Plot Summary
Nearly everybody has heard the story of Icarus: the man who flew too high. He and his father were trapped on an island with no hope of escape, until they fashioned wings for themselves and flew away. Before they took off, Icarus’ father warned him that if he flew too high, the wax which held the wings together would melt and he would fall to his death. If he flew too low, the beasts of the sea would catch him and devour him. But Icarus didn’t listen, and being fascinated by the Sun, he flew too close to it, falling out of the sky and dying among the remnants of his broken wings.
Today, the story of Icarus is often used as a cautionary tale in business: if you fly too high, you will eventually fall. If you play it safe, everything will be fine. What the people spreading this propaganda forget to mention is that Icarus was also warned not to fly too low, and that being ‘under the radar’ could be even worse than being in the stratosphere. This is what Seth Godin calls The Icarus Deception.
Unlike flying too high, Godin argues, flying too low feels safe, and that false sense of safety actually makes it more dangerous. He contends that the safety zone has moved, and that while it may not feel that way at first, it is actually better to do something bold and daring, risking flying too high, than to spend your life conforming to expectations, building up a false sense of security as you fly ever lower.
Seth Godin, former head of direct marketing for Yahoo!, is a world-renowned author, having penned fifteen international best-sellers such as Poke the Box and the revolutionary Purple Cow, which changed how the world thinks about marketing. His work has been translated into over 35 languages. In addition to writing books and changing the world, Godin is the founder of Squidoo, author of the most widely read marketing blog in the world, and a popular lecturer and guest speaker.
“This book is classic Seth, with a few twists. Icarus is a mythical figure who, when given wax wings, was cautioned not to fly too high or too low. He flew too high, his wings melted and he died. However, what this book focuses on is what happens if the caution not to fly too low is ignored. As a regular reader of his books and blog, I didn’t find anything new and groundbreaking in this book. That said, it is inspirational, well written and well worth the read. The best part, for me was Appendix 1, where he highlights fourteen people who are living according to the principles that Seth believes in.”
—
Becky (4 out of 5 stars)
Publisher Summary
What are you afraid of?  The old rules: Play it safe. Stay in your comfort zone. Find an institution, a job, a set of rules to stick to. Keep your head down. Don’t fly too close to the sun.  The new truth: It’s better to be sorry than safe. You need to fly higher than ever.  In his bravest and most challenging book yet, Seth Godin shows how we can thrive in an econÂomy that rewards art, not compliance. He explains why true innovators focus on trust, remarkabilÂity, leadership, and stories that spread. And he makes a passionate argument for why you should be treating your work as art.  Art is not a gene or a specific talent. It’s an attiÂtude, available to anyone who has a vision that others don’t, and the guts to do something about it. Steve Jobs was an artist. So were Henry Ford and Martin Luther King Jr.  To work like an artist means investing in the things that scale: creativity, emotional labor, and grit. The path of the artist isn’t for the faint of heart—but Godin shows why it’s your only chance to stand up, stand out, and make a difference.  The time to seize new ground and work without a map is now. So what are you going to do?
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