Seth Godin & The A-Listers

To move forward we must clarify our thoughts...at least in our (my) little pea brain.

I must have said at least twenty times here at the Reviews, "I will not link out to Seth Godin." 

"Sounds like you're dying to link out to Seth, Sparky."

You know, this isn't about Seth.  (See?)  It's about this overwhelming notion that has clamped itself around my heart for as long as I can remember:  "You are not a me-too person David!"  And I'm not.  When I see cattle following their brothers blindly off the cliff side, I run in the opposite direction as fast as I can.  In reality though, I've been following Seth since before most of the cattle learned the harsh cold realities of aerodynamics.  But, in choosing to follow this egotistical, self-centering mindset of mine, I might have deprived one person of Seth Godin's brilliance.  And for me, that's one person too many...although I am still convinced that there's not one person reading this who isn't three degrees away from the lad.

"Sounds like you might be stepping in some cow chips here Sparky..."following their brothers blindly off the cliff side...?"

Those cows are not Purple.  They do not stand out.  They do not value the true meaning of Seth's words, they are just doing it to try and look cool. 

Well, regardless of the twisted path it took through my brain, the outcome, my previous statements about Seth, haven't been setting well with me and this post was meant to clarify that.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah Sparky.  What's got you so fired up bout Seth anyway?"

I started reading Small is the New Big yesterday.  Seth has an essay titled, Cover, Judging a Book by its.  In it he says, "I try to find things with lousy covers and go out of my way to check them out.  If the herd is drawn to the obvious, flashy cover, then I'm not going to find insightful, rare information where everyone else is.  The unique stuff is hiding."  This is precisely (substitute lousy covers with non A-list bloggers) what I set out to accomplish with Six Degrees of Blogging!!  But even there I must digress.

As much as I'd like to turn in the opposite direction and run from the cliff side of A-Lister's readers, I can't.  And that's because of folks like David Armano.  Read this.  How in all the world of Ted Levitt's creation can you not be endeared to a gentleman such as David? 

The bottom line here is that I am not going to continue to ignore folks like Seth and David for some egotistical notion.  Matter of fact, the most excellent characteristics and traits that they exhibit are helping me to build a foundation for RadioBack...

Comments

[Steve Sherlock]

Ah, the conundrum of the A-listers... you want their attention but linking too them only adds to their A-list and doesn't significantly help youself. But if you don't hang around them, others have a hard time noticing you.

It's not easy being a z-lister...

But in spite of all that, I do read Seth. He does have good ideas. Then I go cruise the long tail to find the next hidden purple cow or pink horse, or just to see what's around the corner.

[Drew McLellan]

Dave,

Sometimes its tough to wrestle with truths or beliefs that collide with one another, isn't it.

I've only been blogging for a few months. I decided I was going to do my best not to get caught up in the A-Z list game. I'm wired to be competitive...so it would be a slippery slope for me. Better to stay off the hill all together.

I was just going to write because I could and hope that people found some value in it. If something another blogger said would add to that value, I'd link to it. Regardless of their A-Z status.

I figure if people think I'm doing it to ride on someone else's coat tails or to be cool, so be it. They'll either see what I'm all about or not. And there's probably nothing I can do about that anyway.

Perception is reality, after all.

I love your blog...will be stopping by again soon.

Best,

Drew

[Rosa Say]

A very wise man (with the initials of D.R.) taught me that when all is said and done, your “value add” makes you an A-Lister to the person who felt you delivered that value to, for you opened yourself up to help them in some way.

The sharing of aloha … it happens hundreds, thousands, maybe a million times a day thanks to this citizen publishing wonder child called blogging, and if that’s what the A-listers have called attention to, and spawned wannabe copies of – halleluiah!

People need to be touched by other people, and all bloggers, whether A, B, Q or Z can do their part, don’t you think?

[dave]

Steve - The Long Tail is where it's at! I couldn't be more happy cruising down it myself.

Thanks for stopping by Drew! "They'll either see what I'm all about or not" I really do feel this way as well. This little rant of mine was something that needed to be stacked neatly on the loading dock of my mind, to be shipped off to Oblivion.

Yes I do Rosa! It's time to get back to Adding Value and let the A,B,Q,Z list thing be on its way to Oblivion.

[Greg]

Dave and Rosa, value is the key. Always has been and always will be.

Personally, I would rather have a bunch of links from the J, D, R, and Z listers who are most likely to have the potential to send me qualified and motivated readers than the link love from an A lister.

I have been online since 1998 and have found that people naturally link to helpful, useful, and practical content.

[David Armano]

Honestly, I'm just really thankful people read my blog. I'm sure I would still be doing it if I had a small audience, but having a fairly significant one makes it even more interesting for me. Hopefully it's just as good for my readers (I always feel like I'm getting more out of the deal)

:)

[dave]

Sooooo True Greg! That's why guys like Slacker Mgr, 43 Folders and you Greg, (Man! you've got an awesome archive) Rule!

David - just keep on keepin on brother! It's all good.