The Power of Positive Destruction: How to Turn a Business Idea Into a Revolution

by Seth Merrin, Carlye Adler (Primary Contributor)

It's no longer good enough to build a company to last; today it's about building a company to ignite change. The Power of Positive Destruction reveals how to start a new business, disrupt an industry, and adapt to changing environments by leveraging technology and a new mindset. Serial entrepreneur Seth Merrin has built businesses by seeing issues with the status quo and introducing positive changes that have disrupted―and revolutionized―industries. In this book, he breaks down his process step-by-step to show you what you need to know to successfully start a company and transform an industry. Merrin's incredible story, coupled with real, actionable advice, will resonate with anyone who wants to be a catalyst of change. With this book, readers will learn to see the inefficiencies, ineptitudes, and everyday problems that others dismiss as the cost of doing business and create "unfair competitive advantages" to stack the deck―and win. You'll see how problems in current business models are really opportunities of which to take advantage and learn what you need to know and do to seize those opportunities ―no matter where you work. Seth Merrin saw Wall Street as it was, then built a company to turn it into what it could be―safer and more efficient for investors. This book shows you how he did it, and how you can too, with the power of positive destruction. Technology and innovation can disrupt or transform any industry. It's happening faster and more broadly now than ever, creating myriad opportunities for everyone. But winning in this new world is not easy. The incumbents will fight mightily against it and even those who would benefit from change may first express fear. This book reveals the techniques from identifying the opportunities to designing and executing the strategy you'll need to succeed. With The Power of Positive Destruction you can to tap into your inner change agent and transform your company, your industry, and the world.

224 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Debalina Panda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Positive Destruction follows the life of Seth Merrin. Liquid Net definitely seems like a fabulous place to work and It was interesting to see how he got started. His father definitely played a huge role in instilling a strong work ethic into Seth. A great book for those with an entrepreneurial spirit!

[Ima Smallman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is full of lies. CEO is an egotist whose promiscuous behavior cost the firm a fair sale price in the end. He had one word right in the title of the book.. DESTRUCTION.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merrin was one of the primary creators of software to manage electronic trading, revolutionizing the trading of stocks, making it both simpler and much more complicated. When he took a Wall Street job as an intern in the 1980s, there were several layers to a stock transaction and all was recorded on paper. Furthermore, if an individual wanted to buy or sell a large block of stock, it was generally necessary to do so in small increments so that the action did not modify the price in a way that was detrimental to the entity doing the trade. By converting this to an electronic form, stock trading was dramatically simplified and easier to manage.
On the other side, it led to the loss of jobs in trading, for now a person on a computer could do trades much faster and the records were automatically updated. It also led to the modern phenomenon of triggered trades, when a programmed set of conditions is met and computers begin executing massive, automated trades. In the area of dark humor, this also made it possible for massive, inadvertent trades to be made based only on a typing error.
This book is essentially a directed autobiography of Merrin’s life in the businesses that he was part of that led to the trading software. In the overview sense, it is a typical biography of an entrepreneur, failures at the start, eventual rapid growth and success, harsh realities of the world setting in leading to a downturn and layoffs, all ending in what is clearly a successful life.
Written in a first-person narrative style, it is a very interesting book, setting down some not often recognized realities. Such as the pros and cons of good and bad hires, clearing house when there are irreconcilable conflicts between work groups, the value of being a good corporate citizen of the world and having a “no a##h#le” culture. To some, trying to do good is a sign of weakness, Merrin demonstrates that properly done, being a do-gooder is a sign of corporate strength that is rewarded.