Last week I finished off The Tipping Point, and I’m about 60% through Blink. I have to say, I’m really into these books. I had the chance to see Gladwell speak at SXSW last year, and I didn’t attend. I was tired from the previous events of the day, and I knew it was going to be packed. But I regret that decision. Hopefully I didn’t miss anything too profound.
The Tipping Point really made me think a lot about USWeb. And while I’m reading Blink, I’m eyeing The Big Moo by Seth Godin, which I purchased this weekend. I sometimes get frustrated at the rate of growth for USWeb. It’s difficult to build a business in this space without taking venture capitol. And it’s even more difficult when you see the lame companies (180Solutions comes to mind) that get funding. I have recently had some inside knowledge about a competitor who is really imploding. They are a public company, and obviously should be profitable. But I’m witnessing them getting publicly portrayed as a joke of a search marketing firm, and they have laid off about 75% of their staff. Not to sound vindictive, but it helps me sleep at night knowing that we are building a remarkable company, not a big company at USWeb.
I’m thinking of reading Good to Great next. If anyone out there has read it, let me know what you thought. And if you haven’t read The Tipping Point, or Blink yet, you should pick them up.
