Exploiting Chaos: 150 Ways to Spark Innovation During Times of Change (Paperback)

~ Jeremy Gutsche (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Exploiting Chaos is a rousing battle cry for the kind of creative, risky thinking that is most needed in times of change and disorder. Whether you're a CEO trying to stay ahead of the curve, a daydreaming teenager, or a wannabe trailblazer, this bold guide is the shake-up you need to check your assumptions, get inspired, and turn business-as-usual totally upside down."
-- Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and The Adventures of Johnny Bunko

"Jeremy is a walking, talking, breathing trend, a living example of what happens when you take your own advice. With his ideas, you might catch an ideavirus."
-Seth Godin, author of Tribes

"Rebellious and seductive, EXPLOITING CHAOS is a love potion for relentlessly creative souls looking to break boundaries, ignite customer passion and start a revolution."
-Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, Author of Lovemarks

"EXPLOITING CHAOS is the quintessential road map for all those who seek opportunity in times of change. Gutsche vividly explores how remarkable companies have risen from chaos, and he provides a toolkit that managers can use to foster a culture of innovation, create great products and services, and change the world."
-Guy Kawasaki, Co-founder of AllTop, Author of Reality Check

"Trendspotting is art and science and Jeremy has mastered both in Exploiting Chaos, the cutting edge as we contemplate what's next for brands, commerce, and consumerism."
-Marian Salzman, Futurist, Author, CMO of Porter Novelli

"Jeremy Gutsche has always been a trend guru, with his finger on the pulse of what's hot, hip and absolutely worth talking about. With Exploiting Chaos he's written a trend-setting tome of innovation that's a pleasure to flip through and even more fun to actually read cover to cover. Not surprisingly, it's hot, hip and absolutely worth talking about."
-Dave Balter, CEO BzzAgent, Author of The Word of Mouth Manual

"With its visual design and cutting edge ideas, Exploiting Chaos represents the future of business books. Jeremy captures a new way of thinking for anyone looking to hit on the next big thing."
--Amber Mac, TV Host, Tech Journalist, Cewebrity

"Visually spectacular and engaging."
-John Battelle, cofounder of WIRED and BoingBoing, founder of Federated Media

"Love the book--best book on innovation I've read and I get 10 a week."
--John Jantsch, Author of Duct Tape Marketing

"I read it from cover to cover, but believe that even good skim will have you reaching for a blank piece of paper and pen or a fresh Word document. Get yourself a copy of Exploiting Chaos. It could be the difference going forward."
--Jack Covert, Founder of 800 CEO Read

"Chicken Soup for the Confused Executive's Soul."
--The Toronto Star

"The book is a quick read, with lots of graphics, oversized headlines on each page, and memorable quotes."
--BusinessWeek Article / 24 Page Exploiting Chaos Slideshow

"What a great installment...a quick, easy read with tons of insightful facts."
--CityTV

"Gutsche has just released Exploiting Chaos, a book that is, in a word, stunning. And it would be stunning if it didn't become an instant bestseller and classic, and catapult its young author onto the current guru pantheon alongside trend spotters and commentators like Wired editor Chris Anderson and pop sociologist Malcolm Gladwell."
-TORO Magazine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Exploiting Chaos is a rousing battle cry for the kind of creative, risky thinking that is most needed in times of change and disorder. Whether you're a CEO trying to stay ahead of the curve, a daydreaming teenager, or a wannabe trailblazer, this bold guide is the shake-up you need to check your assumptions, get inspired, and turn business-as-usual totally upside down."
-- Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and The Adventures of Johnny Bunko

"Jeremy is a walking, talking, breathing trend, a living example of what happens when you take your own advice. With his ideas, you might catch an ideavirus."
-Seth Godin, author of Tribes

"Rebellious and seductive, EXPLOITING CHAOS is a love potion for relentlessly creative souls looking to break boundaries, ignite customer passion and start a revolution."
-Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, Author of Lovemarks

"EXPLOITING CHAOS is the quintessential road map for all those who seek opportunity in times of change. Gutsche vividly explores how remarkable companies have risen from chaos, and he provides a toolkit that managers can use to foster a culture of innovation, create great products and services, and change the world."
-Guy Kawasaki, Co-founder of AllTop, Author of Reality Check

"Trendspotting is art and science and Jeremy has mastered both in Exploiting Chaos, the cutting edge as we contemplate what's next for brands, commerce, and consumerism."
-Marian Salzman, Futurist, Author, CMO of Porter Novelli

"Jeremy Gutsche has always been a trend guru, with his finger on the pulse of what's hot, hip and absolutely worth talking about. With Exploiting Chaos he's written a trend-setting tome of innovation that's a pleasure to flip through and even more fun to actually read cover to cover. Not surprisingly, it's hot, hip and absolutely worth talking about."
-Dave Balter, CEO BzzAgent, Author of The Word of Mouth Manual

"With its visual design and cutting edge ideas, Exploiting Chaos represents the future of business books. Jeremy captures a new way of thinking for anyone looking to hit on the next big thing."
--Amber Mac, TV Host, Tech Journalist, Cewebrity

"Visually spectacular and engaging."
-John Battelle, cofounder of WIRED and BoingBoing, founder of Federated Media

"Love the book--best book on innovation I've read and I get 10 a week."
--John Jantsch, Author of Duct Tape Marketing

"I read it from cover to cover, but believe that even good skim will have you reaching for a blank piece of paper and pen or a fresh Word document. Get yourself a copy of Exploiting Chaos. It could be the difference going forward."
--Jack Covert, Founder of 800 CEO Read

"Chicken Soup for the Confused Executive's Soul."
--The Toronto Star

"The book is a quick read, with lots of graphics, oversized headlines on each page, and memorable quotes."
--BusinessWeek Article / 24 Page Exploiting Chaos Slideshow

"What a great installment...a quick, easy read with tons of insightful facts."
--CityTV

"Gutsche has just released Exploiting Chaos, a book that is, in a word, stunning. And it would be stunning if it didn't become an instant bestseller and classic, and catapult its young author onto the current guru pantheon alongside trend spotters and commentators like Wired editor Chris Anderson and pop sociologist Malcolm Gladwell."
-TORO Magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Gotham (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159240507X
• ISBN-13: 978-1592405077
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #201,927 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emulates Tom Peters...extends John Naisbitt's content analysis, with 'Crowd Sourced Insights'...still worthwhile to be read!, September 25, 2009

By	Lee Say Keng "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURER/TECHNOLOGY... (Singapore) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

'Exploiting Chaos: 150 Ways to Spark Innovation During Times of Change',
by Jeremy Gutsche;

The strategy of exploiting chaos in order to seize opportunities in today's crazy times is obviously the rousing battle cry of innovation expert Jeremy Gutsche's new book, 'Exploiting Chaos: 150 Ways to Spark Innovation During Times of Change'.

Backed by excellent credentials - host of TrendHunter TV, founder of [...], reportedlythe world's largest network of trend-spotting & cool-hunting pros, & now a widely-sought keynote speaker in North America - the author & his book are seemingly getting raving reviews.

In the first place, the book is quite unique in itself: visually engaging, with a fancy mix of large format, bold letters, coloured texts, oversized fonts, long & short sentences, wide spacing, & interspersed with wise quotes, jumpy lists & large portraits or photographs. All these features make reading a breeze!

In fact, I get the impression that the author may have been heavily influenced by the published thoughtwares of corporate skunk Tom Peters.

In reality, the author writes exactly like Tom Peters with his short, staccato bursts of energetic prescriptions, occasionally outrageous & yet written succinctly, with enchanting anecdotes & provocative examples from real-world events, in contrast to the staid academic texts of the time.

So much so that reading his book on my part reminds me of reading Tom Peters' 'Reinventing Work' series of small pocket-sized hard-backs, namely, 'The Brand You 50', 'The Project 50' & 'The Professional Service Firm 50' (combined, they also give a total of 150 ways to spark innovation, many of which are still relevant for today) during the late 90's.

I don't mean to throw a wet blanket on 'Exploting Chaos', but it is obvious to me that the many ideas in the book are not ground-breaking or revolutionary, but the author certainly has given them a new & refreshing spin with his so-called 'Crowd Sourced Insights'.

The latter is definitely a cool innovation on the part of the author, even though, with the luxury of today's Internet & Web 2.0 technologies, he has apparently extended the content analysis intelligence methodologies of futurist John Naisbitt, whose resultant book, 'Megatrends', rocked the world during the early 80's.

Instead of running probably a large team of media analysts to scan some 6,000 local & regional newspapers, trade journals, etc., within the United States during the 80's as in the case with John Naisbitt, TrendHunter intelligently uses a small project team of dedicated staff to sift & resift the constant flow of disparate spotted ideas (known as micro-trends) from some 28,000+ global trend hunters.

They are then posted on the TrendHunter website - just imagine they garnered 40 million page views in 2008 - & then, measured & filtered down to 360+ clusters of inspirations, which in turn are reconfigured into their popular Trend Reports, which are sought after by big boys, like The Economist & Financial Times.

In a nut shell, the book's selling point, besides promoting the company's lucrative Trend Reports, is how to ride & leverage on the current recession & emerging trends - through the adept use of some of the 150 ways offered in the book as fuel to spark innovation - to make a quantum leap.

The 'Exploiting Chaos' framework, comprising 'Culture of Revolution', 'Trend Hunting', 'Adaptive Innovation' & 'Infectious Messaging', is interesting too, but one needs to work diligently to get it to work.

The author's principal argument about the giants of business - Disney, CNN, HP, GE, Apple, Sun, to name just a few - having started & prospered during time of crises, certainly makes good reading. Encouraging, too.

There is only one point in the book that sort of annoys me: 'Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast', even though his checklist of parameters, 'Perspective', Experimental Failure', 'Customer Obsession' & 'Intentional Destruction', is reasonably valid.

I hold the view that strategy formulation or thinking strategically must always comes first & be sustained throughout, so that one can really do something about the culture.

On the whole, this book is still worth reading. To paraphrase the marketing maverick Seth Godin, "with the ideas from the book, you might catch an ideavirus!".

Nonetheless, I also like to recommend two books to go as companion reading:

Jim Carroll's 'What I Learned from Frogs in Texas: Saving Your Skin with Forward-Thinking Innovation', & 'Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast', which I had already reviewed on Amazon.

[Reviewed by Lee Say Keng, Knowledge Adventurer & Technology Explorer, Optimum Performance Technologies, September 2009]

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book you need to navigate changing times, November 4, 2009

By	Susan Henry (Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is not the usual business book. I read this book on a three hour flight and took over four pages of notes and ideas on how to use the information in my business. It is by far my favorite of the 30 or so business books I have read. Its full of real stories about real busineses that failed to adapt or change and are now history. Let's face it,the world is changing and fast. Whole industries are disappearing. Facebook and Twitter are how the future will look. This book gets right down to the nuts and bolts surviving in this time of extreme change. While he does not get into how to use social media - he does something better. He teaches you how to be nimble, how to accept change and benefit from it. I am a professional portrait photographer and am witnessing the downsizing and possible extinction of my industry due to the proliferation of digital imaging. And that includes Facebook etc. Why buy a portrait when you really want a disk of images you can use anyway you want without paying anymore for it? This has turned our industry upside down, no one knows what to do. Dig in and resist or try to change? The industry leaders say dig in and resist.

After reading this book, I realize that to resist is futile. Anyone want to buy a typewriter or a set of encyclopedias? Reading the book shows how these companies failed to change even when they had a better chance of success than the newcomers. They dug in and put faith in their full bank accounts to get them through. Money was not enough to save them because they could not see how they needed to change to stay relevant. Instead embrace change, adapt and prosper! I truly feel that this book has made me think about my business in a way that will insure it's success. And that means changing how I think about my business and possibly changing the very nature of my business to stay relevent to my customer.

This book is written for the medium sized busineses, but is still valuable to the micro (me) or small business as well as the fortune 500 set.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opening, Exciting and Unique, September 8, 2009

By	J. Courtade (Toronto, ON) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is not only full of fascinating and unique examples, it's graphically impressive and very enjoyable to browse through. It gives an incredibly fresh perspective on how businesses and entrepreneurs should see a time of economic crisis. Fantastic!