s scary. And [unintelligible] that shows up on the podcast like yours relentlessly deserve the applause, the attention and the respect of the people who are engaging with it.

Too often we protect our attention and feel like we’ve given someone our attention they owe us something. But in the case of the work you’re doing I think that it’s a mutual engagement you’re having with your listeners and I just want to thank you. I’m sure they don’t thank you as much as they should.

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