I believe that Seth Godin is probably the greatest thinker in marketing today. He manages to capture the zeitgeist of the times, where our attention is more precious than ever, and the most important thing a marketer can get is our permission to have a conversation.

Thanks to the wonder of video on the web, we have access to some great conference talks that would cost thousands of dollars to go see in person (if we could get in at all). The TED Conferences bring together some of the world’s greatest ideasmiths to present, and they are nice enough to post much of this material online where we can all enjoy it.

Here’s Seth’s talk from 2003 about the kinds of marketing ideas that get our attention, and why as he puts it, being safe is risky.