I go through Seth Godin phases. Just when I think he is the most brilliant marketing thinker around, and kick myself for not reading all of his books (caution: they multiply rapidly), I reach the saturation point and give him up for months at a time. It’s the same relationship I have with Oreos.

But then, someone will send me a quote or a blog post and I am back to berating myself for not reading him– or, at least, his blog–more regularly. Here he is on why it’s important to stand for something:

People and brands and organizations that stand for something benefit as a result. Standing for something helps you build trust, makes it easier to manage expectations and aids in daily decision making. Standing for something also makes it more fun to do your gig, because you’re on a mission, doing something that matters. Of course, there’s a cost. You can’t get something for nothing.

He goes on to talk about the trap many small businesses and consultants fall into, trying to be all things to all customers:

You can’t be the low-price, high-value, wide-selection, convenient, green, all-in-one corner market. Sorry.

To really stand for something, you must make difficult decisions, mostly about what you don’t do. We don’t ship products like that, we don’t stand for employees like that (“you’re fired”), we don’t fix problems like that.

It’s so hard to stand up, to not compromise, to give up an account or lose a vote or not tell a journalist what they want to hear.

But those are the only moments where standing for something actually counts, the only times that people will actually come to believe that you in fact actually stand for something.

Amen to that! (The bolding is mine).

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