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🧠 Strategy Isn’t a Plan—It’s a Choice

Lessons from Seth Godin on Scaling Social Innovation

In a first-of-its-kind live workshop hosted by MovingWorlds, legendary marketer and systems thinker Seth Godin coached two pioneering social entrepreneurs— Anish Malpani from Without by Ashaya and Sasibai Kimis Steenland from Earth Heir—through their most pressing strategic dilemmas.

The message? Scaling social innovation doesn’t start with doing more—it starts with doing different.

💡 Key Takeaways for Social Entrepreneurs

1. Choose your customers, choose your future.
Who you serve determines what you become. Instead of chasing everyone, seek the right customers—the ones who will champion your story, pay a premium, and brag about supporting you.

2. Don’t race to the bottom—you might win.
Trying to be cheaper than exploitative competitors is a losing game. Compete on meaning, not price.

3. Experiments are fine—but discipline scales.
Innovation gets applause. But traction comes from boring, repeatable systems that work. Cross the chasm with consistency.

4. Strategy is subtraction.
Focus. Pick fewer product lines and go deep. Strategy isn’t about what’s possible—it’s about what’s essential.

5. Sell status, not just stuff.
Sasi’s campaign to grow social procurement led to a powerful suggestion: form a council of pioneering companies who want to lead. People buy status, not just things.

6. Practical empathy is your superpower.
Your customers don’t care how hard your job is—they care about the noise in their heads. Hear it. Reflect it. Serve it.

Your customers won’t care how noble your mission is. They’ll care how it makes them feel, what story they can tell, and whether buying from you earns them status in their world.

This session wasn’t just a how-to. It was a call to rethink how we lead, sell, and scale. So go make a ruckus—strategically.