This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans (Create a Strategy to Elevate Your Career, Community & Life)

In an era where AI and technological advances push us to move faster than ever, Seth Godin's "This Is Strategy" arrives with a crucial reminder: It doesn't matter how fast you're going if you're going in the wrong direction. This insight alone makes the book worth reading, but Godin offers so much more. What sets this book apart is its nuanced understanding of systems and change. Rather than pushing the typical "hustle harder" narrative, Godin helps readers see and work with the invisible systems that shape our results. His unconventional structure - numbered sections that facilitate ongoing conversations - reflects the book's core message: strategic thinking requires dialogue and perspective-sharing. The book's strength lies in its approach to change and disruption. Using metaphors like surfing ("A useful skill in surfing is picking the right place and time to go surfing."), Godin shows how to spot and leverage opportunities when systems are disrupted. This is particularly valuable as we navigate the AI revolution - it's not about resisting change but understanding how to make it work for us rather than letting it use us. Particularly valuable for: - Leaders seeking to create meaningful change without burning out - Entrepreneurs navigating technological disruption - Anyone feeling pressured to "move faster" without clear direction - Teams wanting to have better strategic conversations The companion Strategy Deck (54 cards with 5 million possible combinations) adds a practical, interactive dimension to the strategic thinking process. Most importantly, this book encourages us to pause and ask essential questions before accelerating: What change do we seek to make? Who are we serving? Are we pushing against the wrong things? In our AI-driven world, these questions matter more than ever. This isn't just another business strategy book - it's a compass for navigating complexity while staying true to your purpose. Whether you're leading a team, running a business, or seeking to make an impact, "This Is Strategy" helps you ensure you're moving fast in the right direction.

This book is not laid out like typical books with chapters, but more like with problem sets. The points of the book are scattered throughout in an order that I’m still trying to figure out, but there are lots of real life examples of businesses that have both succeeded and failed. I’m almost halfway through the book and am loving this reading every day in the sauna to help me reflect on my own life strategies. This seems like a book I can go back to over and over for inspiration and to continuously review my own strategies working in systems. I only gave the book a four out of five due to the order of the points and the scattered topics. But it’s still a great read.

Great book. Easily digestible ideas and helps to get you to start to understand what strategy really is; how it differs from tactics and how to develop the thinking to build something worthwhile to create change for good. Seth’s style always gets me thinking and he writes in ways that helps me to apply the learning beyond just being moved or motivated. And you can start anywhere in the book and read it in any order and it still works. Highly recommend.

I'm truly a fan of Seth and have been personally impacted by what I've read in other books. This one is different though. It's a large collection of musings, and it's honestly difficult to read more than one or two at a time and have any sort of reflection. It might have been better published as a daily reader or desk calendar than a book. Not that any one piece is bad, but the presentation isn't working for me. I'll muscle through because I hate not finishing a book, but nothing is really sticking.

I haven't read the book yet, I assume I'll love it, as I love everything Seth Godin does, hence the 5 stars. The only reason I write this review is to give a heads up that my copy came with deckle edges, whis is very unconventional for a business book and not specified in the description. I have to admit I personally wasn't pleasantly surprised about it, but it wouldn't be fair to make this cosmetic detail affect the book star rating. But I still wanted to put this comment out there in case anyone is buying it as a gift, the deckle edges may come across as a defect. If it is not supposed to have deckle edges please someone let me know! :-)

Each "chapter" of this book is a page of fortune-cookie style abstract musings about vague concepts. It's okay to wax poetic about your subject if you've also made a clear point, or fostered real insights. This title skips the "point" and wants for you to understand its secrets by deep meditation on its word salad. Let me help you get to the bottom line: word salad is all there is here. Mr. Godin apparently keeps a bedside journal of "deep thoughts" where he writes down personally profound ideas that only have context inside the bubble of his own experience and internal nomenclature. Reading this book, you are reading that journal. No doubt some of the ideas are profound, if only they were clearer or more fully explained. I'm sure you can grok some gesalt of meaning from the patchwork if you really want to try, but who knows if you really understand the author's real intent or meaning. If you want to try to organize a splattered blob of loosely connected undefined terms and metaphors, this is your book. If you'd prefer that the author perform that task, best steer clear. The "Strategy" here appears to be to leverage fame to get away with a minimal effort unfinished work and extract your money without exchanging equivalent value.

If you're wondering whether this book is worth $21, let me save you some time: it absolutely is. I'm only 23 riffs in and my notebook is already filled with game-changing insights. Before buying, I'd recommend listening to a few of Seth Godin's recent podcast appearances – you'll quickly see why his thinking is so valuable. Each "riff" (as he calls these bite-sized chapters) delivers actionable wisdom that you'll return to again and again, making this book less of a purchase and more of an investment in your professional growth. The density of valuable ideas per page is remarkable, and I've already gotten far more value than the cover price.

. introduces great questions, and ways to think about the systems we find ourselves in. And how to change them.

Seth Godin is one of the great authors.

After 40 pages this book has left me with NOTHING. I would stick to other’s Seth’s books such as linchpin and purple cow.

I'm a big Seth Godin fan. He's a genius. And if your mind's a system (it is) his thoughts in this book will help optimise it. There is immense value in his writing to anyone who cares enough to let it soak in. But, to the casual reader of 'This is Strategy', it might appear to be an unfocused meander through various ideas that include what appear to be some blog posts of his. But so what? We all start from different places, and can all see things each other can't, and could do with seeing things others might already see. But as you read, the picture begins to reveal itself. So long as you're not looking for instructions, or to be told your plan or strategy (or given the 'map'). I think some people come to books like this expecting to buy the answers to their problems for £15. But what you're buying is a new mindset, and useful questions that can hum in the background as you go about your life. That's what you're buying, and ultimately, it's all probabilistic. It increases your chances that you'll notice new things, and gradually find some 'answers' in time - enough to move forwards where you'll find some more. Hard to quantify the value then because it'll come in time. Which is why I say let it percolate. My first pass through the book didn't do a lot for me (but I know the process - your first interpretation doesn't usually appreciate the deep wisdom, it takes time and reflection to arrive at that) but I knew what tool the book is and for what job. Then, over the days and nights, I've started grabbing pen and paper and scribbling away like crazy. Because it's doing the job in the way it should. I hope this helps someone approach the book in a way that makes it work for them.

The books are written in a form most of readers are unfamiliar with. But whoever reads book from a Zen master will find this writing style offer you a great way of self discovering And from a bookaholic standpoint (way before booktok exist) i am very sure Seth Godin applied the Zen method to write this book. In other words, each bullet point you read is a deep reflection of a real life situation or business scennerio. From there, you can choose to deep dive into the wisdom and find the correlation in your own situation or problem to find the solution on your own. I myself have read too many book on strategy, and have tried to apply it in many rolea i have had or industriea i work for, i can verify at certain level which one is nice on paper and which one is practical. Those who come across sytematic problem, and you only encounter this once you reach top level of your company, would find this book incredibly resonate, and down to earth. All in all, highly recommended. The book itself is a "cat" in a middle of dog fight.

Seth Godin delivers yet another brilliant book for anyone seeking a fresh perspective on strategy. This isn’t your typical strategy guide—and that’s precisely what makes it so impactful. Strategy doesn’t have to be complicated or full of jargon. The author shows it’s accessible to anyone who wants to make better plans, which is exactly what this book sets out to do. With nearly 300 riffs, I don’t read them in order. Instead, I pick one, ponder it, and think about how it applies to my work. The riffs can also be taken as prompts, inspiring new ways of thinking and acting. Next time I open the book, I focus on a different riff or two and do the same. Godin’s books are timeless. You can read a line today, come back later, and discover a new layer of meaning in the very same line.