How does a great teacher change you?

Long ago, the river might have taken a different path. (Image by Juan Diego Guzmán Hijuelos)

One of the fascinating things about learning is that, once you’ve learned something, it’s difficult to see things the way you saw them before. A good teacher changes your worldview so profoundly that you can’t tell where their influence begins and ends — your thinking has been transformed forever.

At that point, it’s easy to dismiss the impact that the teacher has had on you. It’s understandable. As a teacher, I’ve come to accept this reality. Each student is an experiment of one, without a control group. Who’s to say whether things would have turned out the same without the teacher’s efforts? I think I made some kind of difference, but there’s no way to prove it. 

I can let that go. If I want to understand the magnitude of a teacher’s work, I can instead reflect on my own teachers and how they contributed to my understanding of the world. And one of my most important teachers is Seth Godin, who turns sixty today. 

I encountered Seth’s work around the time I shifted from freelancer to entrepreneur in 2007. I needed new inputs to help me navigate my new reality. I picked up All Marketers Are Liars and read it cover to cover. 

I can’t say that I was blown away — not because I wasn’t, but because the ideas that Seth shared in that book have subsequently become truths that I take for granted. What did I think marketing was before I understood that it was about tapping into the stories that we tell ourselves about what we’re buying, supporting, experiencing, or learning? What did my brain look like before Seth said that the key to effective marketing was to make a great product in the first place? What did I believe before I understood that you can build long-term relationships with the people you seek to serve, generating trust over time and learning what they want?

Like Aristotle, Picasso, Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Richard Pryor, and countless other artists, teachers, and thinkers, Seth Godin has been so influential that his ideas might not seem as groundbreaking as they were. But they were. They are. 

Thus, I don’t remember exactly what I thought about the first of Seth’s books that I read, but I recognized that this information was what I was looking for to help me to grow my business. At the time, that’s what I believed I was learning from Seth. However, I have learned far more from him since then — not just from what he has explicitly taught, but by his example. 

From Seth, I’ve learned that it’s not necessary to give your blog posts hokey titles like, “The Top Five Ways to X” and “Are You Making This Mistake When You Y?” in order to get people to read.

I’ve learned that you don’t have to share intimate details about your family and personal life on social media in order to make a connection with someone. There are other ways to bring vulnerability and humanity to your online pursuits. 

I’ve learned that the ideas that expose us to criticism might be the ones we’re most scared to put out there, but they’re also the ones that people might need most from us. 

I’ve learned that ideas are not scarce. Anyone can have them, and they’re meant to be shared.

I’ve learned that you don’t need special credentials to lead others. 

I’ve learned that if you keep showing up and contributing, you can make change happen. 

In June 2012, I got to see Seth speak at Mailchimp HQ in Atlanta. I had just launched The Little Middle School and was preparing for the first year. During the Q&A, I asked Seth something about how he might approach teaching kids. 

He suggested showing students a drinking bird. You know, the toy ones that dip their heads in water repeatedly? Get them to talk about it and figure out why it works.

The clarity of this advice delighted me. My mission, above all, was to teach kids to think. It’s simple but difficult, like so many worthwhile pursuits. Later that summer, when I read Seth’s manifesto on education, Stop Stealing Dreams, I felt validated — but also a sense of urgency. This was not an endeavor to dabble in. Human lives were at stake. So much has changed after eight years of leading a school, but that feeling has never left me. 

In recent years, I’ve participated in Seth’s workshops and continued to learn — about instructional design, community, collaboration, giving and receiving feedback, and many other things. I’m grateful that Seth is a contemporary. We are alive at the same time, so I get to experience his work as it unfolds. I get to watch my own teacher continue to grow and learn. What a privilege. 

I know that my work would not be the same without Seth and his work. My understanding of the world — and my contribution to it — wouldn’t be the same. I can’t say how, being an experiment of one, but it’s unquestionably true. And I’m glad.

Happy birthday, Seth. Thanks for doing the work you do. 

ETA: Seth is donating his birthday to charity: water. Please consider making a donation, if you’re able.