214: Nerding Out w/Mitch Joel—On Ideas, Systems, Credibility, and Connections

Pivot with Jenny Blake

Seth Godin recently described Mitch Joel (in celebration of his 700th episode) as “in the pantheon, one of the greats.” I couldn’t agree more. Mitch is a well-respected friend and colleague to so many of us in the business, writing, and speaking communities. He sees trends and platforms coming long before they hit mainstream, and his output, ideas, and incisive interviewing style consistently leaves me with inspiration and new information. He was gracious to have me on his Six Pixels of Separation Podcast when Pivot launched, and the conversation (among dozens and dozens) left such a mark on me that I quoted him in the afterword for the paperback edition of Pivot in 2017 the following year. Here’s an excerpt: "My guiding principle now is faith in flow, a reminder that helps me trust the natural cycles of tension and release, hustle and flow, grit and grace. I listen for what’s next, but try not to rush the answer. If the Plant stage involves putting a pin in one’s desired destination a year from now, entering my post-pivot rest mode was like hitting the “current location” button in a maps app—it spun me back and helped me zoom in on where I was right now, not someplace off in the future where I should be. In the words of my friend and fellow author Mitch Joel, instead of only focusing on what’s next, we’d do well to reflect on the equally important question: what’s now?" Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/214