Yesterday, in a stunning example of demonstrating with your actions what it is you're trying to say with your words, Seth Godin released his latest mini-project, a free ebook called What Matters Now. Seth has been focusing more and more on what we can do, together and individually, to make a difference; he's also been a fierce advocate for pursuing new ways of doing this, from his stance on "free" (he's pro, and there are a couple of great pieces from other contributors on the subject, too) to his methodologies for teaching (cf. last year's un-MBA program) and marketing/promoting big ideas (cf. the way he promoted last year's program, as well as how he's promoting next year's new for-money book, Linchpin (which I've already pre-ordered).

Each entry is a brief music on some word, phrase or term. There are some nifty illustrated twists (oh, Hugh, you're so dreamy!), some cool "how-to"s, (I especially liked "1%", from Jackie Huba & Ben McConnell, of Church of the Customer fame), and lots and lots of straightforward, balls-out inspirational stuff.

Mainly, I love how generous the whole thing feels. Seth plucked that term from amongst many to muse on; it's clear that generosity occupies much of his thoughtspace, as well as his time and activity.

Yes, there's some business-y stuff and some marketing stuff in here. That's just one thin slice, though; most of the pieces are just wonderful ideas to keep in your head as the new year rolls around. And even the business stuff is either communications-centric or somehow involved with making the world a better place. All good, in other words.

Best of all? Free. Like I said, he's a generous (and smart) kinda fella.

xxx c