Will You Be Missed? | #MyFridayStory No. 96

Seth Godin poses an intriguing question in his book, This Is Marketing - You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See (2018):

If you or your brand, didn’t show up tomorrow, who would miss you?

For more than two decades, Seth has been banging on the same drum. Books such as Purple Cow - Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable (2007), Linchpin - Are You Indispensable? (2010), to his Tribes - We Need You to Lead Us (2008) through to We Are All Weird which was published 2011, they all point to a similar theme:

It’s about being memorable.

Taking the time to contemplate whether you as a human would be missed if you were gone, forces you to look at how you make other people feel. It has less to do with what you think of yourself, or how you would like to be seen, rather it asks that you see yourself in the eye of the beholder. There is an implied 'absence of yourself' from the group or tribe you leave behind, whom are free to remember you exactly as you were to them. Your chance to influence their perception any further is over.

Will we miss you if you didn’t pitch up for work tomorrow? Who would miss you if you left your company? If you couldn’t find a certain brand of cereal, would an alternative do just as well? If a small pub serving a community the same recipe of traditional Portuguese Trinchado for the last 30 years, drawing people from far and wide to enjoy their cuisine and atmosphere, had to suddenly close, would it be missed? Whether we consider a person or a brand, the opportunity to be memorable exists, you just have to be prepared to do the work.

The thing with setting out to be missed if you were gone, there is no place to hide. You have to be bold and brave, because it takes courage to show up every day. Over and over. Always doing the right thing. Never wavering from being authentic and real, always remaining true to your promise. That could be the promise a brand makes to their customers, the promise a husband makes to his wife at the altar, or the promise an employee makes when joining a company.

Wanting to be missed when you are gone is a noble quest, in my mind. Not in an arrogant or convoluted way, but with a desire to make a positive difference. Whether you are an agent on the board in a call centre, or you're a member of the board in a large multinational, being ‘missed when you are gone’ is within your reach. By being intentional and deliberate about wanting to leave a legacy of value for future generations, solutions that ultimately benefit all humanity are the result.

Regardless of who you are, leaving folks behind who remember you with fond thoughts, can’t hurt. Imagine being missed for the value you brought into the lives of others? Imagine being the highlight of someone’s day? Whether you are a community leader, pastor, priest, bookkeeper, employee, security guard, CEO, neighbour, friend, sister, brother, mother, father, daughter, granny, aunt, boss or office-cleaner, you have the chance to touch people in a way that is memorable.

Have an awesome weekend??

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