The Power of Pull by John Hagel III, Et Al

Hagel, John III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison. The Power of Pull. How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion. New York: Basic Books, 2010. 277 pages. Price: $27.50.

The book sets out to describe the transformation of the traditional business paradigm under the influence of Internet-related technologies. According to the authors, the deployment of digital infrastructure has reduced barriers to entry and facilitated movement in the business world, leading to intensifying competition. With new challenges come new opportunities to create and capture value. For institutions, proliferation of knowledge on the web makes it easier to solicit and access new ideas globally. For individuals, participation in digital knowledge flows opens new ways to develop creative potential and achieve success.

Under the new paradigm, the aficionados of big wave surfing use the web to share experiences and new surfing techniques. In the world of online role-playing games, users enhance their experience by participating in guilds and discussion forums, and by using tools such as customizable dashboards. Microsoft has established their operating system firmly in the market by opening it to third-party application developers. SAP extends the application of its products by tapping into the intellectual power of user communities through online forums, wikis, and blogs. Through these platforms, users generate, share, and profit from creative solutions.

The authors view these new ways to do business as part of the big shift away from the rigid, self-limiting "push" model that dominated the twentieth-century economy. Under that model, businesses relied on forecasting and planning, maintained top-down control through fixed organizational structures and boundaries, and discouraged innovation by treating people as gear in the corporate machinery. In contrast, the new, "pull" approach is flexible, modular, and responsive to evolving needs.

Pull builds upon three functions: the ability to find people and information through search and customer-feedback services such as Google or Orbitz, the ability to attract others through social media such as Facebook, and the use of environments or "creation spaces" (such as gaming or user communities) that stimulate individual potential and creativity.

The Power of Pull offers a good overview of the transformation of business in the digital age. Readers may also profit from its general advice (pp. 139-151) on developing successful creation spaces: keeping the barriers to entry low, encouraging the formation of community teams, motivating users through a scoring system, and striking a balance between control (governance protocols) and user spontaneity. A set of thought-provoking questions at the end of each chapter is also a useful feature. But the book is only moderately successful in fulfilling its larger promise, which is to offer a key to unlocking the hidden potential of individuals and organizations. Its observations sometimes lack depth, and the value of its recommendations is uneven. Many readers do not have to be reminded, at considerable length, of the need to change along with the changing world (p. 33), the usefulness of informal social networking in conference hallways (p. 95), the advantage of being passionate in one's work (p. 166), or the merits of opening up to a wide range of experiences (p. 115). The book tries to be both informative and motivational. Unfortunately, because of its penchant for generalities and cliches, it does not quite live up to its ambitious goal of showing us how to "harness pull to change the world."

Peter Pollack, Ph.D. works for Woodside Global Partners, an organization that researches conditions conducive to achieving beyond-predictable business results. For more book reviews by Pollack, visit http://beyondpredictable.com/BookReviews.html.

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Women's Real Power at Work

Typically, the corporate world is still dominated by men with unexamined masculine attitudes and conditioning. Women within this subculture have essentially three choices about how they navigate any kind of success: adopt the prevailing masculinized practices, withdraw and betray themselves, or own their intrinsic value and take initiative. Authors Sally Helgessen and Julie Johnson shed light on the disparities between women's vision and men's within the business world, and they do so with insightful clarity, as well as substantial research and anecdotes. Still, the business world is merely representative of a greater and fundamental imbalance that exists in most societies: the absence of valuing the feminine experience. And for me, it is this larger message that this book delivers-albeit indirectly-that gets my passion aroused.

What is the feminine experience? Naturally, the answer is complex, but I think it's safe to begin by saying that the feminine intrinsically perceives the world as a relationship-oriented realm. When relationships are the lens through which reality-people and nature-is seen, this shifts everything that relates to meaning, values, vision, and action.

Many women are already redefining leadership and business across the globe, not by trying to change the existing power structures, but by reconstructing the power paradigm in local practices that have global reverberations. Thanks to such women, and women such as the authors of The Female Vision, we all benefit from their courage to cultivate a leadership of living as an interconnected community, united in the task of progressive social change.

"Addressing the complexities of our common future requires us to see the world from a full perspective, employing a wide lens as well as a sharp focus." The Female Vision is a must-read for both.

Julie Kay Clayton is a new consciousness literary editor, author, and reviewer. http://sacredwriting.com/

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The Power of Outrageous Marketing by Joe Vitale

According to Joe Vitale, Outrageous Marketing is the only way to market. Using nouns instead of adjectives, using statements instead of questions is so... NOT working. Make the headlines come to life and get attention with the briefest glance. This technique, adapted from the philosophy of P.T Barnum who often used the top third of a news page to shout his message.

Learn 6 ways to improve your life in 6 minutes!Last chance to say those three words...ATTENTION Mothers!!!

NOW... that's marketing!The all-time expert in outrageous marketing was P.T. Barnum. He saw silver lining in every crowd and paid attention to people. He listened to the words they used and spoke their language to get his message across. Other techniques to gain an audience include:

Cross promotions:

This affordable method suggests you team up with other businesses who also want to target your client base. The team approach allows you to offer more promotions and to work together to get publicity. A movie theater may give out discounts for a car wash and the car wash will give a discount for popcorn at the movies. Ask:

Who are my potential customers?Who else wants to reach these same people?How can we both reach them successfully?

Fearlessly loveyour customers by treating your customers like dogs. Dog lovers have a unique relationship with their pets. Their bond and loyalty continues through bad weather, sad times, mis-communication and more. To have loyal customers, they need to receive that type of treatment as well. Care for them in ways they will never forget. We've all had experiences that we can't forget - some were negative experiences and some were positive. If the experience touched a nerve - either good or bad, we probably repeated the story to others, now and years later.

Customers want to know you care about them. They will never forget it.

Walk the walk:

Tell your customers you like your business - reward them with something extra.Listen when your customers are complaining - acknowledge the problem and fix it.To get and keep customers - show them the love.

Step right up:

People crave fun and excitement and will pay for that feeling.When businesses take the extra step - people keep coming back.They tell their friends and co-workers about their service and sales increase.

When an organization puts their customers first, it shows. People do business where they are noticed and acknowledged.

Hooked on a feeling:

People are purchasing a good feeling.Sell the end result or the benefit they plan to experience.Amplify the benefit of the purchase and people will focus on that as well.

The Power of Outrageous Marketing is a quick read and like most books if you get only one tip or idea to use, then it's worth the cost.

Marge K. Mercurio MKMercurio.wordpress.com, has an easy writing style with a humorous edge to it. Her commentary draws on her life experience, observations, education and daydreams.

As a public speaker, her open communication style easily engages the audience though the use of examples, stories and personal experiences.

Her blog at Marge Mercurio is about family relationships, community and life.

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