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Crazy is a Compliment
Crazy is a Compliment
Apr 15, 2025 6:43 PM

Author:Linda Rottenberg

Crazy is a Compliment

'Some books on entrepreneurship are of little practical use. Rottenberg's new book is different. Sober, convincing and offers the best ways to build new business ventures' Financial Times

'Linda has tapped into something important - that we all need to be more entrepreneurial these days. With her impressive track record and inspiring story, she shows us all how to overcome our fears and take smart, achievable steps to improve our organisations' Sheryl Sandberg

'Buy it. Read it. Live it'Seth Godin

These days everybody needs to think and act like an entrepreneur. We all need to be nimble, adaptive, daring - and maybe even a little crazy - or risk being left behind.

But how do you take smart risks without risking it all?

Crazy Is a Compliment combines inspiring stories, original research and practical advice to create a road map for getting started and going bigger. It brings to life iconic entrepreneurs like Walt Disney and Estée Lauder, reveals how companies like GE and Burberry have broken the corporate mould, and introduces us to entrepreneurs like Leila Velez, who started an $80 million hair-care company from her kitchen sink in Rio.

Whether you're serving coffee and fantasizing about launching a microbrewery or sitting at your desk brainstorming a new idea that can improve your company, Linda Rottenberg provides a road map to getting started, going bigger and achieving your dreams.

Reviews

Some books on entrepreneurship are of little practical use. Rottenberg's new book is different. Sober, convincing and offers the best ways to build new business ventures

—— Financial Times

Linda has tapped into something important - that we all need to be more entrepreneurial these days. With her impressive track record and inspiring story, she shows us all how to overcome our fears and take smart, achievable steps to improve our organizations.

—— Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and founder of LeanIn.Org

Call me crazy, but I think Linda is onto something big here. She delivers powerful insights with her legendary wit and candor to show how everyone can think and act like an entrepreneur.

—— Michael Dell, founder and CEO, Dell Inc

For nearly two decades, Linda has been teaching and learning from the boldest entrepreneurs around the world. In this terrific book, she shares what it takes to master the chaos of starting your own business-or simply to grow your own career in today's fast-changing world of work.

—— Reid Hoffman, chairman of LinkedIn and coauthor of The Start-Up of You

Crazy Is a Compliment is a treasure trove. Linda Rottenberg is an extraordinary entrepreneur who has guided many of the world's greatest entrepreneurs, and she offers invaluable insights-not only for startups, but also for companies, nonprofits, governments, and schools. If you have an idea or want to innovate, I highly recommend
devouring this book.

—— Adam Grant, author of Give and Take

Crazy is what they call people who don't fit in. And we need a lot more crazy like Linda is crazy. She is generous, curious, connected, and driven to make a difference in the world. And this book captures all of that and more. Buy it, read it, live it.

—— Seth Godin, author of Linchpin

A unique contribution that combines not only remarkable lessons of what it takes to build an enterprise from scratch, but how a global phenomenon of entrepreneurship is solving problems, bottom up, once thought only the domain of top-down government and large institutions

—— Diplomatic Courier

Closely reported and brilliantly written … highly entertainingExemplary in its clarity… this story is full of surprises as well

—— Steven Poole , Guardian

This is the definitive history of a media revolution… I was hooked late into the night… There are lots of big lessons here… it is the story of all creative industries, and in the end, the internet itself

—— Hugo Rifkind , The Times

You need to get hold of Stephen Witt's jaundiced, whip-smart, superbly reported and indispensable How Music Got Free

—— Washington Post

Fascinating… An engrossing story… surely the year's most important music book

—— Independent

Astonishing

—— Guardian

Enthralling

—— Sunday Times

An accomplished first book… So compelling

—— Economist

Lucid, page-turning, engaging… A cross between a nail-biting true-crime story and the type of blow-by-blow books penned by Bob Woodward… Deeply sourced and dramatic

—— Scott Timberg , Literary Review

Witt's first book has great strengths — primarily that he is a natural storyteller, with an eye for character and the ability to digest large amounts of technical detail, and turn it into a colourful tale

—— Financial Times

Scorching investigative history of how the music industry found itself staring catastrophe in the face... Full of colourful characters... Essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of our creative industries

—— The Bookseller

This is a riveting account of greed, huge characters and the collapse of a kind of empire, and will be the benchmark by which future books are judged

—— Jamie Atkins, 4 stars , Record Collector

The richest explanation to date about how the arrival of the MP3 upended almost everything about how music is distributed, consumed and stored

—— Dwight Garner , New York Times

A rare thing… Compulsively readable

—— Andrew Orlowski , Register

Definitive exploration of the turmoil the music industry has experiences in the last 20 years

—— Daily Mail

A surprisingly engaging guide

—— Rachel Farrow , UK Press Syndication

Remarkable

—— Ed Power , Irish Independent

Hats off to Witt…because the book he’s delivered is sensational: lucid, informative, breathlessly exciting, with the pounding narrative tempo of a first-class thriller

—— Allan Jones , Uncut

Witt brings the many-layered tale to vibrant life

—— Andrew Hill , Financial Times

Witt’s sharp prose and pace grips... His narrative hurtles like a thriller toward the “sin cleansing” development of iTunes and the profit shift from recorded to live music. It is – in both senses – a ripping yarn

—— Helen Brown , Telegraph

One of the most gripping investigative books of the year - my mind reels at who will play Glover in the inevitable movie adaptation

—— Zach Sokol , Vice UK

An exhaustive and entertaining account of how digital music piracy started, what effect it had on the industry and who was involved

—— Andrew Williams , Metro

Jaundiced, whip-smart, superbly reported and indispensable

—— Louis Bayard , Guardian Weekly

Brilliant… Witt's account is every bit as riveting as a thriller… Required reading for anybody interested in how we came to consume music today

—— John Meagher , Irish Independent

It’s a truly terrific read. Thoughtful, compelling, action-packed (surprisingly), utterly robust and guaranteed to be one of those nonfictions you rip through as if it was a novel by your favourite author

—— Bookmunch

Excellent

—— Sonny Bunch , Miami Herald

A terrific tale of music piracy at the dawn of the digital era

—— Helen Brown , Daily Telegraph

The collapse of the music industry, thanks to the emergence of the internet and illegal downloading, is told here with all the urgency and colour of a thriller

—— Louis Wise , Sunday Times

Witt tells the captivating and tense story of how the digital music revolution transformed the music industry, and made criminals out of many of us. Read it to learn all about a landmark moment in music and technology that still affects us today.

—— Isaac Fitzgerald , Buzzfeed

His book is a tour de force, delving into the criminal underworld of hackers and pilferers as well as the complacent corporate boardroom

—— Lionel Barber , Financial Times

A must-read. It flows like a captivating novel.

—— Mohamed El Erian , The National

A terrific book… Rich and fascinating.

—— Waitrose Weekend

Page-­turner about how piracy nearly destroyed the established music industry.

—— Andrew Hill , Financial Times

A great read.

—— Disrupts

Brilliant.

—— Hugo Rifkind , The Times

Witt skillfully and thoroughly documents this “warez” scene of file sharers… Absolutely enthralling, and occasionally cinematic.

—— Jon Fine , Strategy + Business

Beautifully told.

—— William Leith , Evening Standard
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