I recently finished reading We Are All Weird by Seth Godin. Here are some of the highlights from my reading:
- “The epic battle of our generation is between the status quo of mass and the never-ceasing tide of weird.”
- “The ability to reach and change those around you has been changed forever by the connections of the Internet and the fact that anyone, anywhere can publish to the world.”
- “When you don’t feel alone, it’s easier to be weird, which sort of flies in the face of our expectation that the weird individual is also a loner.”
- “If you persist in trying to be all things to all people, you will fail. The only alternative, then, is to be something important to a few people.” (Tony’s note: We need focused vision and strategy.)
- “If you cater to the normal, you will disappoint the weird. And as the world gets weirder, that’s a dumb strategy.”
- “Deep down, many of us enjoy doing what other people are doing. This is why fashion works. Why there are pop songs. Why every company in the Fortune 500 uses similar HR policies. It feels good to be part of the herd.”
- “Why are we puzzled that in a world filled with change, a static, history-based approach is not working out so well?” (Tony’s note: Think about traditional discipleship models in the church.)
- “Whenever significant weirdness shows up in society, defenders of the status quo speak up to decry the immorality of it.”
- “Intentionally pitting people against one another to generate a mass audience is dangerous self-indulgence, because inevitably the tactic is used again to further split the group.” (Tony’s note: Think “church splits” when you read that.)
These are just a handful of the highlights. Here’s my Amazon link if you’d like to read more of We Are All Weird…which, by the way, we are.
