Survival Is Not Enough
By Seth Godin
Free Press, 2002 - 263 pages

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! 

 

About the Author: Seth Godin was founder and CEO of Yoyodyne, the industry's leading interactive direct marketing company, which Yahoo! acquired in late 1998.  After Yoyodyne was sold Godin joined Yahoo as head of permission-marketing where he helped integrate direct marketing, permission marketing, and Internet promotions into the company's Fusion Marketing Online program for its clients worldwide.  In January 2000, Godin left to pursue personal interests and continues to serve as an external advisor, consultant, and friend to Yahoo! Godin currently is a Fast Company contributing editor. He writes about change and how corporations and individuals can successfully deal with the massive rifts our economy is facing. Mr. Godin holds an MBA from Stanford and was called "The Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age" by Business Week.