Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas - Hardcover

Godin, Seth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1591841267 ISBN 13: 9781591841265

Publisher: Portfolio, 2006

Synopsis

As one of today’s most influential business thinkers, Seth Godin helps his army of fans stay focused, stay connected, and stay dissatisfied with the status quo, the ordinary, the boring. His books, blog posts, magazine articles, and speeches have inspired countless entrepreneurs, marketing people, innovators, and managers around the world.

 

Now, for the first time, Godin has collected the most provocative short pieces from his pioneering blog—ranked #70 by Feedster (out of millions published) in worldwide readership. This book also includes his most popular columns from Fast Company magazine, and several of the short e-books he has written in the last few years.

A sample:

   • Bon Jovi And The Pirates

   • Christmas Card Spam

   • Clinging To Your Job Title?

   • How Much Would You Pay to Be on Oprah’s Show?

   • The Persistence of Really Bad Ideas

   • The Seduction of “Good Enough”

   • What Happens When It's All on Tape?

   • Would You Buy Life Insurance at a Rock Concert?

Small is the New Big is a huge bowl of inspiration that you can gobble in one sitting or dip into at any time. As Godin writes in his introduction: “I guarantee that you'll find some ideas that don’t work for you. But I’m certain that you're smart enough to see the stuff you’ve always wanted to do, buried deep inside one of these riffs. And I’m betting that once inspired, you’ll actually make something happen.”

About this title

About the Author

Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, a sought-after lecturer, a monthly columnist for Fast Company, and an all-around business gadfly. He’s the bestselling author of Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Ideavirus, The Big Red Fez, Survival Is Not Enough, and Purple Cow.

From the Back Cover

"Godin's collection is arranged alphabetically and was compiled mostly from his short, snappy blog, Fast Company column and e-books.... His riffs jump wildly, from the strategy of coming up with a cool name for your business to thoughts on polka music playing on elevators.... If you're looking for a jump-start, this is a good place to begin."
-USA Today

"Godin's keen insights on the nature of business in this early part of the 21st century are extremely practical and relatable. Though he's a big thinker, there's nothing eggheaded or esoteric in his writing.... He riffs on various factors affecting modern business: the Internet, time deficits, scarcity, the power of stories, the value of authenticity, the death of mass marketing, excellence, incompetence and how these things create challenges and opportunities for people and companies. For all Godin's savvy, the one thing he rarely gets credit for is his writing. The simplicity and clarity with which he conveys his ideas is assumed, but it's not easy to do, believe me."
-Miami Herald

"Read this book a few pages at a time. Why? The book contains statements and ideas that make you think. You need time to mull them over. Time to think about how you might apply them. Take away what you need. Make copies of what you found interesting and give them to your coworkers. Repeat every few days."
-Chicago Tribune

"Godin's writings are generally inspirational - the book is a huge bowl of ideas that you can gobble in one sitting or dip into at any time."
-BlogCritics.org

"Seth's real gift is his ability to think big, to challenge the status quo, and to inspire your own big ideas in return. In other words, you won't leave the table hungry."
-MarketingProfs.com

"Business and marketing ideas from one of the genre's most original thinkers.... Godin writes with humor and infectious energy, and there are plenty of engaging stories and ideas here to get you out of a rut and help jump-start your creativity.... Godin's inspired worldview - in which the most mundane experiences trigger great business ideas - makes for an educational and enjoyable read."
-Kirkus Reports

Reviews

In what's likely to be the next in a string of bestselling marketing guides (after Purple Cow), Godin compiles entries from his popular blog. Many are only a few paragraphs long, though he also adds longer entries, from his Fast Company column, to the mix. The pieces are arranged alphabetically by title rather than chronologically, leading to occasional choppiness, but Godin's ability to hone in on key issues remains intact. Following up on the themes of his earlier books, he reminds readers that the first key to successful marketing is to produce something remarkable and let it grow. "If your idea is great, people will find you," he advises. "[I]f your target audience isn't listening, it's not their fault, it's yours." He urges people to take control of their creative lives by taking responsibility for tough decisions and pushing themselves to make bolder choices. (His advice to McDonald's, for example, includes free wireless Web access at every restaurant.) The appendix contains two lengthy essays on Web design and blogs that were previously distributed as e-books. These are a more polished than the casual main entries, but still exhibit the spontaneous energy that has earned Godin so many loyal fans. (Aug. 17)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Godin, author and business blogger, presents a collection of essays that are thoughtful and wise. His ideas are skillfully presented with themes that include being big is no longer an advantage, so act small if you want to be big; with instant communication, lies get exposed faster than ever; consumers are more powerful than ever; and Aretha Franklin is correct: respect is the secret to success with people. His comments on business schools are challenging and contain his list of five things that help people succeed, including finding, hiring, and managing extraordinary people; embracing a changing world while effectively prioritizing tasks in it; and the ability to sell. Readers skip his riff on Web design and strategy at their peril. Along with his definition of velocity--a company's ability to zig and zag and zoom or change with speed--Godin tells us, "Give me five serially incompetent executives with a focus on velocity, and I can change the world." Excellent. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Portfolio
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1591841267
• ISBN 13: 9781591841265
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352