Business Book Review: Survival is Not Enough by Seth Godin
In a genius comparison, Godin explains the science of business. Because, like in nature, evolution is inevitable. Only those most able to adapt will thrive.
My Rating: ★★★★
Length: 316 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Released: 2012
Key takeaway for personal branding
In a brilliant analogy, Seth Godin reminds us of the science of business. As Charles Darwin, whose words make up the book’s foreword said, survival is about evolving.
The book’s pitch is that companies should take their cue from the laws of nature. And instead of the goal of survival through change, businesses must learn to thrive. To evolve. And importantly, you must overcome your innate anti-change reflex.
Godin proposes the best way to do this is to ‘zoom’. Which is developing an appreciation of change as a successful winning strategy.
This is more than learning to manage change. But rather, creating a passion for continuous, even daily experimentation. Even when riding a winning strategy. Making change tiny and painless. So that your business is always ahead of any environmental changes. Changes that could otherwise see it unexpectedly wiped out.
Personal branding calls for continuous evolution and reinvention. Godin's daily 'zooming' challenges you to push your comfort zone at every opportunity. Venturing into the unknown daily, with a love of quick experimenting.
For your personal brand, this gives you permission to put yourself out there every day. To see what works and what doesn’t. Knowing that over time, your continuous experiments and efforts to evolve will compound. And while so many stay stagnate, you have learned to thrive.
Favourite Quotes
Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is.
The secret of this book is that your success is not going to be due to your plan. It’s the process you use that matters.
Companies that cause change attract employees who want to cause change. Companies that are afraid of change attract employees who are afraid of change.
To fight change is to fight a losing battle. To manage change is a hopeless task. To successfully evolve, however, is to win.
Do you zoom? Zooming is about stretching your limits without threatening your foundation.
It starts, as we’ve seen, with zooming. Changing all the time, often with no specific goal in mind—just to get good at the process of making tiny changes without getting stressed about it.
Getting it wrong is just as important as getting it right, though, as it showed a willingness (even a passion) for testing.
In Survival is Not Enough Godin proves his marketing genius is matched by his business savvy. From meeting culture to the politics of proposals, offering astute observations and alternatives. The book is laden with industry examples further demonstrating Godin’s business acumen. With insightful commentary on why some businesses have thrived while others haven’t.
Survival is Not Enough is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the science of business. Because, it’s those that do who will thrive through its evolution.
Survival is Not Enough by Seth Godin: Available on Amazon.
