Seth Godin on fellowship
(Updated February 2024)
A blog post (in italics) from Seth Godin, author on business, human dynamics and marketing, worth noting.
He refers to the classic definition of fellowship which, I have to admit, is what more naturally came into my mind due to the religious context of the word, rather than the academic or career definition noted.
I especially like his point about the personal aspect of a "shared journey."
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What’s a fellowship?
For five hundred years, a fellowship was understood, Tolkien-style, to be a collection of humans engaged in mutual support. (Definition)
It’s hard to imagine something more reassuring, challenging and productive, all at once.
To be part of an organized fellowship is a responsibility and also the chance to leap forward. Join the others, people like you, eager to see and to be seen, and most of all, to be of service. (Worth noting that ‘fellow’ it is not gender-specific and in fact is used in the Old Testament in reference to women).
A few decades ago, our status and selection-based culture shifted a common meaning of the word to describe a sort of prize. You get picked for a fellowship, maybe you even get some money, and you can definitely put it on your resume.
Missing, too often, is the original magic, the idea that the others are there with you, side by side, together.
That new sort of fellowship isn’t really helpful to most of us. I’m more interested in the traditional, effective kind. Mutual support and a shared journey.
There are organic fellowships everywhere, which sprouted on their own, seemingly out of nowhere, and if you find yourself in one, that’s a wonder to be cherished. They don’t need a name or a published agenda. Simply being in it is sufficient.
For the rest of us, there’s the chance to go start one. Start a fellowship, invite some people along, and then do the hard work to keep it going. All for one and one for all.
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Related, the idea of a Mastermind group:
Quotable:
"Economic advantages may be created by any person who surrounds himself with the advice, counsel and personal cooperation of a group of people who are willing to lend wholehearted aid, in a spirit of perfect harmony.
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This form of cooperative alliance has been the basis of nearly every great fortune."-Napoleon Hill
In his book, the business classic “Think and Grow Rich“ (1937),?Hill described the Mastermind principle as, “The coordination of knowledge and effort between two or more people who work towards a definite purpose in a spirit of harmony…no two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind”, also known as, the Mastermind.
Also
Additional thoughts from Godin on:
About me (updated February 2024)
I have been a career sales professional in B2B sales. This has included managing my own territories, selling jointly with others and managing sales teams.
My sales career started in Seattle with the Puget Sound Business Journal, but a significant portion of my professional time was in California, split between Los Angeles and Orange County, before I returned to Seattle.
You can reach me via InMail or [email protected]
Also
I am community manager for the LinkedIn group?Seattle Sales, Marketing and Advertising Professionals, which has 4900+ members, and I am one of the first million members of LinkedIn (2004).
I am a volunteer and former board member (2013-2019) for the?Friends of the Seattle Public Library. I maintain the company page on LinkedIn.
When I lived in Orange County I was a volunteer for the Friends of the City of Orange Library.
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