Beyond Management: Seth Godin’s Call for a New Era of Leadership

In our May 2025 edition of Resort Trades magazine, we heard from four women in the industry who occupy leadership roles. “A Woman’s Guide to Leadership.” Catherine Lacey, SVP, Meetings and Member Experience at ARDA; Lanie Kane Hanan, CEO of ONE; Fiona Downing, CEO of FNTX; and Sarah Koves, SVP, Brand Strategy at Travel + Leisure Company, shared strategies they had learned over the years about effective leadership during the WIN winter meeting.

Lately, leadership seems to have popped up in conversations within the industry everywhere I look, including in social media or in past issues of Resort Trades. (Recently, ARDA gave us “Gordon Gurnik, An Example of Leadership”, for example. Or, how about “Lemonjuice Solutions Applies Empathy Research towards Advanced Leadership and Company Culture“ and so many others. It seems there’s something said about leadership in the timeshare and vacation ownership business every month.

We believe there’s no better resource from whom we can learn than legendary marketing thinker Seth Godin. In a talk in Stockholm, he challenged business professionals to stop clinging to outdated management models and instead embrace authentic leadership. In a world changing faster than ever before, Godin argues, management alone is no longer enough to succeed. Leaders must step up—not by waiting for permission, but by courageously taking responsibility, innovating, and caring enough to make a difference.

From the moment Godin opened his presentation with a vivid metaphor about fjords carving rock over millennia, it was clear he planned to dismantle conventional wisdom. He walked the audience through the history of “scientific management,” from Frederick Taylor’s factory blueprints to Henry Ford’s assembly lines and McDonald’s operational playbook. The world of yesterday, Godin explained, rewarded those who could follow instructions, repeat tasks, and maintain order.
“Management works,” Godin said, “until the world changes. And when it does, management fails.”

Pointing to industries like newspaper publishing, travel agencies, and even trucking, Godin showed that technological shifts and societal change are upending entire professions. No longer can workers and companies simply “manage” their way forward. In a volatile, uncertain world, leadership is the new essential skill.

Leadership vs. Management

A core takeaway from Godin’s talk is the critical distinction between leadership and management. Managers, he says, rely on authority—the ability to command others. Leaders, by contrast, exercise responsibility—choosing to step forward even without being told or given official power.

This is more relevant in the hospitality business today with resorts depending more and more on Millennials, those generally considered to be from 29 to 44 years old, and Generation Z, often called Zoomers (those in the age range that begins in their teens, through 28 years old. The work ethic of these younger generations are often regarded as questionable. However, give them a set of clear responsibilities, and they might just surprise us. Appeal to their better natures, and will they rise to the occasion and accept the challenge or writhe under a layer of bureaucracy?

Godin believes the world needs more “statues of responsibility” to balance our obsession with “statues of liberty.”

Real Skills, Not Soft Skills

In a particularly powerful segment, Godin dismantled the idea that leadership traits—like creativity, resilience, empathy, and initiative—are “soft skills.” Instead, he rebranded them as “real skills,” emphasizing that they are learned attitudes, not innate gifts.

“If you can decide to be trustworthy, connected, engaged, and fearless,” he said, “then these are skills, not gifts.”

Employers and workers who prioritize the cultivation of these skills will be well suited to the morphing paradigm. In a future dominated by automation and artificial intelligence, it won’t be technical prowess that separates thriving individuals from those left behind. It will be humanity.

Permission to Fail (and to Quit)

Another critical insight: success demands the willingness to be wrong. It can be a tough lesion to learn for many of us.
Citing everything from lean manufacturing principles to football kickers missing crucial goals, Godin explained that embracing failure isn’t optional. Real leadership means creating processes that invite mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and iterating forward.

Much can go wrong in resort management and operations, for example. We’re often drawn on the carpet when the elevator is out of order, an owner or member’s reservation is ‘lost,’ or we’re out of clean towels. But I’m reminded of the country song by Lori McKenna made popular by county singer Tim McGraw called “Humble and Kind”. The chorus repeats:

Hold the door, say “please”, say “thank you”
Don’t steal, don’t cheat, and don’t lie
I know you got mountains to climb
But always stay humble and kind
When those dreams you’re dreamin’ come to you
When the work you put in is realized
Let yourself feel the pride
But always stay humble and kind

Godin also encouraged “strategic quitting”—knowing when a project, path, or product isn’t worth pursuing. Leaders, Godin said, don’t quit during “the dip,” when things get tough. But they must be brave enough to walk away from dead ends and sunk costs. Ah! To know the difference!

Tribes, Empathy, and Possibility

Godin returned to ideas from his influential book Tribes, explaining that successful leaders build “tribes” around shared beliefs and purpose. They don’t command followers. They enroll volunteers by communicating a clear “who’s it for and what’s it for.”

Empathy plays a starring role in this. Great leaders, Godin argued, understand their audience deeply. They don’t design products, services, or movements for themselves. They “stand in the shoes” of their customers, colleagues, and communities.

The Final Call: Care Enough to Lead

In his closing moments, Godin painted a grand and inspiring vision. He evoked the footprints left on the Moon by Neil Armstrong as a metaphor for bold leadership. If humanity could achieve that seemingly impossible feat, what excuse do today’s leaders have for playing it safe?

“Given all the resources, trust, and connections you already have,” he challenged the audience, “where will you take us?” Look at how the executives in Grand Pacific Resorts answer this challenge if you need an example. See https://resorttrades.com/grand-pacific-resorts-leverages-ai-to-redefine-resort-management-and-unlock-new-possibilities.

The message was clear: the world doesn’t need more managers. It needs more leaders—people willing to take responsibility, create change, connect others, and act with humanity and excellence.

Seth Godin left no doubt: leadership is not a title. It is a choice. And in a fast-moving world, it’s the only choice that matters.

Sharon Scott Wilson, RRP, is publisher and co-owner of Resort Trades magazine and principle content curator for Resort Trades Media Group. Find her at linkedin.com/in/sharonscottwilson.