On April 6, 2017, Seth Godin posted “On Pie” on his blog.  I have thought about what Seth Godin wrote in “On Pie” many times when Canada, US or Canada-US trade issues arise, such as the Softwood Lumber AD/CVD Dispute, the 232 Steel Case, the 232 Aluminum Case, the Canadian FISC AD/CVD Case, NAFTA renegotiation, etc.

Seth Godin’s “On Pie” is brilliant.  These are the things domestic producers, importers, exporters, retailers, workers, farmers, politicians & others may say about trade markets in the World Pie.

I will first give Seth Godin complete credit for what he has written.  I will then add a few more statements about the World Pie.  Seth Godin wrote:

“This is all the pie I received, but that’s okay.”

“I have a small piece of pie, but others have an even smaller piece, so I’m sharing mine.”

“I want all the pie.”

“I don’t want all the pie, just your piece.”

“The pie isn’t big enough for all of us, I’m going to work to make it bigger.”

“I have the biggest piece of pie, want to see?”

“I have the biggest piece of pie, but that’s not enough, so I’m going to work hard to take some of yours.”

“If I can’t have a big enough piece of pie, I’m going to put my fist through the entire thing and no one gets any pie.”

“If I delay gratification and wait a bit, my piece of pie will be bigger.”

“Bob has a bigger piece of pie than I do, so I’m going to go deep into debt so I can buy more pie.”

“If we eat less pie now and invest it, we can have more pie later.”

“The only fair thing to do is give everyone an equally sized piece of pie.”

“I can’t possibly eat all the pie I’ve got, but I refuse on principle to share the rest.”

“Apple? I hate apple. Why can’t we have blueberry?”

“I’m able to skirt the rules and end up with two pieces of pie when everyone is only supposed to get one.”

“No matter how much pie there is, it’s not enough, and we should risk the pie to make more pie.”

“Whoever is responsible for allocating pie is a crook, destroy the pie allocators!”

“More pie now is way better than the promise of some pie later.”

“Pie? I don’t eat pie.”

My additions are:

  • “There is enough pie for all of us.”
  • “Let’s talk about how we can divide this pie so that we are all happy.”
  • “Tell me how much pie you need to be satisfied, not gorged.”
  • “What can we do together to create a bigger pie.”
  • “I made the pie, but I made it to share.”
  • “Do you agree that this is a great pie?”

What would you like to add?