newelty

Seth Godin is very popular. He’s a best selling author, and a marketing guru. He introduced the notion of “permission marketing” which means to survive in today’s marketplace you can’t dumb down your audience and you must respect your customer base.

Why am I talking about this? You thought you were on a travel blog, right?

Stay with me. From Seth’s blog:

In the developing world, there’s often a sharp dividing line between the elites and everyone else. The elites have money and/or an advanced education. It’s not unusual to go to the poorest places on earth and find a small cadre of people who aren’t poor at all. Sometimes, this is an unearned position, one that’s inherited or acquired in ways that take advantage of others. Regardless, you can’t just announce you’re an elite and become one.

In more and more societies, though (including my country and probably yours [and I'm including virtually the entire planet here, except perhaps North Korea] ), I’d argue that there’s a different dividing line. This is the line between people who are actively engaged in new ideas, actively seeking out change, actively engaging–and people who accept what’s given and slog along.

Perhaps I’m flattering myself (and you) but I think almost everyone who reads blogs like this one is part of the elites. It’s not because of birth or financial standing, it’s because of a choice, the decision to be aware and engaged, to challenge a status quo of your choice.

The challenge of our time may be to build organizations and platforms that  engage and coordinate the elites, wherever they are. After all, this is where change and productivity come from.

I can’t help thinking how Lia and I feel about about lazy travel writers when I read his posts. The Carol Pucci‘s of the world aren’t engaged with their readers, aren’t offering helpful advice, and are too slow to adapt to new technologies. They may have been the elite of yesteryear. No more.

I love how people like Seth emerge into the zeitgeist with zeal and creativity. I firmly believe that the current formula for travel sections around the country will become totally irrelevant over time.