num_pages: 288
description: Why trying to be the best  competing like crazy  makes you mediocreEvery few years a bookthrough a combination of the authors unique voice storytelling ability wit and insightsimply breaks the mold. Bill Brysons A Walk in the Woods is one example. Richard Feynmans  Surely Youre Joking Mr. Feynman! is another. Now comes Youngme Moons Different a book for people who dont read business books. Actually its more like a personal conversation with a friend who has thought deeply about how the world works  and who gets you to see that world in a completely new light. If there is one strain of conventional wisdom pervading every company in every industry its the absolute importance of competing like crazy. Youngme Moons message is simply Get off this treadmill thats taking you nowhere. Going tit for tat and adding features augmentations and gimmicks to beat the competition has the perverse result of making you like everyone else. Different provides a highly original perspective on what it means to offer something that is meaningfully differentdifferent in a manner that is both fundamental and comprehensive. Youngme Moon identifies the outliers the mavericks the iconoclaststhe players who have thoughtfully rejected orthodoxy in favor of an approach that is more adventurous. Some are even hostile almost daring you to buy what they are selling. The MINI Cooper was launched with fearless Worried that this car is too small? Look here. Its even smaller than you think. These are players that strike a genuine chord with even the most jaded consumers. In fact almost every success story of the past two decades has been an exception to the rule. Simply go to your computer and compare AOL and Yahoo! with Google. The former pile on feature upon feature to their home pages while Google is like an austere boutique dominating a category filled with extras. Different shows how to succeed in a world where conformity reignsbut exceptions rule.
language: None
title: Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd
publisher: Crown Business