Tuesday 3rd November 2015

The Great Hall, Sherfield Building, Imperial College, London

No slides.

No presentation.

10:30 Seth Godin walks on stage, thanks the audience for showing up and asks for the first question.

15:00 Seth thanks the audience and ends the session.

Just Q&A, live and uncut.

THAT is a guru.

Everyone is gifted two of his books, a poster and a pencil engraved with “no such thing as writer’s block”.

Here is what the poster says:

The first time you bake cupcakes,

you will certainly follow the recipe with rigour.

Gaining confidence, by the third time,

you might improvise and screw up.

Learning your lesson, you will follow the recipe

again and again as closely as you can.

At this point, the fifth time,

some people actually learn to bake.

They improvise successfully.

They understand the science and the outcomes.

They develop a kind of gracefulness in the kitchen.

Others merely plod along.

They never experience the thrill of failing

or the generosity of creation.

They’re cooks not chefs.

We have too many cooks.

The world is begging for chefs.

Go, make work that matters.