Seth Godin On The Subway
Monday, August 18th, 2008A wonderful thing about taking public transit, especially the subway, in the big city is everyone takes it. Rich, poor, famous, invisible. If you take the subway at different times with different routes, you’ll eventually run into everyone.
I’m sitting on the subway heading straight downtown. A slight, bald man with pointed ears gets on. I sit up straight, hardly daring to breathe. It looks… it looks… like… (gasp)… Seth Godin. For those non-marketing bunnies, Seth is the world’s biggest guru on branding. I read his blog daily. I buy his books. I watch him on YouTube. I am pretty darn close to being a stalker.
I stare at the man. He is reading, yes, a business book. He must feel someone watching him because he looks up. I look away. He goes back to reading his book. I study him some more. Is he wearing matching socks? Seth never wears matching socks, it is one of his things. I stare at his feet. Can’t see his socks, his pants puddle around his shoes. Would Seth wear those type of shoes? So shiny? I don’t know. I stare at his face. It does look like Seth. He glances up again. Smiles. My cheeks burn and I look away.
Should I ask him? If it isn’t Seth, he’ll think I’m a nutcase. If it is Seth, well, the man is so busy, he couldn’t be happy for the interruption. But if I don’t ask and it IS Seth then I’ll kick myself for the rest of my life. If I don’t ask, I’ll always wonder.
The man stands up. I debate standing up too. No. Definitely too stalker-like. I stay seated. I watch him leave.
A couple years later, I meet the REAL Seth (and completely embarrass myself by gushing but that is a whole other story). Nope. That wasn’t him on the subway. Close but not.