Book Description:

What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last?

Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed -Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow.

Cows, after you've seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow. And it's not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It's built right in, or it's not there. Period.

In Purple Cow, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place.

-         Courtesy of Amazon.com

My Personal Review:

Don’t be fooled by the title of the book. It may sound silly, even ridiculous. However, let me assure you this is one book that will change the way you perceive new ideas and products. I have read quite a couple of books related to the topic of marketing and creating new businesses/products and this is my number one. It is a great book that will not only get your thought development process going but will also stimulate the way your marketing ideas flow. Seth Godin’s Purple Cow its self is a purple cow. It is different from other marketing books. It helps readers on all levels as it not only entertains readers yet it provides them with serious food for thought without bogging them down with complicated and technical business terms. Seth utilizes this brilliant metaphor of a purple cow to offer his knowledge and beliefs of the new marketing age. Seth illustrates how through the use of purple cows businesses are able to achieve amazing levels of success without spending a dime on main stream advertising such as television. He goes on to explain how in today’s over crowded world of new products and businesses, you need to innovate in a fashion that you STAND OUT from the rest.

Purple Cow is not precisely known for its “how to” achieve a remarkable product, yet it’s a marketers bible when it comes to inspiration. After having read this book twice, I personally think it very effective to place it some where in your library where you can easily see it. Simply glancing over the book helps stimulate inspiration and innovation. It wouldn’t really be used as a reference.

If you are at all interested in creating a new product or saving market share of an old one, read this book.

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Book Description:

If the grass is greener on the other side, then it's probably getting better care. Success is not a matter of luck or circumstance. It's not a matter of fate or the breaks you get or who you know.

Success is a matter of sticking to a set of commonsense principles anyone can master. In Lead the Field Earl Nightingale explains these guidelines: the magic word in life is ATTITUDE. It determines your actions, as well as the actions of others. It tells the world what you expect from it. When you accept responsibility for your attitude, you accept responsibility for your entire life.

Earl Nightingale -- the "Dean of Development" -- offers you a treasure trove of uplifting and insightful information like:

* The importance of forgiveness
* How "intelligent objectivity" can improve your professional life
* The usefulness of constructive discontent

Now it's your turn to bring positive changes to your own life, changes that will allow you to lead the field yourself!

My Personal Review:


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