Seth Godin

Seth Godin is one of the most influential business thinkers of his generation — the writer and teacher who reshaped how the modern world thinks about marketing, work, and leadership. Born in 1960, he earned degrees in computer science and philosophy from Tufts University and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He founded the pioneering online direct-marketing company Yoyodyne — an early permission-marketing business — which was acquired by Yahoo!, where he served as VP of direct marketing, and later launched the community site Squidoo.

He is credited as the father of permission marketing — the idea that great marketing earns attention with the audience's consent rather than interrupting them. His 2003 book Purple Cow gave the business world one of its most enduring metaphors: in a crowded market, the only safe path is to be remarkable. In total he has written more than 20 international bestsellers, translated into 38+ languages, including Permission Marketing, Tribes, The Dip, Linchpin, This Is Marketing, The Practice, The Song of Significance, and — most recently — the 2024 National Bestseller This Is Strategy.

Godin writes the most popular solo blog in the world, which he has updated every single day for well over a decade (8,500+ consecutive posts), and hosts the Akimbo podcast, in the top 1% worldwide. He founded the altMBA and the Akimbo Workshops, which together have graduated tens of thousands of participants. His five TED talks are among the most-viewed of all time, and he has been inducted into both the Marketing Hall of Fame (2018) and the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame (2013).