Rating: 
Summary: INTERESTNG WITH THE DARWIN TWIST.
Review: After reading "Unleashing the Idea virus" I got the idea that Seth Godin wasn't the typical business author but now that I have just finished reading "Survival Is Not Enough: Zooming, Evolution, and the Future of Your Company" I am sure that he is totally different from the rest... Does that make him better than the rest?... I still haven't made up my Mind!I really enjoyed reading about business topics with a mix of Darwin's theories; It really opened my mind about certain similarities of both Science and Business. A lot of the writing of Seth Godin is so simple that can be considered brilliant. Now, if someone asks me if what Godin wrote in this book will help me in Business I really wouldn't know what to answer on that specific question but I would say: DON'T EXPECT TO GET ALL THE BUSINESS SECRETS TO BE SUCCESSFUL JUST EXPECT TO GET REALLY COOL IDEAS, STATS AND A GREAT RELATION BETWEEN SCIENCE (Darwin) AND BUSINESS (Godin).
Rating:
Summary: Good book, reassuring
Review: As a person on the hunt for the ultimate job I found this book refreshing, hoping that the future CEOs will be reading this book and can understand the importance of keeping people motivated and giving them the freedom to try new things. This book helped open my mind up a bit on how to deal with others who do not have the desire to soom, or those that are skeptical of such ideas. This book is by no means a traditional business book, and that may turn a lot of business people off, many of the ideas are kind of new-age, but the beauty of it is that not every idea is a good one, but atleast it makes you think in new ways.
Rating: 
Summary: Science and Business Hand in Hand
Review: Europeans, especially the British, see science as separate from business, and scientists and businessmen as separate species. This book categorically refutes this folly. Science and business are the same. What he is trying to say about the outliers being successful in a changing world is not new. The germans always practiced this principle. Try to do the best job you can and keep improving it technically no end. Provided you are not doing something completely silly, you will find that your only competitor will be, perhaps, another West German company (this is what happened in textiles in Germany). The problem is that we always focus on making that dollar, on the "average" behaviour or achieving some margin. Money is EMERGENT, i.e. just do what you love and at some threshold of excellence the money will follow you. The hidden message of evolution is seeing change as an agent of opportunity rather than a threat. Therefore, governments should encourage and support education, long degrees of 6 years or so, as used to be the norm in France and Germany we require again today even more so than before. Only when the population acquires the hunger for knowledge can they become the flexible individuals able to survive is a dynamic world.
Rating:
Summary: Science and Business Hand in Hand
Review: Europeans, especially the British, see science as separate from business, and scientists and businessmen as separate species. This book categorically refutes this folly. Science and business are the same. What he is trying to say about the outliers being successful in a changing world is not new. The germans always practiced this principle. Try to do the best job you can and keep improving it technically no end. Provided you are not doing something completely silly, you will find that your only competitor will be, perhaps, another West German company (this is what happened in textiles in Germany). The problem is that we always focus on making that dollar, on the "average" behaviour or achieving some margin. Money is EMERGENT, i.e. just do what you love and at some threshold of excellence the money will follow you. The hidden message of evolution is seeing change as an agent of opportunity rather than a threat. Therefore, governments should encourage and support education, long degrees of 6 years or so, as used to be the norm in France and Germany we require again today even more so than before. Only when the population acquires the hunger for knowledge can they become the flexible individuals able to survive is a dynamic world.
Rating:
Summary: Who Moved My Paradigm?
Review: Godin has authored a number of best-selling business books, notably Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Ideavirus, and most recently Purple Cow. He introduces and then develops a few core concepts in each, illustrating them with dozens of examples drawn from his extensive experience in marketing. Much as I admire his other books, I think this one is his most thoughtful and most thought-provoking, and therefore his most valuable thus far. True, he anchors his material within the framework of Charles Darwin's scientific research on natural selection. To his credit, Godin does not claim to be a scientist although his curiosity about scientific phenomena is immediately obvious. He allows Darwin to collaborate with him on the formulation of this book's Foreword. Then in the Introduction, Godin observes that he has been fascinated with Darwin's work for a long time and eventually realized that "companies are very much like species." However, unlike animals, many business executives "fret" about all the chaos which surrounds them. They sign with relief when surviving the latest major crisis. Here is one of Godin's key points: "I believe that there's a goal beyond survival, that we can actually thrive and find joy in working with all the chaos that surrounds us. That we can look forward to change and turbulence as an opportunity to increase our success." Godin believes that there is a new paradigm developing, "a pretty radical way of thinking about business, but one that's nothing new to an evolutionary biologist." Godin wrote this book to explain the paradigm, and, to convince his reader on why her or his enterprise should seize (not merely pursue) all of the new opportunities which that paradigm creates. "Transformative success" awaits those which do. As I read this book, I was reminded of what Shira White asserts in New Ideas About New Ideas: To generate new ideas, it is first necessary to generate new ideas about how to do that. Otherwise, the results will probably be the same. I have yet to encounter anyone who denies the importance of "creative" or "innovative" thinking. We all realize that Edisons are few and far between. However, as White, Godin, and countless others have correctly pointed out, all of us can develop new perspectives and then the requisite skills by which to free ourselves from mindsets which preclude (and often denigrate) creative, innovative thinking. In Leading Change, Jim O'Toole characterizes these mindsets as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Godin wrote this book to challenge but also to encourage his reader to consider very carefully the reasons why survival is not enough...and never will be. He summarizes his key points in the Introduction (pages 6-8) and then examines each in the ten chapters which follow. One of the book's most valuable sections consists of what Godin characterizes as "The Important Questions." Each of the 37 is followed by a brief response and, when appropriate, a related question or two. Sometimes a list, such as of "the five elements of an evolving organization" (page 230) and "ten tactics for companies that want to evolve quickly" (page 231). "These are questions that can start you, your group and your company on the way to building a zooming organization, one that adapt and respond rather than [merely] react to change." As he does in his other books, Godin once again demonstrates his skills as a pyrotechnical thinker who develops his own nomenclature. Probably because he examines so many correlations between Darwin's scientific research in the mid-19th century and his own experiences in the contemporary business world, Godin includes a Glossary of terms which I think should be read first. Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Darwin, and the military battlefield are among the conceits which many writers of business books have used to frame their own ideas. More often than not, the correlations seem contrived but that is not true in this instance. Earlier I presumed to suggest that this is Godin's most important book thus far and now hope that I have offered, in this brief commentary, some reasons why I think so. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, William Bridges' Managing Transitions, John McMillan's Reinventing the Bazaar, and Andrew Hargadon's How Breakthroughs Happen.
Rating: 
Summary: Has some interesting ideas..
Review: Has some interesting ideas. I don't know how much of it can actually be implemented, however. Just because there's chaos around you doesn't mean you have to live/work in chaos. Remember the hare and the turtouise fable?
Rating: 
Summary: This "Survival" is more than enough
Review: Heavily hyped but full of old marketing drivel. A complete waste of time and money.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book. Now, if I could only get my boss...
Review: I actually bought this book for my boss. My company is totally stuck, and hopefully this book will shake her up enough to realize that there's a way out for us... without requiring me to stay up all night three days a week. I can't imagine what would happen if everyone in my company read it. I thought the evolutionary biology stuff was pretty easy to understand, and as always, I laughed out loud reading his writing style. Well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Another Godin Book - Another winner!
Review: I gave this book 4 stars because, while it was refreshing to read and I definitely learned quite a bit, it wasn't a paradigm-shifting book, which is what I am increasingly moving towards for my 5 star books. I warn folks that don't like buzzwords that this book has TONS of them. Frankly, there were more than I care for and I normally don't mind them! Mr. Godin consistently picks a topic of business conversation/interest and then provides readers with his insights. In Permission Marketing he spoke about the rampant increase in e-mail marketing campaigns and what made them effective vs. ineffective and the impact it would have on consumer/business relations. In Unleashing the Ideavirus Mr. Godin spoke about the power of word of mouth advertising and how companies could utilize the Internet as an enabling device to cost effectively communicate with customers and generate excitement in a product/service. Survival is Not Enough, by Seth Godin, is another bestseller in the works. For some reason Mr. Godin seems to get the "big picture" better than most. More importantly, the manner in which he conveys the information / subject manner is normally easier to understand than other books on comparable subject matter. With his new book Mr. Godin tackles the subject of rapid change and its impact on business. Using the metaphor of Darwin's Law of Evolution Mr. Godin compares a corporation's evolution to any animal. The entire book can be summed up in a very simple manner. Evolve (change) or die. The fittest company will win at the end of the day such as the fiercest Lion will end up passing on his genes to other lions. Rather than spell out each chapter I would say that Mr. Godin hits on several key things within the book that really make it worth reading 1) Why it is better to make small changes than big changes to survive (EVOLVE vs. massive restructuring). 2) How can a company accelerate changes so it doesn't become static and die? 3) Why you need to make sure you have the right people on board. 4) How do people deal with fear and change? What are some of the artificial barriers we as humans put up to avoid change? I found some of the insights to be interesting. 5) Are all companies capable of change? Obviously a lot don't (they become extinct via bankruptcy) but did they miss along the way which hurt the company (examples are provided.) Mr. Godin's last chapter gives a long list of important questions that deal with change. Through asking them and honestly answering them you may find some insightful things about your companies' culture and the implications for your career development, as well as their future success. In general I found the book to be very insightful but much tougher than his previous books to read. This is heady stuff, relative to his prior books, especially when you have to compare the entire book to Darwin and Evolution!
Rating:
Summary: Yeee Haw ! Got re-hired cuz of this book !
Review: I got axed like 6 months ago cuz my boss had read ¨The Ideavirus¨ by Godin and concluded our marketing dept was ¨expendable¨. Now, turns out I got re-hired cuz of ¨ Zooming¨.
She realized that I was one of those ¨wizards¨ Godin talks about in the book (conveniently not covered in ¨Ideavirus¨).
Hey Godin! I hope you've got some kinda caveat or something
for impressionable CEOs in ¨Purple Cow¨....
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