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

Those who now struggle to create or increase demand for whatever they offer (products, services, or a combination of both) must be able to answer three basic questions. All are important but the first two are much less important than is the third: 1. Who are you? 2. What do you do? 3. Why should I care? As my reviews of Seth Godin's earlier published works indicate, I think he is one of the most thought-provoking business authors whose insights (especially those provided in Small Is the New Big) can provide substantial assistance to answering the aforementioned questions. Whenever I read or re-read any of Godin's books, I view his insights as "acorns" or "mustard seeds," any of which - with proper nourishment - can be developed into substantial results such as increased recognition and a higher level of awareness, a better understanding of a given market segment, a clearer sense of how to position and then promote one's offering more effectively, or perhaps overcoming what James O'Toole has aptly characterized (in Leading Change) as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Godin encourages those who read Small Is the New Big not to read it all at once. "It took eight years to write, and if you read it in one sitting, it'll give you a headache." Contrary to my normal approach, that is what I did, after checking out the table of contents. I skimmed through the first 276 pages and as I did so, ideas seemed to "fly off the page" and demand my attention. I immediately highlighted them for future reference and then continued on until arriving at "Special Bonus!! $243 Worth of Free E-Books, Reprinted Here at No Extra Charge to You, My Faithful Reader." I then carefully read each word until the narrative's conclusion on Page 310. One man's opinion, the "Special Bonus!" section provides the most valuable material in the book as Godin shares his thoughts about Web site design, generating traffic, the importance of "telling a story," the three components of "your best audience," why a home page is unnecessary (indeed counter-productive), three questions that must be answered when building each Web site page, how to overcome clutter, and three basic "truths" and four "laws" that defy conventional wisdom. With regard to "acorns" and "mustard seeds," here are a few representative examples: "If your target audience isn't listening, it's not their fault, it's yours." (Page 14) "What makes you remarkable is being amazing, outstanding, surprising, elegant and noteworthy." (Page 112) People who think like a pigeon "assume a cause-and-effect relationship that doesn't really exist. That's what a superstition is: a compulsion to take an action that has no actual influence on the desired outcome." (Page 163) "No one 'gets' an idea unless: the first impression demands further investigation, they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea, [and] they trust and respect the sender enough to invest the time." (Pages 249-2

I hadn't read Seth's blog, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out to be one of the best experiences I've had reading a business book. First of all, there are some great ideas in the book. Most have to do with marketing and product development. Even better, however, is that many essays teach you how to think up your own ideas. Second, Seth is an extremely talented and funny writer. I found myself laughing out loud several times as I was reading. Like all great humor, it was never gratuitous and served to support the point he was making. Third, the individual essays are short enough so that you can pick it up and start reading without making a huge time commitment. Each essay is self contained, so you can stop just about anywhere without interrupting a long chain of logic. (This is manna to an "agile project manager" like me.) Finally, I find it truly inspiring. After I read some of it I feel renewed and excited about working. Don't miss out on this informative, inspiring and entertaining book.

I have to admit that when I first heard about Seth Godin's book Small Is The New Big and that it was about business ideas I wasn't very interested. Being a mother of two small children I didn't think it would help me at all or enable me to learn anything pertaining to my life. Little did I know that when I decided to join a Buzz campaign for it (a buzz agent is basically someone who samples a product and then shares their opinion on it) that I would be astounded at the truisms contained in his blogs, his Squidoo lenses and that it would help me to refocus what I am doing in my life - not just as a housewife, but as a friend, a mother, an educator and all the other roles that I fill in my life. Godin's writing is a breath of fresh air. He doesn't talk like an intellectual in the sense that you need a thesaurus to figure out what he's saying; he also writes about things that really matter like courtesy and not conforming for the sake of conformity. Reading his riffs, blogs and lenses really made me think about what he was saying and see how if I am, in my own life doing the best that I can. His writing is entertaining, eye opening and gives you the opportunity to look inside yourself to see how you can make things better - not just for your company, but for all the people that you come into contact with every day. We spend so much time communicating via email, over the phone, in chat rooms and text messages that sometimes we forget that there really is a person on the other end. Overall, I think this is an amazing collection of ideas, challenges and inspiring messages which can help anyone to enrich their life and I just want to say to Seth, Thank you so much for sharing with us and enabling us to transform ourselves and the world around us by giving us the nudge that we sometimes need. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be a source for change and innovation.

Small is the New Big is full of challenging what if questions and inspiring examples of remarkable ways to answer them. It would be hard to imagine anyone lacking inspiration after reading the riffs in Seth Godin's latest book, unless he or she were a little short on common sense, paralyzed by fear or drunk on the corporate Kool-Aid (r). This may be because of the way that the content in this book was created. Tapping into several years worth of blog posts and magazine columns, Seth Godin has gathered a collection of the kind of ideas that make good things happen, presented with a depth and breadth of coverage that I think make it his best yet. Among included selections are favorites that brought back memories, like the What Did You Do in the 2000's? Fast Company column that, like the magazine itself, inspired me to transform the work I did then into the work I do now. The book (starting on page 93) includes a great description of Seth and team's latest Online project, Squidoo, a social interaction site I personally find fascinating.--Visit my Squidoo lens susan_reads to see what else is on my radar in marketing and current news.