The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable

The Big Moo has truly become a cornerstone of the corporate culture at my organization. We ordered customized copies of the book from http://www.remarkabalize.com, where we had our logo, personalized message, and custom-made forward put right on the book to give as gifts to our clients and employees. It seems to have really struck a chord with everyone we've passed it on to-which has only made our personal message and brand identity stronger as a result. Corporate communications are so important these days for every industry; unfortunately, the tools out there today seem to be moving in the direction of the mundane and lackluster, with nothing truly getting through to your key audience. The Big Moo was our answer-it's chock-full of innovation and inspiration with the added benefit of our personal message to really drive home our objectives. Now everyone's mooing-mission accomplished.

My initial attraction to The Big Moo was a result of the all-star lineup of contributing authors for the book (in addition to being edited by Seth Godin!)--Malcolm Gladwell, Tom Peters, Randall Rothenberg--how can you go wrong? So I decided to do a bit of research and landed on their site (http://www.remarkabalize.com), where I discovered the really cool part about the book and its message: the book can be customized with your company's logo, message, and forward for the same price as listed here. I bought the book for clients, employees, friends, and family. The book's message is outstanding-it's about innovation, growth, and inspires a generation of the remarkable within your company. Very cool stuff. A must read for those with a creative entrepreneurial spirit.

With great anticipation, I opened my copy of The Big Moo, a new book that was masterminded by Seth Godin and his collaboration with the 32 other co-authors. The range of emotions the book evoked in me was incredible--excitement, disgust, inspiration, sadness, regret, optimism, intrigue--just to name a few. I was unable to sleep until I finished it, and am still contemplating the passages and thinking about it (instead of sleeping). In many ways, I feel like Seth and the other authors did share "the secrets" that many of us seek. At times while reading it, I did not want to tell anyone else I know about it. However, I was won over by my belief that the more who understand and strive for The Big Moo, the better all of our lives will be. To "The Group of 33": Thank you! ...for reminding me that trying to make a difference, change and improve things is worth the struggle. ...for validating that individual conversations are important, and listening is the most critical element. ...for sharing your personal insights and experiences through wonderful stories, metaphors and maxims. ...for quelling my frustration from the many unanswered "why" questions I have posed to vendors, bosses, co-workers and others. It is a whole lot clearer now. ...for assuring me that opportunities are worth pursuing, customers are worth dazzling, and the experience is the reward. To Everyone: Don't buy into the notions of comfortable, security and stability. Don't wait, or tomorrow may not come for you. Don't let your passion die.

I've been going through a phase of reading business books lately, and this one stands out for a few reasons. Firstly, it is divided into roughly 70 stories by 33 authors, each only a page or two long. Good for those of us with ADD. None of the stories list their author so you just have to guess. Some are very easy to pin down, for example there is a chart that is straight out of Guy Kawasaki's book Art of the Start (also worth reading). Most of the rest I may never be able to figure out. The amazing thing is that these stories actually flow together quite nicely, and entire sections sound as if they were written by a single person. The cover says the book is themed around how to make your organization remarkable. While these stories aren't a step-by-step guide to achieving this(has anyone ever tried writing one?), they do provide a good jumping off point. All are inspirational, and many are very subversive. Just wait until you hear their opinions on the value of formal education.

Q: What's this book all about? Godin: This is a book about how and why to grow. It's not a book of facts or logical reasoning. Instead of lecturing you about how important and wonderful it is to do scary, brave, and remarkable things, [this book] paints a very different picture for you. My colleagues and I are intent on slipping some subversive ideas into your subconscious...ideas that will help you dream bigger dreams (though they might cost you some sleep as well). We believe one way to get past [what we call] the growth paradox is to avoid addressing it head-on. Instead of warning you about the dangers of stagnation, or promising you benefits of growth, we've decided to tell you some exemplary stories instead. Stories that are easy to read, memorable, and, most important, useful parables for putting growth to work in your own organization. Q: What's the "growth paradox"? Godin: Most organizations are paralyzed, stuck in a rut, staring at the growth paradox. On one hand, they understand all the good things that will come with growth. On the other, they're afraid, petrified that growth means change, change means risk, and risk could mean death. Nobody wants to screw up and ruin a good thing, so the organization just sits there, motionless. Q: Individual contributions by your 33 colleagues aren't credited. Pretty unusual, perhaps even remarkable. You identify them. Why not credit them? Godin: We did it because it makes it easier to read the book as a whole, to avoid being interrupted by the noise your brain makes as it shifts gears from one voice to another. That and it lets you guess who wrote what. Those who have read any of Godin's earlier works already know that his thinking is highly unconventional as he relentlessly asks conventional questions such as Why? Why not? Are you sure? How do you know? What if? Have you thought about...? He delights to churning up waves atop gray matter. Heaven knows, he has opinions of his own. Also opinions about those opinions. However, to me, his greatest value as a thinker is his role as what I call a "provocateur of the intellect." That is to say, most of his best ideas focus on how to help others to formulate their own best ideas. What we have in this volume is a synthesis but NOT a homogenization of what 33 business thinkers have to say in response to two questions: 1. If being remarkable is the only way to grow, how to become remarkable? 2. If the only barrier to being remarkable is one's ability to persuade associates to make it happen, how to do that? It would be inaccurate to say that the responses are "all over the map" because, in fact, there is no "map." Within the responses, however, are what can correctly be viewed as time capsules of intellectual stimulation. Their impact will vary from one reader to the next. For me, some had significant impact; others none whatsoever. When we first see a purple cow, it is remarkable. But after seeing hundreds.... What is remarkable this morning is