Leadership Wednesday 25 - Seth Godin

I was speaking with my supervisor today when he brought up Seth Godin. I have a confession to make:

I don’t like Seth Godin.

Now to be fair to Seth (not that he cares an iota what I think about him), my attitude about him is based on a single talk I heard him give at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. I may have been tired from staying up too late to watch the Cubs in the NLDS, but I wasn’t that intrigued by what he said and I was distracted by the number of images in his PowerPoint.

I’m beginning to realize, though, that I should give Seth a second chance. A lot of people I respect consider his blog a must-read every day. As a leader I need to be willing to swallow my pride, get beyond an initial impression and admit that I might have missed something the first time around. Seth Godin may end up being my own personal Yoda: I underestimated him at first but he could end up being one of my greatest teachers.

Have you ever written someone off only to change your mind and learn from him or her?