According to marketing guru Seth Godin, we're transitioning from an industrial economy to a connection economy. The industrial economy was based on scarcity; the connection economy is based on abundance. It's not that we have an abundance of resources or--more important--time, but our goal is changing from offering mediocre for less cost to offering more for more.





To quote Godin: "Successful organizations have realized that they are no longer in the business of coining slogans, running catchy ads, and optimizing their supply chains to cut costs. And freelancers and soloists have discovered that doing a good job for a fair price is no longer sufficient to guarantee success. Good work is easier to find than ever before."

What matters now, Godin asserts, are qualities I live with: trust, permission, remarkability, leadership and stories that spread. He comments, "All six of these are the result of successful work by humans who refuse to follow industrial-age  rules. These assets aren’t generated by external strategies and MBAs and positioning memos. These are the results of internal struggle, of brave decisions without a map and the willingness to allow others to live with dignity. They are about standing out, not fitting in, about inventing, not duplicating." 





"The connection economy continues to gain traction because connections scale, information begets more information, and influence accrues to those who create this abundance. As connections scale, these connections paradoxically make it easier for others to connect as well, because anyone with talent or passion can leverage the networks created by connection to increase her impact. The connection economy doesn’t create jobs where we get picked and then get paid; the connection economy builds opportunities for us to connect, and then demands that we pick ourselves."







This Friday, we host a record-breaking 70 admitted students and their families for "revisits."  We'll do it again next week. Godin says, "Friends bring us more friends. A reputation brings us a chance to build a better reputation." 



We know from experience that those who revisit have more than passing interest in enrolling. Approximately eighty percent of them will be here in September.



In Godin's words, they'll be getting more for more.