Seth Godin, the luminary marketing guru and author, is an icon in the world of business and entrepreneurship. His unique insights into the digital landscape, the power of storytelling, and the art of building a brand had made him a ubiquitous presence in the industry and helped countless entrepreneurs achieve their goals.
Born in 1960 in New York, Godin’s journey began as a young marketing executive at some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Procter & Gamble and Yahoo. However, it was his groundbreaking books, such as Purple Cow and The Dip, that cemented his status as a thought leader in the field of marketing and branding.
As an entrepreneur himself, Godin has launched numerous successful ventures, including Squidoo and Yoyodyne, which was acquired by Yahoo in 1998. In 2015, he launched the altMBA, an innovative online education platform that helps individuals develop the skills they need to succeed in the modern business world.
For an interview with Five Books, Godin shared his five all-time favorite books on the world of marketing. From the importance of storytelling to the art of building a brand from scratch, explore his reading list below. Check out the favorite books of other famous entrepreneurs right here.
Seth Godin’s Reading List
Syrup by Maxx Barry
“First, it’s funny. Funny even if you’ve never worked in an office, but even funnier if you have. Barry gives us an insightful look into what big company marketers in an ad-driven world actually do all day. Just as Soul of a New Machine did for computers, Syrup helps an outsider see the pressures, the thrills and the absurdity of it all.” -SG
Marketing: A Love Story by Bernadette Jiwa
“Bernadette helped modern marketers see that stories are a choice. That’s a huge leap. Of course it’s true, but it means that we have to spend as much time and energy building and living a story as we do creating the products and services that match that story.” -SG
This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn To See by Seth Godin
“Nobody had written the definitive book of the post-advertising age. It needed to be able to explain everything from Airbnb to Trump to the success of Instagram. If there’s going to be a coherent, unified theory of marketing, it will not only explain what we see, but also give us the tools to create our own change in the world.” -SG
The Republic of Tea by Bill Rosenzweig, Mel Ziegler & Patricia Ziegler
“Back when the fax was a new technology, a young entrepreneur set out to create a new brand. And, 30 years later, that brand is still around. The book consists of a series of faxes back and forth with his investors, followed by a breakneck narrative of what it took to build a brand from scratch. Even though the technology is ancient, the story is timeless. This book changed my life all those years ago.” -SG
New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World by Kevin Kelly
“Imagine if a time-traveler wrote a book about our future in 1999. And imagine that he gave it away to anyone who wanted to read it, and that even after 20 years, it’s still a road map to the future. Kevin Kelly might or might not be from the future, but this is that book. Every once in a while, when I need a new and original breakthrough idea, I just open Kevin’s book from 20 years ago!” -SG
(via Five Books)
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