The American Dream - Gone Forever

June 1, 2011 2 Comments

Seth Godin is the best in the business at taking big ideas and making them simple.

Linchpin bookFrom his book, Lynchpin | Are you indispensable? Seth shares the old and new American dreams, which we want to share with our readers.

The old American Dream:

  • Keep your head down
  • Follow instructions
  • Show up on time
  • Work hard
  • Suck it up

That dream is over. Here’s the new American Dream, according to Seth Godin:

  • Be remarkable
  • Be generous
  • Create art
  • Make judgement calls
  • Connect people and ideas

Amen, Seth! Stop being a cog and start being “indispensable.”

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree on the changed American dream? We love your comments and sharing.

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Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers. He presented “How to Create a Great Personal Brand” at the 140 Social Media Conference on Long Island on May 26th and will appear on Sales Lead Management Radio on June 9th.

Find New Customers helps companies (with between 150 and 5,000 employees who sell complex products to businesses) to implement world-class lead generation programs. As companies struggle to create quality sales opportunities, they turn to lead generation companies like Find New Customers.
Filed Under: Self Education
  • Fred Dempster

    Can I agree and disagree? The dream is different, even my 50+ years tells me a lot. No computers when I was a kid, “app” was not a word representing over 500k applications for your cell phone, and on the other side, “retirement” is something more feared than welcome with an unsure financial future. So things are going faster and tougher - yet at the end of the day, having a home to go to is a lot the same as a wish. Seth set me off on a bunch of questions when he launched thedominoproject.com with “Poke the Box.” Had some interesting discussions - is it the same thing over and over? We are quick to settle in and avoid the challenge of change, and the resistance - “Do the Work” talks to this. The dream Seth talks to is one that is continuous - I bet I could dig back in a regular old paper book and find the same thing - people need to be pushed to change. Thanks!

  • http://www.findnewcustomers.com The Fearless Competitor, Jeff Ogden

    Thanks for the comment, Fred. I too predate computers, cell phones and the Internet. But we live in a vastly different world today. A healthy debate is a good thing.

    Jeff Ogden, The Fearless Competitor
    Find New Customers
    http://www.findnewcustomers.com

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