Seth Godin is a freaking genius. From a blog he wrote HERE, I have lifted this: "Cows, after you've seen them for a while, are boring. They may be well-bred cows, Six Sigma cows, cows lit by a beautiful light, but they are still boring. A Purple Cow, though: Now, that would really stand out. The essence of the Purple Cow -- the reason it would shine among a crowd of perfectly competent, even undeniably excellent cows -- is that it would be remarkable. Something remarkable is worth talking about, worth paying attention to. Boring stuff quickly becomes invisible.
The world is full of boring stuff -- brown cows -- which is why so few people pay attention."
This, of course, is an essay about business. These days you have to do something remarkable to stand out in a crowd. Especially with a new technology. He talks about his essay "In Praise of the Purple Cow" and describes it: "It is a plea for originality, for passion, guts, and daring. Not just because going through life with passion and guts beats the alternative (which it does), but also because it's the only way to be successful. Today, the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable."
As I think about the gut-wrenching life & business challenges I have been through recently, I realize how difficult it is to just survive, let alone succeed, let alone be remarkable in business. And the tactics some people pull to gain an advantage in the business world were so dehumanizing it literally hurt in my chest. ("Nothing personal, it's just business") Survival of the fittest. Shrewdness. Competition. Winner takes all. Is that what it takes to make a business remarkable, a purple cow?
Blech!!
I like babies and pink and cupcakes and storybooks. Why I am even in the aggressive business world?
I like it when everyone gets to play in the sandbox together - the way facebook and twitter and blogger do, and when people with a vision but little wealth can be empowered to win - through web tools like joomla and mambo and sugarcrm and ning. That's sweet. That's good.
A person who can think of a business and a technology AND bring it to life on a shoestring, against all odds, now THAT person is remarkable. Actually, I interface with such people and technical brilliance almost daily. I am too soft-spoken, child-like, even sweet--they say--to be a real player here. What am I, a former kindergarten teacher and author of children's books, doing in the center of such a huge technology play, interfacing with eccentric geniuses and world icons in purple cow businesses?
Well, I helped create it for one thing. But now? I'm just keeping things rolling, doing gannt charts, trying to make everyone happy and bringing cupcakes to work now and then.
I'm not sure what the future holds for someone like me, even at the tech company I co-founded. It's like wondering if a pink cupcake could thrive in a gymnasium full of hungry pitbulls with a sweet tooth.
Next week will be interesting.
Thank goodness for Gary, Tolga, Geoff, Paul and the guys who treat me with respect and believe in me so much.
...to be continued.
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