I’m Not Mad I’ve Just Read Different Books

“I’m not mad. I’ve just read different books.” Ken Campbell

Over the years there have been many people who have inspired me through their books and one of those people is Seth Godin. A marketing and tech guru who’s work about messaging and communication has always been at the forefront. He’s now what I would call a social architect. Creating different contexts for authentic learning, leadership and change to emerge and questioning what education is. Over the years I’ve filled out many of his “Ship It” books. They are deceptively simple. “Shipping” is his term for committing to a project and getting it out the door and over a deadline. To create high standards but not to let that stop you getting a project over the line.

The key is to do deep work on the simple and powerful questions contained in the short booklet. I just finished doing his Alternative MBA online. So I’m now officially an “altMBA Raven”. It’s an intensive five week sprint of provocations, assignments and structured ensemble feedback. The altMBA understands that the real learning is already within the group and supports that to happen in a lightly facilitated way that means that the more you put in the more you get back from the whole experience. Fast, short, deadlines mean there’s almost no time to think before you have to get the next assignment over the line, feedback on other peoples projects and then on to the next. A kind of “Ship it” gymnasium combined with a feedback dojo.

This vicariously creates an online community of diverse people who give enjoyable, creative and often challenging feedback on anything you choose to work on. So I did a fair bit of work on “The Gathering” during my time on the altMBA and look forward to implementing many of the things I learnt on the course. Look forward to future blogs that come out of this work.

Here is a short video I had to create quickly on the workshop that was my own personal message about “Shipping” to the other altMBA students.