Seth Godin’s post today demonstrates one of the key benefits of being a lumper instead of a splitter – you can learn by analogy.

Sure, the industries change, the goods/service ratio changes, regulation changes, names change. Doesn’t matter. It’s all the same. People are people, and basic needs and wants don’t vary so much.

Put aside your need for a step-by-step manual and instead realize that analogies are your best friend. By the time there is a case study in your specific industry, it’s going to be way too late for you to catch up.

As usual with Seth, there’s not a whole lot to add. But his does illustrate why I think that it’s important for book publishers to understand what’s been happening to record labels and newspapers, and why higher education needs to be paying attention to all three of those industries.

Connecting is one of the key skills that we need to have in today’s economy. That’s not just connecting people with people, or people with things they need, but also it’s connecting people with ideas, and ideas with ideas.