Credibility Review

Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It. James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner. Wiley. 368 pages.

Review by Richard Pachter

I've worked for some interesting characters. Not my current or recent bosses, naturally, who are exemplary people, but in the past, I've dealt with a number of folks who may have been managers — they owned the title and occupied the office — though they clearly weren't leaders.

Their authority came from power and position rather than from their leadership or actions.  Some, I respected, but they didn't necessarily earn it from their work, just their titles, unfortunately.

They were the boss. Their words were one thing but their behavior was something else entirely. It's one thing to tell everyone that this next project is a life-and-death matter, but it's another matter entirely when everyone is still at work past closing time, and the boss is heading out the door. You've seen that movie, too, I'm sure!

Kouzes and Posner's new book, a revision of their  popular earlier edition, presents a wise and honest look at the basic qualities that leaders must possess. In aggregate, they can be described as "credibility."

Credibility, because there's an honesty and authenticity that's required. To be taken seriously, they write, it's insufficient to simply say all the appropriate things; the words and thoughts must align and be put into action on a consistent basis.

Some people might look the part. It's the James Buchanan Effect; he appeared every inch the leader but was ineffectual and is considered to be among the worst presidents ever by historians

Years ago, I worked for a tall woman with broad shoulders who allegedly knew how to manage — but not how to do the job. The team treated her with respect, but it was based more on their good manners than her proficiency. She looked great in meetings, though...

Most of us have an innate sense of what's real, and inauthenticity and lack of commitment are generally pretty obvious — palpable, even.

But if it's all so obvious, what need is there for a book? And why would it benefit from being revised and brought up to date?

Kouzes and Posner conducted a ton of interviews and present various examples and aspects of credibility in a very readable and comprehensible manner.

The numerous anecdotes and case studies are quite relatable, too.

The stories herein do a fine job of providing real-life situations to reflect upon and project one's own situations on, too.

Real leadership requires an arsenal of resources but you can't fake credibility; cracks show up sooner or later. But Kouzes and Posner provide a nice reality check for those whose authenticity might be lacking. The challenge, as always, is in getting them to recognize and act upon it.

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Upping Your Elvis

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ONE CLICK Review

One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com. Richard L. Brandt. Portfolio/Penguin. 208 pages.

Review by Richard Pachter

Do you like biographies?

I love ‘em!

In fact, my first assigned “book report” at P.S. 139 in Brooklyn was a biography, so I chose “The Wright Brothers.”

But I had no idea I was supposed to just read and “report” on only one book, so I checked out three titles from my great little school library, and read about those pioneering aviators from three different authors’ angles. Why not?

I thought my debut book review, er, report, was a great success, except the teacher wrote TITLE? AUTHOR? in big red letters across the top of my 3-hole notebook paper I’d penciled my report on, and she later informed me that I was supposed to “report” on only one book, not several.

Oops.

But from tiny acorns…

This new bio of Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos is a fun read. Serious but not heavy or ponderous, its author does a fine job chronicling the life of the guy who essentially fulfilled the promise of the Internet as a medium for commerce.

Bezos was preternaturally bright and ambitious, one of those driven kids who loved computers and excelled at all sorts of techy things. But he also spent childhood vacations on his grandfather’s Texas ranch, learning to do a slew of decidedly low-tech chores with cattle, such as cleaning stalls, branding (insert joke here!), castrating and other fun stuff.

He never knew his biological father, who‘d divorced his mom when he was a year and a half old, but she soon remarried and they both took the name Bezos from his adopted dad, a Cuban refugee. The family first lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, then Houston, Texas, then Panama City and Miami, Florida. He attended Palmetto Senior High in Pinecrest, had a summer job at McDonald’s, and enjoyed a happy childhood and adolescence.

After high school, Bezos started a little company with another Palmetto High graduate, aimed at tutoring advanced fifth-graders and was written up in the Miami Herald. Bezos also received a science prize in the newspaper’s prestigious Silver Knight competition.

After obtaining a degree in computers and electrical engineering at Princeton, Bezos was a highly sought-after recruit. Spurning several impressive offers, he chose a start-up headed by Columbia professors trying to build “a mini-Internet” for Wall Street investors, a full decade before the real Internet came into popular use. Despite enjoying rapid success in the new company, he yearned for his own enterprise and methodically searched for a business to launch on the World Wide Web. After deciding upon bookselling, he applied himself fanatically to his baby, Amazon.com.

Brandt does a good job of weaving an upbeat and appealing narrative thread, making Bezos’ life and quest interesting and compelling. It’s not a lofty literary work, but an example of good long-form journalism. There are numerous interviews with key sources and though Bezos himself may not have provided the author with his own one-on-one, he’s spoken to the media enough times to generate a pool of quotes for Brandt to draw from, as needed.

Perhaps without intending to, Brandt presents a story that’s a classic American tale of tenacity and enterprise. Though not poor, Bezos’ journey, in its own way, is as inspiring as other archetypical American business and creative pioneers’ struggles. And like the Wright Brothers, might encourage other young entrepreneurs — or even nascent book reviewers.

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Club Reviews: ONE CLICK

One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com. Richard L. Brandt. Portfolio/Penguin. 208 pages.

A book about Amazon.com, a change agent for how we buy not only books but various other products too, is of timely interest.  This book, One Click, is well done and gives you the background into Amazon.com and how the true entrepreneur, Jeff Bezos, did it and made it such a massive change agent. All it took was just one entrepreneur who recognized the impact that the Internet will have on consumers; that software has to be developed to make it easy for the customer to buy with just one click; and the attention to detail the site has to provide so the customer trusts this method of buying.
Beyond the technical, the book also spotlights the tenacity an entrepreneur needs to stick with it even when the so-called experts disapprove, and the insight needed to pick the right product to kick start this major change in buying, in this case, books.
As I have just this month published a book, Power Plug-In, all about energy sources and how to invest in them, much of One Click hit home to me.  It is a 'must read' for everyone for information on how the world is changing and how past business practices might not be of use any more.
To view a free sample chapter of Power Plug-In please visit www.PowerPlug-In.com
Gordon Ettie, Pinecrest, Florida

A fantastic biography of Jeff Bezos (amazon.com). A man that should be in the class with Steve Job and Bill Gates. Technically he can compete with both of them and after his scientific schooling he worked in the financial field. Any other person would have been satisfied with the position that he held and the money he was making, but he had a dream of being an entrepreneur. He did research into every type of business and finally settled on selling books as the best way to build an empire.
Jeff Bezos spent time taking a class on operating a book store and visited many book stores. He figured that selling books on line, with the vast number that he could inventory on the internet, would be a successful venture. The story goes on to detail all of the things that he did. In particular how he raised money to start his business. Unfortunately it took many years to begin making a profit, but his financial backing stayed with him (he was a terrific sales person).
He developed the "one click" technique of ordering and had a monopoly on that patent. He developed all of the warehousing, shipping, ordering, controlling, etc. methods. He hired and fired people (some very intelligent people) like it was a fast food operation. He eventually got the best talent to work for him and built a very successful empire.
Enjoyable reading and a learning experience. Howard Elakman

One Click by Richard L. Brandt is a small book in size but it certainly is an illuminating and intriguing
book that tells the inside story of Amazon.com and its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. The book is packed full of information revealing the difficulties of working out the kinks of the internet and the competition in order to satisfy customers and make an eventual profit as well as expand beyond Bezos' initial ambition to become the world's largest book seller and  expand to become the electronic destination to sell many different products including shoes (Zappos). What an awakening! Here I thought amazon.com was only a place to purchase books! Mr. Bezos continues to expand his business to pursue  his dream when he was a  valedictorian to provide a commercial enterprise for space tourists that many people can afford. Through his company Blue Origin his wish to create a comfortable,  affordable, safe and exciting service in space may just become a reality! He seems to be well on his way. Few executives seem to be able to follow his positive forward looking philosophy. Perhaps they fear the outcome!  Jeff Bezos certainly doesn't seem to fear anything!!! What a joy to read One Click! Margot Byrnes, Miami, Florida

Learned a lot about Amazon.com, but would have liked more depth on Jeff Bezos, the man.  Fast and interesting read – worthwhile summary of the dot.com era. Doramary Russell, Coral Springs, Florida

How can a book be both riveting and boring at the same time? While the information conveyed in one click is interesting – after all you’re talking about one of the greatest success stories of our time – the bland, yet breathless tone of the tale leaves me empty. It’s the hyperbole surrounding a simple subject, also the hallmark of Amazon’s success, which permeates this book. I enjoyed reading the information contained in this book. I just didn’t particularly enjoy the manner in which the story was told. As I read the book, I kept getting the feeling that the writing was formulaic (Begin with this type of sentence, proceed to description, finish with conclusion.”)
Still, it’s a simple, easy read as a way of learning something about the path to success of Amazon.com’s creator. What stands out in the story of an über-successful entrepreneur is that to be a successful entrepreneur means to have single-minded focus and be extremely flexible, and to know when to be which. The nuggets to be mined in this tale don’t require much of a stretch to get there. Anne Bloom, Davie

 
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from the beginning to the end.  eff Bezos is a true entrepreneur.  I liked how he began by taking a course on how to sell books which included customer service.  This area is what makes him so big today with Amazon. His one aim is customer service and has stayed true to that. He built his customer base by selling at a loss but in the end it made him money. He had a great foresight to see what was happening and he joined in when he could and if he couldn't he would create his own. He knew what he wanted and he made sure he got it at whatever cost. He was an intelligent negotiator when he knew what he wanted at whatever cost. He built up his stock value doing just that. He had a high expectation of the type of employees he wanted to hire. I found that very interesting; they would have to provide their SAT scores along with their grade point average but still he had a vision and he made it happen. His business tactics were unusual but again, he made it happen. He played hard ball when he needed and most of the time he still came on top. When the big crash happened he lost a lot of money but he did not fold, he lost a lot but he had to make tough choices. The creation of Kindle was genius. With Apple and the iPad and iPhone he had to do something too and Kindle was it  He knew exactly what he wanted and again he made it happen. Patricia Garcia, Miami

When one reads Brandt’s book, it feels like sitting down with him in a Starbucks and hearing all the interesting stories he knows about Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com.  Not all the stories show the positive side of Amazon and the book balances well with customer service problems and fights with publishers along with amazing innovation. The book flows logically and communicates stories extremely well in a conversational tone.  In addition to learning about how Amazon was created and grew, chapters on Bezo’s management style, impact of the Kindle on publishing and competing with bookstores are explored very competently and interestingly.  It is a book well worth reading especially if you are interested in the future of the bookstore and publishing. Randy B. Lichtman,  Miami, Florida

ONE CLICK was a bit disappointing.  I love Amazon, and thought this book would give an insider's view of how the company was born and grew.  Based on the cover of the book, one would think this was a book about Amazon.  But I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.  The book seems to be more of a compilation of news articles over the past 10 years.  Very little of what was in the book was new information that I already didn't know.

As far as the book being a biography about Jeff Bezos, it is lacking in that respect as well.  If the book would have been well written and insightful on Jeff Bezos the same way the STEVE JOBS biography by Walter Isaacson was, then it would have been a hit.  The problem is that this isn't really a biography on Jeff Bezos either.

This book is stuck somewhere halfway between a book about Amazon and a book about Jeff Bezos.  Unfortunately, it is very shallow on both of those subjects.  It lacks the appropriate amount a depth that should be given to each.

As far as the format of the book, the small size is easy to carry around with you to read.  It does however get a bit difficult to read about halfway through the book because the page size is small, margins are small, and typeface is small.

It is hard to recommend this book to others.  If you aren't interested in Amazon or Jeff Bezos, then you probably won't be interested in reading this.  If you are interested in Amazon or Jeff Bezos, then you probably already know 90% of the information in this book anyway. Frank Donn, Miami, FL

Richard Brandt paints an insightful and engaging account of one of today's most successful entrepreneur's. R. W. Groce, Miami

I don't know if this book really knows what it wants to be.  When I saw the size of the book, it made me think it could be no more than a cursory  look at Bezos and Amazon and, in many instances, it is.  It is not a biography.  It is not a company history, per se.  Overall, it is a moderately well-researched, passable overview (especially of the early years) of Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com.

It felt throughout as if the author could not bring himself to be any more than begrudgingly complimentary of Bezos, his business and entrepreneurial acumen, and his management style.  The sucess of Amazon and Bezos's other ventures seem to grate on Brandt, as if he keeps searching for dirt but can't find exactly what he wants.  Ultimately, it appears Brandt is unable to decide whether Bezos is a genius or a ruthless businessman willing to kill his own creator to get ahead.  Why can't he be both?

I finished the book feeling like I had only touched on what makes Jeff Bezos tick, and what makes the Amazon story so compelling.  With just a little more effort, Brandt could have taken us much closer to finding the answers, rather than leaving the reader with more questions. Scott Rembold, Coral Gables, FL

I was so excited to be reading about my favorite shopping site, Amazon. Then the book arrived and it was so cute and compact.  I thought, "This will be great, a quick read, hold my attention..." As tiny as it is, it could be tinier. This story could be told over coffee, not a five course dinner!

Sorry, it's not that interesting. (I still love Amazon.com, though!) Good news for stock holders, I'll be using my Prime membership to buy another book tomorrow. Kelly Reid

Richard L Brandt has written a fantastic chronology of the phenomenon of on-line marketing as epitomized by the archetypal leader, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com.    For anybody interested in the delivery of knowledge, Bezos’s innovations, which he applied in the 1990’s, cannot be diminished.  Ideas like reader’s reviews, the marketing of a used-copies network, and technological developments like self publishing, are to his credit.  His contributions are a crucial piece of the puzzle, when we wonder what happened to Borders.

Besides retelling how the visionary accommodated and incorporated publishers and the associate suppliers;  this small book includes a discussion of the marketing and a customer service philosophy, a way of growing an original idea, in spite of the corporate competition from the giant bookstores.  There are lessons here about the venture capitalists, the ways of start-ups, and it is fascinating to see how Bezos’s intelligent team promoted online ordering through this process.  He originated the idea of customer feedback linkages, “others who purchased this book, also liked” and thereby created individualized demand, even while selling at a loss. Here was a new way of feeding publisher content, that  revolutionized the delivery of books, which others could only imitate. In the later chapters the author discusses the expansion of the Amazon trademark to other goods, clothes, industrial products and sports gear. In the last chapter there is a very interesting account of his strategy to make the Kindle, the trend setting eReader, a new delivery method of knowledge. I think it is worth the cost of the downloadable that yes, you can even get at the Miami Public library now, and then buy it if you like it. SO many good lessons here about marketing to consumers.

The jury is still out as to how the eBooks will impact formal education, with their cost savings and capacity for international knowledge exchange. But Jeff Bezos, the leader of this open-knowledge revolution, may get credit for having encouraged reading original sources again, including newspapers, and reclaiming access to full content, while giving customers what they want. And this quasi-history does him justice. The literary world is more accessible today than ever before and getting bigger.  Thanks to Jeff Bezos’s  inventions, his Kindle, his network  and his modification of the book supply chain while retaining individuality;  now great literature and some not so great literature is accessible like never before. Read this book and think about the impact of all the other markets of personal items, ideas and services, which Amazon has made possible.

You can take the book with you, its small size is as convenient as a Kindle.  Jim Swaner

An informative read.  The glowing, almost reverential tone perhaps contributes to the feeling of the “slogging” style and pace of the story.  Still worth the effort to learn more about the man who transformed not only the bookselling business but e-tailing in general. Zac Hall, Miami

Mr. Brandt has adequately forged the point of how Jeff Bezos and his bold actions brought success to selling items & competing with established booksellers and winning. Click, with its interesting story format and illustration, certainly gave me an insight on how knowing and focusing on what a consumer may want, can result in the probability of being  right in the formula for success. EJ "Henry" Ventura Jr., Coral Gables

I finished reach One Click.  Before reading this book I had some knowledge of the history of Amazon and of Jeff Bezos himself. This book definitely shed more light on how it all started and how much of a genius Jeff really is. I was certainly impressed by his hard decision to leave his high paying Wall Street job to follow his dream, this is something not many of us have the testicular fortitude to do.

The philosophy of Silicon Valley start-ups is quite interesting: the hire the best people, which are those who don't know that something "can't be done," and therefore will figure out how to do it.  I wish many other industries would apply this philosophy when they put together their teams. They hire people with tons of experience but who are also boggled down by conventional thinking, which in many cases prevents them from thinking outside the box and finding truly innovative solutions.

When analyzing decisions from now on I will forever remember Jeff's "regret minimization framework."  Which decision would he regret more if he made either one?  It's a nerdy way of looking at it but it totally works for me.

Overall I think this book is a nice read and it sheds light on one of the coolest and innovative online companies today and a true survivor of the dot-com boom. I would, however, enjoy it more if it had additional input from Jeff Bezos himself. Jeff is an innovator and the book on his life is yet to be written because the best is yet to come. David Mesas

At first glance "One Click" seemed like just another book about some nerdy guy that started an Internet business and got lucky when it took off. The more I read, the more interested I became in Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. The story that best illustrates his quirkiness and strategic approach to life was the criteria he used to select a mate: "She has to be someone who is resourceful enough to get me out of a third-world prison."  That says more about him and his values than anything else in the book.

Author Richard Brandt does not make Bezos sound like a very nice person. In fact, it's difficult to get a sense of Bezos' personality because of Brandt's journalistic style. Most of the people who knew the subject in his early years don't remember much about him. The author falls short of calling him a narcissist, but lets the reader know that Bezos had a single-minded purpose (an obsession?) in creating Amazon.com and would definitely not be considered a "people person."  The description of his youth and the fact that his grandfather worked for DARPA made this reader think that some people are just genetically destined to affect change and are born in just the right place and at precisely the right time. This certainly seems to be the case with Jeff Bezos. I came away from "One Click" admiring Jeff Bezos, but not feeling much affection toward him. Somehow I don't think he would care. Kathy D. Doran, Miami Beach

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NEXT SELECTION: One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com

One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com. Richard L. Brandt. Portfolio/Penguin. 208 pages.


The author writes about the subject here, here and here. Here's his GooglePlus profile and here's his author's page on Amazon.com.


Here's a description of the book from the publisher:

Amazon's business model is deceptively simple: Make online shopping so easy and convenient that customers won't think twice. It can almost be summed up by the button on every page: "Buy now with one click."
Why has Amazon been so successful? Much of it has to do with Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder, whose unique combination of character traits and business strategy have driven Amazon to the top of the online retail world.
Richard Brandt charts Bezos's rise from computer nerd to world- changing entrepreneur. His success can be credited to his forward-looking insights and ruthless business sense. Brandt explains: 
* Why Bezos decided to allow negative product reviews, correctly guessing that the earned trust would outweigh possible lost sales. 
* Why Amazon zealously guards some patents yet freely shares others. 
* Why Bezos called becoming profitable the "dumbest" thing they could do in 1997. 
* How Amazon.com became one of the only dotcoms to survive the bust of the early 2000s. 
* Where the company is headed next.
Through interviews with Amazon employees, competitors, and observers, Brandt has deciphered how Bezos makes decisions. The story of Amazon's ongoing evolution is a case study in how to reinvent an entire industry, and one that anyone in business today ignores at their peril.

If you'd like to participate, please send your name and U.S-based snail mail address here.

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Club Reviews: ANYTHING YOU WANT by Derek Sivers

Anything You Want by Derek Sivers.

Anything You Want by Derek Sivers is a refreshing, delightful, inspiring read. With his positive attitude
and creative innovative approaches to hiring, marketing, and running a business it is no wonder that he has attained happiness which is his whole point of doing anything!
According to Derek, business is more about making dreams come true than money. He shares his experiences both good and bad, profitable and not so much. His philosophy of the joy of learning and doing while resisting the urge to punish everyone for one person's  mistake is remarkable. We would all profit if we remember his words of wisdom - remember people  are affected by what you say or don't say (neglecting to reply] and a personal approach taken toward others make them feel important. The whole point of doing anything should be that it makes you happy. What a great world this would be if more people latched on to his philosophy!!!! Margot Byrnes, Miami

Anything you want, by Derek Sivers, is a great short book, to the point, with lots of relatable stories.  Any entrepreneur, business owner or artist, or I should say, someone taking responsibility for their lives and the outcomes would enjoy and get out of it just what they need at this time in their lives.
My special moments, or what I needed to hear to reinforce my journey are, “in the end, it’s about what you want to be, not what you want to have”.  It is up to us to make our perfect world, many people will tell you are wrong, but “just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you.”
Of course Derek has enough income to cover his living expense without having to think about it again, and this gives him the freedom to create without the worry of paying the bills.  So for those of us who haven’t arrived at that point, we can be satisfied knowing and believing. Tom Hinz, Blue Lake, CA

"Anything you Want" was like the current movie out now "The Descendants" — funny at times but a sad story.  Derrick had a simple plan and tried to keep his business fun and focused on the customer.  We all need to follow that advice.  His approach to his customers was brilliant and got them excited about doing business with his company, however it became sad when he allowed his business to be run by his employees.   Small businesses become big businesses if your lucky or you want to be and with that comes employee challenges that structure needs to address.  Derrick tried to ignore that and in the end loss control of his "baby".  We all need to know where to draw the line and Derrick missed it.  Paul Bartoletti


Derek Sivers in his new small book, explains how he started a company and in doing this he can be called an entrepreneur.  In this book Derek offers advise on what to do with a startup company and how to grow it.  The most important issue is that you have to enjoy what you are doing and make sure the customer is enjoying his experience.  When you stop enjoying what you are doing this is when you make a handoff and change direction so you are sure that you are enjoying what you are doing.  The most important criteria in being an entrepreneur is not to make money but to enjoy what you are doing and have a customer that also enjoys what you are doing for him or her.  Money will come when you have a customer that enjoys working with you.  My personal criteria in running a business was to ask what our business was doing.  The answer was satisfying and making the customer happy.  A measurement of how our company was doing this was in how much profit we were able to make. Gordon E. Ettie

Sivers’ tales of entrepreneurship are quite valuable. His openness about his experience is an example to all who aspire to start a business. There’s a great deal to be learned from each other as we develop our own businesses. One of the more important take aways from the book is that acting fearlessly is quite the ticket. Fearlessness is what allows people to be open in their efforts to launch a business. Keeping your eyes open all the time and filtering and re-filtering information is an important lesson to be drawn from the book. This results in success all along the way. I was glad that Sivers’ gave a couple of examples of the value of fully open eyes( for example, the $3 million cost to buy back the business). Kudos to Seth and Sivers. Quick reads with lots to act upon. Bob Preziosi, Davie Florida

This heavily autobiographical take on entrepreneurship for our era has some provocative ideas. Amid all the anecdotes highlighting Sivers’s highly successful saga, what unifies them is a sense not of aggressive ambition so much as the power of serendipity and inner wisdom, as long as you are paying attention. A theme that continually emerges is the necessity to balance even seemingly well-considered or pragmatic reactions to what is going on in your enterprise and the environment in which it is operating with what your heart tells you that you should really do next.
Sivers’s faith in his own compass is inspiring, yet it doesn’t always translate into clear advice for those aspiring to follow in his footsteps. But perhaps that is as it should be. This is a rather Buddhist little book that is ultimately about following your nose, trusting your gut, and finding the tricky balance between respecting and collaborating with your colleagues while listening most attentively to your own inner voice.
Although the directives Sivers offers are not necessarily easy to follow, you gotta love the guy’s great story and impressive ability to always stay true to his values. Barbara Pierce

In a nutshell, the success story of cdbaby.com. Derek Sivers tells how he went from unknown musician to millionaire.  He began by selling a CD of his own music and expanded his online only sales center to include other independent ("indie") artists.
His M.O. was the same as Pierre Omiydar; started by himself, working out of his living room and expanded as needed. He taught himself website design to build the cdbaby.com site. He refused to accept advertisement on the site. He would not sell music from musicians already represented on major labels.
He was true to his own beliefs, low key & inspiration.  Overall, an interesting story and a good quick read. Ann Nagy

 I must admit, I enjoyed this book more.  Probably because I'm a sucker when it comes to books about how entrrepreneur's succeed despite going against the established norm.  It was an easy read and yet filled with a lot of "meat and potato" nuggets to make you think.  A MUST read for anyone and everyone whos ever thought about openining a business.  The author dishes out practical wisdom such as "Business is not about money.  It's about making dreams come tru for others and for yourself".  Talk about going against the grain.  This quote reminds me of Zig Zigler who once said: "Help enough people get what they want and you'll end up getting what you want".  Two other quotes that I also enjoyed where "Never do anything just for money" and The real point of doing anything is to be happy, so do only what makes you happy".  These are two points that most people who are in business today too easily forget.  The author's explaination of Ideas as just multipliers of execution also resonated within my thought process. I had never thought about it quite like that.  Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of ideas have fallen on the way side due to lack of execution.  I, myself have fallen victim to such an end.  In conclusion, reach to make your dreams come true but only as long as it truly makes your happy.  When it stops, drop it like a bad habit. Alex R. Camacho, Miami

Most aspiring entrepreneurs fail to experience Silver’s fortuitous timing in bringing a novel idea like online indie music to market.  But any business person will benefit from his hard learned personal lessons, such as the importance of an unrelenting commitment to meeting customers’ needs and expectations.    Beyond just the juicy details of how his CD Baby incubated into a million dollar venture, in spite of Steve Jobs, Silver offers highlight worthy tips on managing through growth and pursuing personal dreams.  Had this been a tome, his choppy writing style with frequent series of one sentence paragraphs would wear thin.  But easily digestible on a flight between Washington and Chicago, the read was worth the investment of time. Ann Davison

Derek Sivers ten year experience in one hour just reiterates what we hear from very successful people.
Follow your dreams, don't ever let anyone tell you no, you can't do that. He has a wealth of information for anyone in business or about to start.  Again, today's Internet is allowing people who could never go into business do it now.  Great writing and experiences a must read for everyone!  Should be mandatory reading in school curriculum!
Thank you for this opportunity and introducing me to The Domino Project.  I am now a major fan!
Sharon Wilson

I really enjoyed reading this book, as it really made me think and reflect on ways I could handle some of the growing pains that I am experiencing with my business. This book reminds me to be very clear about why I do what I do and what about what I do makes me happy. Much of the author’s philosophy about business resonates with my way of thinking and is definitely not the norm. His experience of being extremely successful from serving others without foreseeing it or planning it (even trying to keep the business small) is refreshing to learn about! Elena Suarez, Miami

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Club Reviews: WE ARE ALL WEIRD by Seth Godin

We Are All Weird by Seth Godin.

In We Are All Weird, Seth Godin gives us a wake-up call to become aware of our changing society in case we haven't noticed it yet. Maybe that's what all the weird commercials and Lady Gaga are about!

The digital revolution has given people more interaction and more information than ever before resulting in more availability of choices and therefore more freedom to choose. There is no normal anymore!

With so many choices available, the bell curve has changed its shape to  where it seems to be melting. Although there continues to be a push for normal wholesale compliance, it seems to be not working anymore. If you cater to the normal, you disappoint the weird as the world gets weirder. Everything that is not normal is weird which means a choice has been made to stand up for your belief to have or  do what you want rather than what the market wants. You can dare to be weird using creative out - of - the - box ideas.

The same old stuff doesn't get noticed anymore!

Mr. Godin encourages awareness of the changing society in order that we are able to try to keep up with it all whether we like it or not. His book is an education in itself! Margot Byrnes, Miami


In a word - Weird: The idea that the forces of individuality (the Weird in all of us) are on the rise seems reasonable and is a very convincing explanation in theory, to the reactions many feel to the mass distribution solutions and monoculture copies of products that used to be made locally with quality.                                                                                                                                         
The push-back to a power of individual expression and “weird power” has some limitations though, and may not be original enough to overcome the restraints imposed upon what’s come to be called  “your brand”; the  conventional expression and communication method.
Even the chaos of spontaneous evaluation by internet feed-back,  that Godin and other gurus favor, (cue Al Gore’s – Assault on Reason book here) may not be enough to antidote the case made by mass managed sales of  “what is normal”;  that pushes us to conformity.
The truth of the product evaluations that we can “dig for” on the internet, can be so obscured by the economic force of the marketing machine, that your shopping choices are not getting to the consumers equally, let alone guaranteeing equal access to the products that result.
It can be very time consuming to sort it all out.  The thing missed in Godin’s case to “Get ready for the “weird”;  is not so much that the product or idea sells itself, but that the marketing tipping point is dictated by the realities of convenience (as well as price and other concerns) that makes the sale.  We have a hard time joining a group consensus that is under-represented in real time or time zones away.
When convenience is factored in, the educated consumer may not be given the time to make honest choices. The minority “weird” solution is just too inconvenient.    Look at all the plastic, so-called disposables, that we settle for, only to throw away; is this because to select the alternative weird idea as a way to problem solve (say go green) wouldn’t be practical?  And even more so, the weird would fail so fast, if it meant fighting the “wired consensus”  that defines  a norm or conformity.   So we do the best with the givens, the common denomintors i.e. the normal solutions;  because convenience is worth plenty, and it sells. Jim Swaner, Miami Shores, FL


This book takes a look at how mass marketing  worked through the medium of television  and radio in the 1950’s and 60’s, and then through example shows us how that kind of marketing isn’t working as well today. In the fifties and sixties everyone watch the same TV shows and listened to the same ‘Top Forty’ radio shows and mass marketing to the people who fit into the ‘normal’ on a bell curve worked.
Today everyone wants to ‘live’ their dream, be it some obscure cultural thing or just to let their ‘freak flag wave’.  The internet has certainly been a driving force where anyone can find a group, or as Seth calls them a ‘tribe’, that anyone call associate with. 
Therefore businesses that want to reach those people have to market to them specifically.
My favorite quote in the book: “Everyone hates advertising in general, but we love advertising in particular”. Tom Hinz, Blue Lake, CA


Particularly us baby boomers and those who came after us.  Being different and being out of the box made our generation and the ones that followed even more.  Marketing today is finding niches and doing them well.  Some niches will remain just that but others will find a tipping point that takes them to being the next "apple".  Good read for anyone coming out of business school or thinking of starting a business to get them to sit down and think what markets are not being targeted and creating business models to fulfill those markets..  Paul Bartoletti

Godin strikes me as a guy who has probably run out of material.  I'm assuming he ever had any.  I never saw Seinfeld much, but I understand that it was devised as a show about nothing.  In that sense, it was a scam.  I'm also reminded of the politically correct way some people handle younger children who compete in something.  Everyone gets a prize.  Or the concept of the "personal best."  You don't have to be the best.  You don't even have to be any good.  You just have to do better than you did before, and you can feel like you somehow won something.  You're a champ.  On the cheap.  Godin offers us a meaningless song and dance, which, like Seinfeld, is about nothing.  He plays with the reader.  He takes a man with not a pot to piss in, and calls him "rich," because the man could choose to piss in one bush or another.  The choosing makes him "rich."  I have no idea what the "retail" price of Godin's book is.  It was a small book, less than 100 pages, but close, with the aid of small pages, big print, and plenty of spaces.  My copy cost $5.  It was too much. Fred Jonas, Miami

 This book grabbed my attention from the beginning.  Made me think about how much I really need in the way of outside things.  I realyzed how sucked into he mass I had become and realized it's okay to be weird and have my own likes, dislikes, and opinions.  This well written book has brought an awareness of my surroundings when shopping and helped me make wiser buying decisions.

Deborah Harris, Hallandale Beach

This book presents, basically, one message, with several variations on the theme: The mass market is dead, and the quirky, individualistic interests of smaller groups are coming to the fore. The way Godin portrays it reminds me of descriptions of the death of the dinosaurs and the subsequent rise of the small mammals that always scurried around in their shadow on the forest floor. Godin’s vision of people who share values and obsessions now banding together into informal yet powerful “tribes” empowered by technology is an intriguing, even seductive one.

However, the way this theme is developed becomes somewhat repetitive after awhile. I was also put off by what struck me as a somewhat smug tone in Godin’s insistence that the new normal is being subverted into a lack of any sort of consensual normality at all.

The ability of technology to allow us to pursue our obsessions and connect with others who share them is indeed an amazing sea change in our culture. But, overall, I remain skeptical of some of Godin’s conclusions. It seems like a tenuous leap to assume that, despite the examples Godin musters to make his point, you can easily transform these brave-new-world capabilities for self-expression and connection into a viable living, let alone a fortune. After all, the Justin Biebers and Cee Lo’s of the world remain the exception. All in all, to my mind, a reasonably provocative but patchy thesis that probably would have been better conveyed as an essay. Barbara Pierce

A weird book! It's a jumble of thoughts, with no beginning, middle or end. Godin repeats himself often, sometimes stressing nonsense ("our fond memories of a normal that never existed').  

His main point is that everyone is weird and there is no longer any mainstream culture. I totally disagree. 

His other point is that the internet has changed personal interactions/communication in society, worldwide. I agree. Ann Nagy

I'm so sorry, but I am having a severe mental block when it comes to Seth's book and cannot, for the life of me, write a review of it.  I even read it twice, and found it totally useless, boring and a rehash of what anyone in business should already know.  On the other hand, I loved Derek's book.  It was refreshing and honest and gave great hope to me--my son is starting a website of his own in the next month (and yes, I am the investor and stockholder). Debbie Kowalsky

At first I was a bit curious about the title of the book but as soon as I jumped into reading it I was particularly intrigued by the subject he covers since I work for a marketing intelligence company and I focus on the segmentation of these "weird" tribes.

I was excited to receive Seth's book but was a little disappointed after reading it. I found the book to be a compilation of blog posts or something he just put together quickly. I am a big fan of Seth so I felt let down. However, I found Derek's book to be very captivating. He ran a company that no business school would mimic. But his unconventional style resulted in tremendous success and I found it refreshing. His honesty and ability to admit his massive mistakes made him more real and extremely likable. I enjoyed it. Greg Alexander 

"Average is for marketers who don't have enough information to be accurate", I thought this line was on point because many corporations are seeking to stay average and they continue marketing to the masses because they truly don't have the information and insight to do the "weird-targeting" approach accurately.

I appreciate the list of the so-called weird tribes he shows as an example on page 86 and how he asks: "When your tribe is no longer the majority, then what?".  The rapidly growing weird tribes have become the new mainstream ranging from Hispanics to Asians and from Cross-fitters to marathoners.  Needless to say, I enjoyed the book. David Mesas, Miami

I found this book very interesting and enlightening.   I enjoyed how he took the time to defiine four key words that sets the stage in understanding the rest of the book.  Mr. Godin does a great job in putting into prospective, what I've come to realize and that is that we are controled by the "Masses" and don't give enough credit to the "Weird" in our lives.  Don't people realize that what is considered Normal today was looked upon as Weird yesturday.  I agree with the author, this is the end of the mass market and we are definetly all weird.  Instead of denying it, we should embrace our own individual weirdness and learn how to make it work for us instead of against us.  This is a thinking book, one that needs to be read more than once to truly grasp the thoughts, ideas, and reality that the author has attempted to communicate to his audience. Alex R. Camacho, Miami

(Seth) considers people to be Rich because they can afford to make choices (and) everything that is not normal is weird.  

in the beginning everything was sold, and developed for average people but the trend today is to capture the wierd.  the wierd is the new normal.  these are people who choose to be wierd. 

 you have to think out of the box and consider to cater to the wierd.  the internet has changed the way we do business.  we connect to one, two and many. 

Seth is correct.  The Internet has opened so many doors and made it easier for many to begin their own business.  They cater to everyone normal, weird and other.  the idea is to reach as many people as you can to make the money to expand your business.  The enternet has opened those doors but the customers are not labeled as weird.  They are younger and this is a new era.  The electronic age has created more choices.   Patricia Garcia, Miami

An admirer of Seth Godin and his Domino Project, I looked forward to this read.  But each time I picked it up after a long day of work, I couldn’t connect to…the weirdness.  By the first time I went to pick it up, I couldn’t find the book any where in our small apartment.  That should tell you something.  If I find it in the next 24 hours, I’ll try to finish and send you some more thoughts.   Ann Davison, Washington, DC

The world goes full circle.  Seth Godin remarks that before the Factories and Mass Production, there were small tribes and communities where everything was nearby.  Mass has allowed us to expand beyond those small communities.

Mass has it's pro's and con's. However in today's world of the Internet, close by could be China.  If you look at today's businesses you will see a lot of "home Internet based businesses" and people are making a decent to very abundant income.

Seth Godin, is on target and his book should be an eye opener for the world.  Entrepreneur businesses are on the rise. Sharon Wilson

I loved that both books were small (each can be read entirely on a short flight), but filled with great information.Although I enjoy reading and hearing anything Seth Godin has to say, I was left with wanting more information about how to apply what he was telling us in our own businesses. I would recommend this book to anyone responsible for defining the marketing strategy for their company and wanting to understand the characteristics of today’s marketplace, but without the expectation of anything more than that.  Elena Suarez, Miami

How nice to receive both books at the same time!  I’m a semi-entrepreneur, and I could see the same mind-think with both Godin and Siver.

Heck!  I’ve KNOWN I’ve been weird (I.e., not in that bell-curve 68% of the population) in a lot of things, and Seth Godin’s book had me re-affirming and CELEBRATING the fact!  Pretty “weird” of Godin to have a book cover that looked just as good inside-out, too!

Derek Sivers reiterates info I’d read many years ago – “Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow” (Marsha Sinetar, 1987, Dell Publishing).  I gravitated toward education, and the money never DID follow – but then again, I’m only in my mid-60’s now…  and who knows WHAT the future will bring.   Main thing is, as both authors stressed, to love what you’re doing, and not to be afraid to take chances along the way.

Lastly, this is my first experience with the Domino Project, powered by Amazon.  I’ll be checking out their website for more updates. Betty G Hubschman, Miramar, FL

I’ve never read a Seth Godin book that I didn’t like and WeAre All Weird is no exception. In fact, I think this small, easy-to-read,easy-to-explain-to-others book is one of his best. Godin explains thedifference between marketing (and selling) to the masses versus marketing andselling to the fringes—or, to use his term, to the weird. Throughout the book,Godin gives examples of how and why being “weird” is good and how “weirdness”equates with “happiness.” As he states, “…researchers report that the abilityto be weird, the freedom to make choices, and the ability to be heard are thefactors most highly correlated with happiness around the world.” I feel likehis book has given me to okay to be weird and learn how to get weirder. Susan Taslimi, Parkland

It’s been 20 years since the philosophy espoused by Seth appeared on my radar screen. I was happy that someone had begun to justify my actions as a manager! No one has written about weird as well as Seth. Almost all of the ideas can be applied to any human activity. One caution, though, is that if the weirdness reflects destructive deviance a person or tribe ought to think differently about their supposed contribution. The other thing worth cautioning about is that when a tribe has adopted something they have actually created a “new” normal even if the tribe is only a few thousand people. The small numbers may make them feel weird, but their togetherness will reflect common expectations. I love weird because it shows that there is growth around us which is a good sign for us.

Kudos to Seth and Sivers. Quick reads with lots to act upon. Bob Preziosi, Davie Florida

I've read a few of Seth Godin's book and they seem to have one thing in common: he's masterful at taking something right under our noses, analyzing it, extrapolating it across a broader horizon and then creating a context for that which we'd never before questioned. It's a gift, really. He's prescient and extremely convincing, yet once I read his books, I can hardly remember any details. Perhaps that's because the author's presentation of ideas is so seamless that I fully digest and incorporate them into my thought pattern and they immediately become the fabric of my new outlook. Part of his mastery with language is that the paradigm shift happens without the reader feeling like he/she is getting a lesson. His writing method is instructive, but not didactic. Godin instead takes the reader along with his thought process so how he arrived at his conclusion is clearly understood. One way he does this is by explaining the various markets: mass; normal; weird and rich and then uses simple, yet profound examples to drive a point home: weird in one place does not make for weird in another: being a vegetarian in Kansas is weird, but not in Mombai.

Godin's book is a testament in defense of weird and is a diatribe against marketers forcing everyone into a "universal normal merely to sell junk to the masses." Most of us have never questioned the mass market because there was no real alternative before the Internet. I like his seemingly simple approach. This quote sums up "We are All Weird's" message: "The challenge of your future is to do productive and useful work for and by and with the tribe that cares about you." Kathy Doran, Miami

Godin's latest book delivered good concise insight into the changes business, marketing, and society is currently undertaking. 

Good read for a short flight, wish it had a little more material. J. Reynolds, Fort Lauderdale

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