Seth Godin is notorious for having a visual keynote. Quick-fire, he’ll go through more than 100 slides in 30-minutes.
What’s interesting is the way the keynote seems to rest on one image. Often a visual metaphor and story that feeds into the core argument he’s about to make.
“What I realized is that human beings are really good at absorbing visual data, and that my job is to implant some visual data in your brain and tell you a story about it.” Seth Godin
Watch the first few minutes of this keynote on how to make ideas spread, and you’ll see what I mean.
I’d always wondered: how does he find these perfect visual metaphors to fit his stories?
It turns out, he doesn’t. I’d got it the wrong way around.
“I will build part of my presentation because I found a good picture, not the other way around.” Seth Godin
Here’s his practice:
He saw a picture with Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and Niels Bohr at the 1927 Solvay Conference. He decided, “I’ll use that picture for something.” He did some initial research to understand who Solvay was, what the conference was, and why it took place.
After about five hours of research, he found the germ of an idea.
There were 29 people in the picture, 17 of whom won the Nobel Prize. Eleven of them won the prize after the photo was taken.
“Which means you didn't get invited to the conference because you won the Nobel Prize. You won the Nobel Prize because you were with the people who got invited to the conference.“ Seth Godin
That picture became the penultimate story in his keynote for the next five years, would inform six chapters of his following book, and sparked the idea for the next product he launched (Akimbo, which became Purple.Space).
You won't find the story when you need it
Stories are a core ingredient in forming your argument and mapping the terrain of thought leadership. But you won’t find them by looking for them when you need them. I’ve tried that, my clients try that, it doesn’t work. Google and Claude will serve up tired anecdotes and cliches. When they find something good, somebody high-profile already famously used it.
I followed Godin's lead. I have a collection of publications I read and podcasts I listen to, and whenever I notice something interesting, I clip it. This email is an example of that. I've been sitting on the Godin clip for more than 18 months with no clear plan on what to do with it. I just knew it was interesting.
Maintain an input habit and curate gems before you know what to do with them.
P.S. Seth Godin Quotes are from the Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk