Newsletter of November 1, 2010

How to Get Empowered: the Role of HEROes

Greetings!

I talked recently with Josh Bernoff, the co-author of a wonderful new book, Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business. The book tells the story of how the workplace has undergone a basic change, with a shift in power from sellers to customers, and a dramatic transformation in widespread access to cheap and agile technology and information and connectivity. How does one cope with such a new world?

Bernoff suggests that one key concerns what he calls HEROes, i.e. highly empowered and resourceful operatives. These are people who are living, breathing, thinking, acting and innovating in the groundswell of the new interactive technology of social media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and mobile devices, whether the management wants it or permits it or not. Bernoff sees these HEROes as the ambassadors of the future. Organizations that practice radical management and recognize, support, reinforce and channel the energies of these HEROes will flourish. Those that don't will face a grim future. To read the interview, go here.

Tell the story of a HERO in your life

The Recognize A Leader website is one of the tools that you can use to recognize a HERO in your life and tell their story. Try it here.

How the revolution IS being tweeted

The Dragonfly Effect is a related book by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith. It tells the story of what HEROes actually do and in effect how to be a HERO, i.e. how to use the new technology to effect social or organizational change. It's the first book to explain what happens at the intersection of social media like Twitter, marketing and psychology. In my conversation with Jennifer and Andy, they show why, despite what Malcolm Gladwell says, the revolution IS being tweeted. Read the conversation here. here.

Empowerment is greatest among the geeks!

Those of you have read my new book, The Leader's Guide to Radical Management, will know that the first clue that I got as to how to manage in a radically improved way came from my noticing that an unusual proportion of people who were having highly energizing experiences at work were in software development. This seemed to me counter-intuitive. I wondered whether it was an accident. Now the studies reported in Empowered show that it is a statistical fact. Empowerment is greatest among the geeks! Read about it here.

Tom Friedman misses the elephant in the room

Tom Friedman is a pretty savvy journalist. His recent column begins by reciting all the thoroughly bad ideas (mainly Republican) that seem to be gaining ground in the upcoming elections. So far, so good. But when it comes to what to do about differently, Friedman's recommendations are all to do with fixing the US education system, which will take decades at best. A much bigger and more urgent problem is staring Friedman (and us) in the face. To find out what it is, go here.

Nov 10 in DC: Capital Creativity Network

I'll be giving a two hour workshop at the Capital Creativity Network in Washington DC from 7pm to 9.30 pm on Wednesday November 10, 2010. In this highly interactive session, you will learn how to implement the principles of radical management and lead in a way that generates simultaneously high creativity AND continuous innovation AND disciplined implementation AND deep job satisfaction AND client delight? It's a steal: only $25. There are book giveaways. For more details, go here. here.

Zane Safrit interview

Listen to my one-hour audio interview with Zane Safrit about my new book, The Leader's Guide to Radical Management. He asked some pretty interesting questions: one hour audio here. here.

Fabulous array of gifts still available

The amazing gift giveaway for purchasers of my new book, The Leader's Guide to Radical Management is still under way. With one big exception, the limited quantities gifts are already gone, but the other eBooks, articles, audios and videos are still available here. here.

Special offer from BTS Global Tournaments

In the amazing array of gifts offered to purchasers of my new book was an offer of free places in BTS Global Tournament for high-performance teams. Participation in this tournament normally costs thousands of dollars and hundreds of firms compete annually. As it happens, at the time of sending this newsletter, there are TWO FREE places still available. Find out more here. here.

Warmly
Steve