Seth Godin and the Acumen Fund

I thought this video was very interesting - the opening sequence was inspiring, as was Seth Godin to a certain extent. I appreciated how he talked in simple terms, so that I could basically understand everything he was saying, and it wasn't as if he was preaching to me either, or at least his tone of voice didn't evoke that.

Now to address the actual content of the story: I found it odd that Mr.Godin would talk about how materialistic our society is, example of the woman with over 400 pairs of jeans, and then promote a movement which would basically lay the foundation for other countries to have people who do exactly the same, in due time. I think it's a really good idea, what the Acumen fund is doing, giving entrepreneurs an opportunity rather than handouts, but it still will lead to vast consumption and materialism. But how do you reconcile the benefits and the consequences? I don't know.

I also wasn't sure how I felt about his words on school. He talks about how it promotes materialism and I'm not exactly clear on how it does that still - I mean if we were not to go to school, we would still want to buy things, we would still see other people owning certain things and therefore want to follow the trend. What's wrong with being educated? He's obviously educated and he wouldn't pay these kids any attention if they weren't educated - he wouldn't be proposing that they join the cause if they were high school dropouts. Maybe I just didn't understand him completely.

One of the last things that really got my attention is when he very bluntly said that the world doesn't need more doctors, let other people become doctors, if you do you'll only be a cog in a broken system, instead "decide". I think it's odd that he thinks they should all decide to be entrepreneurs, and change the world, and then and only then, will they truly be helping. Sorry, but we all don't want to be entrepreneurs, what if one or two of them really really want to become doctors, will they seriously not be helping the world?

Overall, this video was truly thought-provoking.