Herd

I have (almost) finished Herd by Mark Earls, which is a fabulous book from a guy who is probably the nearest thing we have in the UK to Seth Godin. The book is a shocking colour as indeed is its’ basic premise that we do not act as individuals as we have been taught for years that we do; we act collectively; as a herd. I know, I know, it is one of those simplistic sweeping statements that offends it is so brutal. According to Mark, pretty much everything we do is because of something someone else has done, rather than from some innate and deeply felt primeval and personal motivation. He packs the book with very readable examples like the steady rise of roadside floral tributes to traffic victims (hence cover) and the Mexican Wave and he gives an entertaining intellectual support for those over-worked marketing terms like Word-of-mouth and Buzz marketing and even provides some useful ways of turning the rhetoric into action. A top book and thanks to Hugh MacLeod for insisting I read it.

[tags] Herd; Mark Earls; Mass Behaviour [/tags]