Synopses & Reviews
This full-color andldquo;adult ABC bookandrdquo; feels just like the picture books you grew up with. But itandrsquo;s not for kids, itandrsquo;s for you and anyone who works as hard as you do. It makes a perfect companion to
The Icarus Deception, highlighting a key riff in that book and featuring illustrations by the webandrsquo;s favorite cartoonist, Hugh MacLeod. It captures 26 of Seth Godinandrsquo;s principles about treating your work as a form of art.and#160;For instance....and#160;
A is for Anxiety, which is experiencing failure in advance. Tell yourself enough vivid stories about the worstand#160;possible outcome of your work and youandrsquo;ll soon come to believe them. Worry is not preparation, and anxiety doesnandrsquo;t make you better.and#160;
C is for Commitment, which takes you from andldquo;Thatandrsquo;s a fine ideaandrdquo; to andldquo;Itandrsquo;s done.andrdquo; Commitment is risky, because if you fail, itandrsquo;s on you. On the other hand, without commitment, you will fail, because art unshipped isnandrsquo;t art.and#160;
F is for Feedback, which can be either a crutch or a weapon. Use feedback to make your work smaller, safer and more likely to please everyone (and fail in the long run). Or use it as a lever, to further push you to embrace what you fear (and what youandrsquo;re capable of).and#160;
V is for Vulnerable, the only way we can feel when we truly share the art weandrsquo;ve made. When we connect, we shift all the power and make ourselves naked in front of the person weandrsquo;ve given the gift of our art to. We have no excuses, no manual to point to, no standard operating procedures to protect us.and#160;This is unlike any previous Godin book and makes a great gift, both for loyal fans and those whoandrsquo;ve never read him before. It will take you just a few minutes to read, but it will get under your skin. And you might find yourself handing copies to colleagues and friends.
Review
Buy this book and use GodinÆs ideas to remake yourself, your product, or your company. Then pass it on to your boss or your employees. Tell them theyÆve just won a free prize. (Jean Briggs,
Forbes)
Godin makes the case for Æsoft innovationÆ as the best way to grow a business, instead of relying on big ads or big innovation. He says that anyone can think up clever, useful, and small ideas to make a product or service remarkable, that is, worth talking about. He calls this kind of innovation a free prize because it generates much more revenue than it costs to implement. (Management Consulting News)
Godin is endlessly curious, opinionated, and knowledgeable on a wide variety of subjects. He is a relentless marketer . . . and also a clear-eyed visionary with strong and sensible ideas on how the new economy can, should, and will function. (Richard Pachter, Miami Herald)
Synopsis
From the bestselling author of "Purple Cow, a fun guide to creating blockbuster products that sell themselves.
Synopsis
Purple Cow was the #1 bestselling marketing book on Amazon in 2003. Now in
Free Prize Inside, Seth Godin is back with practical advice on how to put Purple Cow thinking to work inside your organization (big or small, profit or non) to MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN. The next big marketing idea is a proven strategy for making your products or services so remarkable that they practically sell themselves.
Purple Cow taught marketers the value of standing out from the herd, which is how companies like Krispy Kreme and JetBlue made it big. But it left readers hungry for more: How do you actually think up new Purple Cows? And how do you get them adopted by risk-averse Brown Cow companies?
Free Prize Inside delivers those answers and much more. Its a fun guide to doing innovative marketing that really works when the traditional approaches have all stopped working. Thirty years ago, the best way to sell something was to advertise it on television. But todays consumers are cynical, and your product or service had better be more than just hype and clever advertising. Even better, it ought to come with a market-changing innovationa free prize inside.
You dont have to spend a fortune to create something cool that virtually sells itself. Think of simple but powerful innovations like the Tupperware party, Flintstones vitamins, G.I. Joe (a doll just for boys), Lucille Roberts (a gym just for women), and frequent flier miles. Free Prize Inside will teach you how to create those kinds of blockbusters at your own company without a bunch of MBA-brainwashed marketers. You dont have to be a geniusyou just need curiosity, initiative, and a strategy for overcoming resistance when you champion your idea.
Were all marketers now, no matter what our job titles. With Godins help, we can find the free prize that will transform our companies.
Synopsis
How to find the ?soft innovation? that will make your product, service, school, church, or career worth talking about We live in an era of too much noise, too much clutter, too many choices, and too much spam. And as Seth Godin?s 200,000-copy bestseller Purple Cow taught the business world, the old ways of marketing simply don?t work anymore. The best way to sell anything these days is through word of mouth?and the only real way to get word of mouth is to create something remarkable.
Free Prize Inside, the sequel to Purple Cow, explains how to do just that. It?s jammed with practical ideas you can use right now to make your product or service remarkable, so that it will virtually sell itself.
Remember when cereal came with a free prize inside? Even if you already liked the cereal, it was the little plastic toy that made it irresistible. Godin explains how you can think of a bonus that will make your customers feel just as excited, no matter what business you?re in. Consider these free prizes:
??The Tupperware party, which turned buying plastic bowls into a social event
??Flintstones vitamins, which turned a serious product into something fun
??The free change-counting machine at every Commerce Bank branch
??The little blue box from Tiffany, which makes people happy before they even open it
This book offers a way to create free prizes quickly, cheaply, and reliably?and persuade others in your organization to help you bring them to life.
Synopsis
In Seth Godinandrsquo;s most inspiring book, he challenges readers to find the courage to treat their work as a form of artand#160;Everyone knows that Icarusandrsquo;s father made him wings and told him not to fly too close to the sun; he ignored the warning and plunged to his doom. The lesson: Play it safe. Listen to the experts. It was the perfect propaganda for the industrial economy. What boss wouldnandrsquo;t want employees to believe that obedience and conformity are the keys to success?and#160;But we tend to forget that Icarus was also warned not to fly too low, because seawater would ruin the lift in his wings. Flying too low is even more dangerous than flying too high, because it feels deceptively safe.and#160;The safety zone has moved. Conformity no longer leads to comfort. But the good news is that creativity is scarce and more valuable than ever. So is choosing to do something unpredictable and brave: Make art. Being an artist isnandrsquo;t a genetic disposition or a specific talent. Itandrsquo;s an attitude we can all adopt. Itandrsquo;s a hunger to seize new ground, make connections, and work without a map. If you do those things youandrsquo;re an artist, no matter what it says on your business card.and#160;Godin shows us how itandrsquo;s possible and convinces us why itandrsquo;s essential.
Synopsis
This browsable hardcover collects the very best of the past six years of Seth Godin’s acclaimed blog. It’s a follow-up to his previous collection,
Small is the New Big (Portfolio, 2006) and is designed for dipping into again and again. Godin has blogged more than two million words since the late 1990s, sharing his unique take on the ever-changing landscape of marketing, leadership, careers, innovation, creativity, and much more. His posts range from a few words to a few pages; many are inspirational, some are incendiary. For instance, here’s the title post, “Whatcha gonna do with that duck?” --
We’re surrounded by people who are busy getting their ducks in a row, waiting for just the right moment... Getting your ducks in a row is a fine thing to do. But deciding what you are going to do with that duck is a far more important issue.Synopsis
Were surrounded by people who are busy getting their ducks in a row, waiting for just the right moment. . . . Getting your ducks in a row is a fine thing to do. But deciding what you are going to do with that duck is a far more important issue.” From the blog post "Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?" Seth Godin is famous for bestselling books such as
Purple Cow and cool entrepreneurial ventures such as Squidoo and the Domino Project. But to millions of loyal readers, hes best known for the daily burst of insight he provides every morning, rain or shine, via Seths Blog. Since he started blogging in the early 1990s, he has written more than two million words and shaped the way we think about marketing, leadership, careers, innovation, creativity, and more. Much of his writing is inspirational and some is incendiary. Collected here are six years of his best, most entertaining, and most poignant blog posts, plus a few bonus ebooks. From thoughts on how to treat your customers to telling stories and spreading ideas, Godin pushes us to think smarter, dream bigger, write better, and speak more honestly. Highlights include:
- A marketing lesson from the Apocalypse
- No, everything is not going to be okay
- Organized bravery
- Choose your customers, choose your future
- Paying attention to the attention economy
- Bandits and philanthropists
Godin writes to get under our skin. He wants us to stand up and do something remarkable, outside the standards of the industrial system that raised us. Made for dipping into again and again,
Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? is a classic for fans both old and new.
Synopsis
What are you afraid of?and#160;The old rules: Play it safe. Stay in your comfort zone. Find an institution, a job, a set of rules to stick to. Keep your head down. Donandrsquo;t fly too close to the sun.and#160;The new truth: Itandrsquo;s better to be sorry than safe. You need to fly higher than ever.and#160;In his bravest and most challenging book yet, Seth Godin shows how we can thrive in an econandshy;omy that rewards art, not compliance. He explains why true innovators focus on trust, remarkabilandshy;ity, leadership, and stories that spread. And he makes a passionate argument for why you should be treating your work as art.and#160;Art is not a gene or a specific talent. Itandrsquo;s an attiandshy;tude, available to anyone who has a vision that others donandrsquo;t, and the guts to do something about it. Steve Jobs was an artist. So were Henry Ford and Martin Luther King Jr.and#160;To work like an artist means investing in the things that scale: creativity, emotional labor, and grit. The path of the artist isnandrsquo;t for the faint of heartandmdash;but Godin shows why itandrsquo;s your only chance to stand up, stand out, and make a difference.and#160;The time to seize new ground and work without a map is now. So what are you going to do?
Synopsis
A full-color ABC book for grown-ups, with a powerful message about doing great workand#160;V is for Vulnerable looks and feels like a classic picture book. But itandrsquo;s not for kids, itandrsquo;s for hardworking adults. It highlights twenty-six of Seth Godinandrsquo;s principles about treating your work as a form of art, with illustrations by acclaimed cartoonist Hugh MacLeod. A sample:and#160;
A is for Anxiety, which is experiencing failure in advance. Tell yourself enough vivid stories about the worst possible outcome and youandrsquo;ll soon come to believe them. Worry is not preparation, and anxiety doesnandrsquo;t make you better.and#160;
F is for Feedback, which can be either a crutch or a weapon. Use it to make your work smaller, safer, and more likely to please everyone (and fail in the long run). Or use it as a lever to further push you to embrace what you fear and what youandrsquo;re capable of.and#160;This is unlike any previous Godin book and makes a great gift, both for loyal fans and those whoandrsquo;ve never read him before.
Synopsis
In Seth Godinandrsquo;s most inspiring book, he challenges readers to find the courage to treat their work as a form of artand#160;Everyone knows that Icarusandrsquo;s father made him wings and told him not to fly too close to the sun; he ignored the warning and plunged to his doom. The lesson: Play it safe. Listen to the experts. It was the perfect propaganda for the industrial economy. What boss wouldnandrsquo;t want employees to believe that obedience and conformity are the keys to success?and#160;But we tend to forget that Icarus was also warned not to fly too low, because seawater would ruin the lift in his wings. Flying too low is even more dangerous than flying too high, because it feels deceptively safe.and#160;The safety zone has moved. Conformity no longer leads to comfort. But the good news is that creativity is scarce and more valuable than ever. So is choosing to do something unpredictable and brave: Make art. Being an artist isnandrsquo;t a genetic disposition or a specific talent. Itandrsquo;s an attitude we can all adopt. Itandrsquo;s a hunger to seize new ground, make connections, and work without a map. If you do those things youandrsquo;re an artist, no matter what it says on your business card.and#160;Godin shows us how itandrsquo;s possible and convinces us why itandrsquo;s essential.
Synopsis
In May 2003, Seth Godin asked a simple question that turned the business world upside down: What do Starbucks, JetBlue, Apple, Dutch Boy, and Hard Candy have that other companies don’t? How did they confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind formerly tried-and-true brands? Answer: They were purple cows. Godin defines a Purple Cow as anything phenomenal, counterintuitive, exciting…remarkable. Every day, consumers ignore a lot of brown cows, but you can bet they won’t ignore a purple cow. You can’t paint your product or service purple after the fact. You have to be inherently purple or no one will talk about you. Godin urges you to emulate companies that are consistently remarkable in everything they do, which drives explosive word of mouth. Purple Cow launched a movement to create products and services that are worth marketing in the first place.
Synopsis
Were surrounded by people who are busy getting their ducks in a row, waiting for just the right moment. . . . Getting your ducks in a row is a fine thing to do. But deciding what you are going to do with that duck is a far more important issue.” From the blog post "Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?" Seth Godin is famous for bestselling books such as
Purple Cow and cool entrepreneurial ventures such as Squidoo and the Domino Project. But to millions of loyal readers, hes best known for the daily burst of insight he provides every morning, rain or shine, via Seths Blog. Since he started blogging in the early 1990s, he has written more than two million words and shaped the way we think about marketing, leadership, careers, innovation, creativity, and more. Much of his writing is inspirational and some is incendiary. Collected here are six years of his best, most entertaining, and most poignant blog posts, plus a few bonus ebooks. From thoughts on how to treat your customers to telling stories and spreading ideas, Godin pushes us to think smarter, dream bigger, write better, and speak more honestly. Highlights include:
- A marketing lesson from the Apocalypse
- No, everything is not going to be okay
- Organized bravery
- Choose your customers, choose your future
- Paying attention to the attention economy
- Bandits and philanthropists
Godin writes to get under our skin. He wants us to stand up and do something remarkable, outside the standards of the industrial system that raised us. Made for dipping into again and again,
Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? is a classic for fans both old and new.
Synopsis
A full-color ABC book for grown-ups, with a powerful message about doing great workand#160;V is for Vulnerable looks and feels like a classic picture book. But itandrsquo;s not for kids, itandrsquo;s for hardworking adults. It highlights twenty-six of Seth Godinandrsquo;s principles about treating your work as a form of art, with illustrations by acclaimed cartoonist Hugh MacLeod. A sample:and#160;
A is for Anxiety, which is experiencing failure in advance. Tell yourself enough vivid stories about the worst possible outcome and youandrsquo;ll soon come to believe them. Worry is not preparation, and anxiety doesnandrsquo;t make you better.and#160;
F is for Feedback, which can be either a crutch or a weapon. Use it to make your work smaller, safer, and more likely to please everyone (and fail in the long run). Or use it as a lever to further push you to embrace what you fear and what youandrsquo;re capable of.and#160;This is unlike any previous Godin book and makes a great gift, both for loyal fans and those whoandrsquo;ve never read him before.
About the Author
Seth Godin is the author of more than a dozen bestsellers that have changed the way people think about marketing, leadership, and change, including
Permission Marketing,
Purple Cow,
All Marketers Are Liars,
Small is the New Big,
The Dip,
Tribes,
Linchpin, and
Poke the Box. He is also the founder and CEO of Squidoo.com and a very popular lecturer. He writes one of the most influential business blogs in the world at SethGodin.com.