Kicked by The Dip (book review)

Posted on May 10, 2007 by Dave J.

The Dip, by Seth Godin, does what a book from a guru should do—it points out the obvious and kicks you in the gut with the truth.

Seth is pointing out facts that we’d rather not acknowledge. He creates insecurity where there once was security and confidence. That we are likely trapped in the mediocrity of ‘the dip’. We’ve plateau’d and are not moving forward, while the world (and probably our true goals) is.

And worse, he tells us that getting past the dip will take some soul-searching and hard-work. All the work to get to the point of the dip was somewhat easy and obvious—now the real work is necessary.

And if, after evaluation, you decide that the dip isn’t worth punching-through, we should quit. Start over or start something else. Just quit and throw away all that work? Yes, says Seth. And if you are gonna go for it, you’d better quit other things so you can focus, he tells us.

The good news is that he lets us define what ‘best’ is and ‘world’ is when we decide to “be the best in the world”. Not so fast…those buying also get to decide what they think is ‘best in the world’…and if you don’t make their cut, you don’t win.

The really good news from this book is that getting past the dip is a fantastic place of reward where success becomes increasingly easy. Picking the best is the easiest choice for customers–that’s the secret of the success of the iPod, for example.

Maybe this review and earlier posts on the subject are enough for you to understand, or maybe you’ll find this ChangeThis manifesto enough, or his book-blog. But the book drives the point home like only Seth can.

“The point is that in a world of infinite choice, in a world where the best in the world is worth more every single day, the only chance you’ve got is to find a Dip and embrace it. Realize that it’s actually your best ally. The harder it is to get through, the better your chance of being the only one to get through it.

Sticking with something just so you can be mediocre at it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Being average is for losers.”

Kick in the pants rendered, Seth. Thanks for the advance copy of the book.

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  • Hans De Keulenaer

    As an electrical engineer, I like the reference to the dip, and the analogy to voltage dips in the electrical system is not far. This is not surprising, since both blogging and electricity supply are about keeping momentum going.

  • Hans De Keulenaer

    As an electrical engineer, I like the reference to the dip, and the analogy to voltage dips in the electrical system is not far. This is not surprising, since both blogging and electricity supply are about keeping momentum going.

  • John S. Wren, MBA

    I’ve always thought of the dip in a different way.This is from my little booklet on business startup, Daring Mighty Things, a free text file available at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ahtcrbzf9b2b_6fkj3d2Businesses, like everything else in nature, go through three stages: inception, growth, and decline. Anyone who has taken a business course is familiar with the sigmoid curve, the s-shaped line that is used to represent this process. The key to success in starting a new business is to get to the first sale as quickly as possible. Growth occurs as the methods used to create his first sale are perfected and used as a cookie cutter to create growth. Eventually, new technology and new competitors will bring companies to a natural end if they don’t recreate themselves during good times. The key to continued growth is the ability and willingness to reinvent the business. This process can be represented as a second sigmoid. Andy Grove, President of Intel in his book “Only the Paranoid Survive” calls this the inflection point. He says, “A strategic inflection point occurs when change is so powerful that it fundamentally alters the way business is done.” See http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/bios/grove/paranoid.htm I’ve identified four phases on the path toward starting your first or next business with as little risk as possible, and to then foster your business’s continued success by working with a new entrepreneur to stimulate your own creativity. The four phases of business start-up are: Phase I—Open your mind to becoming an entrepreneur.Phase II—Prepare to be in business. Phase III—Be in business, just do it! Phase IV—Keep growing or die.

  • John S. Wren, MBA

    I’ve always thought of the dip in a different way.This is from my little booklet on business startup, Daring Mighty Things, a free text file available at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ahtcrbzf9b2b_6fkj3d2Businesses, like everything else in nature, go through three stages: inception, growth, and decline. Anyone who has taken a business course is familiar with the sigmoid curve, the s-shaped line that is used to represent this process. The key to success in starting a new business is to get to the first sale as quickly as possible. Growth occurs as the methods used to create his first sale are perfected and used as a cookie cutter to create growth. Eventually, new technology and new competitors will bring companies to a natural end if they don’t recreate themselves during good times. The key to continued growth is the ability and willingness to reinvent the business. This process can be represented as a second sigmoid. Andy Grove, President of Intel in his book “Only the Paranoid Survive” calls this the inflection point. He says, “A strategic inflection point occurs when change is so powerful that it fundamentally alters the way business is done.” See http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/bios/grove/paranoid.htm I’ve identified four phases on the path toward starting your first or next business with as little risk as possible, and to then foster your business’s continued success by working with a new entrepreneur to stimulate your own creativity. The four phases of business start-up are: Phase I—Open your mind to becoming an entrepreneur.Phase II—Prepare to be in business. Phase III—Be in business, just do it! Phase IV—Keep growing or die.