Small is the New Big and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas by Seth Godin

“WARNING: If you want a narrative and lots of research, you’re in the wrong place. But I’m betting you don’t need another dense business book. What you need is a small prod or perhaps a friendly whack. And maybe a few ideas you can really run with. Have fun.”

Seth Godin, one of today’s most influential business thinkers, writes bestselling books like Purple Cow and All Marketers Are Liars. And in between those annual books he delivers a daily stream of ideas on one of the world’s most popular blogs.

Collected here for the first time are eight years of his very best blog posts, magazine columns, and e-books. On literally every page, Small is the New Big offers ideas and stories that can change how you work, what you buy, and how you see the world.

It’s an entertaining snapshot of Godin’s fiercely original brain. Who else would argue that Fluffernutter was a brilliant business model? That we need a service that charges to send e-mail? That you can learn about design at Hershey Park than at an Apple store, and more about marketing at a summer camp than at business school?

All of these riffs add up to a few essential themes:
- Small is the new big because big has gone from a huge advantage to a liability.
- Authentic stories spread and last, but lies get exposed faster than ever.
- The ability to change fast is the single best asset for any person or organization.
- Aretha was right: Respect is the secret to success.
- It’s easier than ever to become remarkable. There’s no excuse for sticking with mediocrity.

As Godin writes, “I dare you to read any ten of these essays and still be comfortable settling for what you’ve got. You don’t have to settle for the status quo, for being good enough, for getting by, for working all night.”

I would love to share with you one of my favourite article in this book. Its title is " Clean Fire trucks"

"I live in a neighbourhood where all the firehouses are run by volunteers. I don’t know how my family, my neighbours, and I would get by without them – like firefighters everywhere, they do brave work with little credit.

One thing you’ll notice is how clean the trunks are. “why are the trucks so clean?” a friend asked. After all, a clean fire truck isn’t a lot better at putting out fires than a smudged one.

The answer: because when there isn’t a fire, the firemen wait for the siren to ring. And while they’re waiting, they clean the truck.

Sounds a lot like where you work. Most organizations are staffed with people waiting for the alarm to ring. Instead of going out to the community and working to prevent new fires, the mind set is that firemen are working to put out the fires that have started. Hotel desk clerks don’t write letters of make calls to generate new business – they stand at the desk waiting for business to arrive. Software engineers are often overwhelmed with an endless list of programming fires – and rarely get a chance to think about what they ought to build next.

The structure of most organizations (and every single school I’ve ever encountered!) supports this. It’s about cleaning your plate, finishing your assignments and following instructions. Initiative is hard to measure and direct and reward. Task completion, on the other hand, is a factory orientation that is predictable and feels safe.

In fast-changing markets, clean fire trucks show attention to details but rarely lead to growth and success.

What a great way to describe a stuck but busy organization. “they sure have clean fire trucks.”"

So do you want to continue cleaning trucks in your workplace? or do you want to be the leader to initiate change and improve?