Seth Godin's Hierarchy of Success

For those of you who haven't heard of Seth Godin, let me introduce you to him. Mr. Godin is the author of "the most popular marketing blog in the world" as well as "the bestselling marketing books of the last decade" (or at least that's what his website says). I receive email feeds of his blog posts every day, as do most of my co-workers, and it's safe to say that his posts shape many of the ideas that are thrown around my office. If you can ignore his penchant for tooting his own horn, much of what Mr. Godin has to say can be applied to your job, even if you don't work in marketing.

The thing that I find so interesting about his entries is that he has something new and noteworthy to say every single day. Now that I have a blog of my own, I realize how difficult it is to come up with fresh content. Eventually I hope to get to a point where everything that I say is entertainingly thought-provoking; but on the occasions when I'm lacking inspiration, I'll try to point you to someone else who might make you think.

I've posted Mr. Godin's entry on the hierarchy of success below. It's definitely better than anything I could have written today.

Until Tomorrow,
Jennifer Lynn

The hierarchy of success by Seth Godin

I think it looks like this:

1. Attitude
2. Approach
3. Goals
4. Strategy
5. Tactics
6. Execution

We spend all our time on execution. Use this word instead of that one. This web host. That color. This material or that frequency of mailing.

Big news: No one ever succeeded because of execution tactics learned from a Dummies book.

Tactics tell you what to execute. They're important, but dwarfed by strategy. Strategy determines which tactics might work.

But what's the point of a strategy if your goals aren't clear, or contradict?

Which leads the first two, the two we almost never hear about.

Approach determines how you look at the project (or your career). Do you read a lot of books? Ask a lot of questions? Use science and testing or go with your hunches? Are you imperious? A lifehacker? When was the last time you admitted an error and made a dramatic course correction? Most everyone has a style, and if you pick the wrong one, then all the strategy, tactics and execution in the world won't work nearly as well.

As far as I'm concerned, the most important of all, the top of the hierarchy is attitude. Why are you doing this at all? What's your bias in dealing with people and problems?

Some more questions:

• How do you deal with failure?
• When will you quit?
• How do you treat competitors?
• What personality are you looking for in the people you hire?
• What's it like to work for you? Why? Is that a deliberate choice?
• What sort of decisions do you make when no one is looking?

Sure, you can start at the bottom by focusing on execution and credentials. Reading a typical blog (or going to a typical school for 16 years), it seems like that's what you're supposed to do. What a waste.

Isn't it odd that these six questions are so important and yet we almost never talk or write about them?

If the top of the hierarchy is messed up, no amount of brilliant tactics or execution is going to help you at all.