The Commandment of Hugh

First of all, sorry if the language offends. I’m not a big public swearer but I couldn’t really pick anything else.

this piece…

This piece sums up the philosophy that I believe is needed to be successful going forward. Everything follows it. This paradigm shift, this change in focus, is the main thing that “social media” or whatever you call it has done for me. It’s my 1 commandment.

All social media does is make the business transparent. It’s happening everywhere whether businesses want it to or not  and it will continue to. When it starts affecting you, what will people see? Are you awesome? If you’re not, what are you going to do?

When you accept that this revolution in business/customer communication is happening, you have an opportunity. You can take stock of who you really are. If you’re amazing, very cool. Keep going. If you are not, if you don’t have a compelling story to tell, then what are you going to do about it? Take a good look at who you are and if need be reinvent yourself or your business. Become awesome. Do great things. Then as revolution continues, you’ll be in a position to win (love Gary V’s use of this word).

This was a huge paradigm shift for me. Before I was so much more focused on tactics, on doing things. Now we focus on being, on becoming – becoming more awesome. The world is changing. Change your business to be able to take advantage of that.

So that’s where my head is now. My business needs to become more and more awesome. I need to become more awesome. I need to help my customers become more awesome. As that happens, everything becomes easier. Sure there are tactics or activities here and there that make sense but if you’re truly awesome enough, you really don’t need to do anything else. People will talk, the word will spread. And you will win.

me & hugh…

I’m a huge fan of Hugh. Been one for quite some time now. I remember when I first came across his site. It was linked from a post on @editweapon‘s (Patrick Sullivan) site. At that point, there wasn’t a gallery up and I think the main way Hugh was showcasing his work was through his designs that you could use on your own business cards (his StreetCards).

Over time, I’ve seen his designs go up for sale and fell in love with many of them. I have some cube grenades up at my desk. I’m a fan of his book, Ignore Everybody. And the purchase of some of his art is imminent.

While I enjoy some of his drawings for their humor, the thing that stands out most for me about Hugh’s work is his insight. I think he is able to convey a ton of meaning with a bit of design and a handful of words. I’ve found many of his pieces to be quite profound, whether the topic was awesomeness, entrepreneurship, love, etc.

I’m also a huge, huge Seth Godin fan and I know Hugh and he are pals. For me, Hugh’s work often seems to be a visual representation of Seth’s philosophies (even before his linchipin series).

I should also say that I was pretty surprised by his love series. I had developed a view that Hugh must be pretty cynical so I wasn’t ready for the optimism that showed throughout the love series. Made me even more of a fan.

When I saw Tyler’s call for 100 people to help spread the word of Hugh, just had to jump in.

And yes, the Hugh widget in the sidebar was there before this all happened.

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