Leave Your Mark or Be Forgotten

I chose to read Purple Cow, by Seth Godin. This book opens with the author recanting a family-vacation memory that lead him to develop the marketing commandment of the Purple Cow. That is, when you are hoping to sell a product or idea it has to be  totally out of the norm, abstract and apart from the status quo. Hence the one purple in a sea of normal black-and white cows. Your idea has to be worth talking about to be successful. With the modern day methods of communication leading to advertising where ever we look, our lives have become oversaturated with consumerism. So much so, that we have become numb to its presence. We do not wait around for a mediocre and middle-of -the road idea, instead we are swept up in the appeal of the best and the most distinct. If you have a pile of somewhat good ideas, and then have an idea that totally sets itself apart, despite how worthy it is, it will grab your attention. 

The initial message of this book has really got me thinking about it’s relevance to my life outside of entrepreneurship. As a senior I am a little embarrassed to say that I do not know the name of every single classmate in my graduating class. And to a certain extent, I don’t really think it’s my fault or responsibility to be familiar with every other fish in every other pond I swim in. In a pond as big, or as small, as BHS, not everyone will get a perfect chance to shake hands and exchange names with every other person, and so recognition of each other transfers largely through hearsay or reputation. Some people view having a reputation as a bad thing, but if you don’t have any reputation at all, then you haven’t done anything remarkable. It’s almost depressing to say that when I think back to high school, however many years from now, it will almost be as if those people, for whom I cannot place a name, did not exist to me. If you do not set yourself apart from others you are just one individual in an overwhelming mass and to many you will not leave a trace or a memory to their brain. So go out there, be different, and be a purple cow.