“PRIMITIVE provides a path forward to unleash your inner entrepreneur.”
— Barbara Corcoran, Shark Tank
Ranked #4 Wall Street Journal Business Bestseller
A provocative look at how to better understand your primal, ingrained strengths and chart your professional course accordingly, from an advisor and confidant to Fortune 500 CEOs, cutting edge entrepreneurs and other top business performers.
As a close advisor to visionary startup founders and established CEOs, Marco Greenberg discovered something about the most successful people he knew: They had remarkable instincts, and they trusted them. They had an intuitive grasp of when to ignore convention. No matter how sophisticated, they could access something else – something primitive.
It’s a loaded term. But as Greenberg dug deeper, he saw a mindset that helped certain people to overcome challenges that stopped others cold. From a former roadie for the rap group N.W.A to a rock-star brain surgeon, from young tech billionaires to a top-ten college football coach, Greenberg demonstrates how a range of successful people— those he calls “primitives”—ignore what they “should” do and instead tap a primal drive to power ahead. At a moment when old institutions are being swept away, we can’t afford to play by the same civilized rule book. PRIMITIVE helps us understand how some of our deepest, inborn traits are essential to navigating this world of dizzying change.
The key is to go ROAMING: to be Relentless in pursuing our biggest goals; to have the courage to be Oppositional; and to choose an Agnostic approach rather than specialize. To adopt a Messianic spirit, so your work becomes not just a job but a true calling; to embrace the advantages of being Insecure; and to reap the benefits of sometimes acting a little Nuts; and finally, to realize that being Gallant and noble in following one’s passions delivers the ultimate rewards.
At any stage of your career, making primitive moves can be the key to success in work and in life.
About Marco Greenberg
Marco Greenberg has spearheaded marketing communications and public affairs campaigns for an array of Fortune 500 corporations, healthcare organizations, and notable venture and angel-backed startups, and has served as a senior advisor to foreign governments, democratic movements, and NGOs. Previously a managing director at global PR giant Burson-Marsteller, he sees his role as a creative catalyst for breakthrough communications. Marco is Senior Partner and Co-Founder of Thunder11, a C-level communications boutique. An in-demand speaker and facilitator, he has written opinion pieces for a range of publications, including Business Insider, Entrepreneur, NY Daily News, Tablet Magazine, and Thrive Global.
He holds a BA from UCLA and an MA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and taught as an adjunct professor of Innovations in Marketing at NYU and entrepreneurship and PR at Fordham University. He splits his time with his wife and three grown children between the upper west side of Manhattan and Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
“PRIMITIVE provides a path forward to unleash your inner entrepreneur.”
— Barbara Corcoran, Shark Tank
“PRIMITIVE is the best cross between a business book and a self-help book, filled with inspiring personal stories of people who succeeded by taking risks and challenging the status quo, at once practical and idealistic. This book could change your life.”
— Alan Lightman, Author of International Best Seller, Einstein’s Dreams; Physicist and MIT Professor of Humanities
“There’s nothing primitive about Marco Greenberg’s understanding of what makes some entrepreneurs successful and others not. In PRIMITIVE he’s written a roadmap you can use to start — or restart — your career or business.”
—Paul Sagan, Managing Director at General Catalyst and Former CEO of Akamai Technologies
“PRIMITIVE reminds us that business is actually very personal, instinctual, and often emotional. A fellow hugger, Marco Greenberg has written a book that will inspire and instruct you on how to proactively hunt for a range of professional opportunities that await — no matter where you are in your career journey.”
— Jack Mitchell, Best Selling Author of Hug Your Customers and Chairman of the Mitchell Stores
“We all have a primitive side that sparks new ways of problem solving. While the daily grind often blocks us from reaching our potential, Marco Greenberg reveals the secrets to tapping into that innovative spirit.”
— Kathleen Kelly Janus, Author of Social Startup Success
“In the 15 years that I’ve known him, Marco Greenberg has always been a visionary. There are enough autobiographies out there. What we need are challenging new ideas. Marco’s ROAMING is a perfect companion to my and my co-author Bonita Stewart’s TEAMING UP!”
— Jacqueline Adams, Co-author of A Blessing: Women of Color Teaming Up to Lead, Empower and Thrive
“Captures insights and advice that everyone can use to thrive in the constantly evolving workplace.”
—Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human.
“Insightful, practical, and inspiring. Marco is a gifted writer and thinker. You can apply the lessons from his book in your professional and personal lives. Now more than ever, we need a jolt of primitive energy.”
— Jeremy Abbate, Publisher, Scientific American
“Bringing together research and storytelling, Marco Greenberg provides a brilliant guide to success and happiness. Replete with sound—sometimes counterintuitive—advice, PRIMITIVE can help you navigate the challenges of modern life.”
— Tal Ben-Shahar, Author of NY Times Bestseller, Happier
“Marco Greenberg has written a book speaking to all ages but, most particularly, to the new Z generation populating our colleges and universities. They are the creative and innovative generation and this book speaks to their heart, as well as to their DNA.”
—E. Gordon Gee, President of West Virginia University and Former President of Brown University and the Ohio State University
“Marco Greenberg and his book, PRIMITIVE, demonstrate that a relentless spirit is the key not just to a winning football team, but a winning life.”
—Dan Mullen, Head Football Coach, University of Florida
“Primitive is so much more than just a business book. After years of teaching at Gettysburg College, I see PRIMITIVE as a roadmap for teaching young people how to go fiercely into the work world, think entrepreneurially, and make meaningful change. This book should be required reading for everyone thinking about their career, especially new college graduates!”