Book Review – Death To All Sacred Cows

Book Review

Death To All Sacred Cows

It is always refreshing to read a business book by an author, or in this case authors, that have a good sense of humor.  Bernstein, Fraser, and Schwab use a perfect combination of wit, sarcasm, and humor to make an impact on the reader.  The authors hail from a very large advertising agency, The Gate Worldwide, where they kill sacred cows on a daily basis.  Now before calling PETA and complaining about an advertising agency killing cows please continue reading…

The notion of a sacred cow is more than a blissful bovine grazing in a field.  The authors have coined the term sacred cow to mean a “saying, motto, or aphorism about how business should be conducted that is widely assumed to be unassailably true.”  So the cows in the pasture are safe but what we thought were our business norms are sent to the slaughterhouse in this sometimes hilarious but always insightful read.  The authors have cleverly created chapters for each sacred cow and have included tidbits of case studies, horror stories, and anectdotes to prove their point that business norms as we know them are not always true.

For example, the sacred cow “Don’t Screw Up” is something that we think about just about every day.  By all means don’t screw up the sales presentation…don’t reply all to an email, etc. etc.  But the authors of this book tell the tale about Pfizer’s screwup in the 1980s that failed to treat hypertension yet created an enormous blue pill that created the hit single “Viva Viagra”.  So screwups are okay and these authors present other great tales about how this sacred cow should be killed.

Other sacred cows that the authors recommend killing are “The Customer is Always Right” (my retail experience will pull the trigger on that one), “Follow the Leader”, and “The Goal of Marketing is to Sell a Product.” By sending these and other sacred cows to the slaughterhouse Bernstein, Fraser, and Schwab have left the pasture for the competition and will give the reader’s business an surge of innovation, energy, and efficency.  Even without the business insight and information in this book the humor and wit by themselves are well worth the read.  Bernstein, Fraser, and Schwab deserve a fine cut of steak for writing this book.

Filed Under Book Reviews | Leave a Comment  | March 19th, 2010

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