There’s a new book that can give you an immediate edge in your coatings business. It will show you how to take stock in yourself and reframe your current business midst the technological and social change that’s afoot in the world. And, in spite of its small size, this book builds a compelling case for changing what you think it means to build a company. Top-down management styles are fading in favor of giving voice and control to others to help you build the business. In the future, success will be defined by those whom you support and those who support you. While you’ll learn much more if you read it, I will carve out some relevant takeaways in case you’re not inclined to go to Amazon right now to get your copy (hardcover $24.95; paper; $11.99 electronic). [Used ones were going for just twelve bucks the other day!]
Voice of compassion for you and your business
The book is Social Nation and I was invited to offer a review. It was the usual deal: I give you book; you give us a review posted to one of your blogs. From that simple arrangement, they could only hope that my ultimate appraisal would be positive. It is. However, I don’t expect the book’s title—or the subject for that matter—to capture your immediate interest. In fact, when I agreed to the deal I didn’t expect to post it to Material Insights either. Now, having read it, I thought I owed it to you. Social Nation’s author, Barry Libert, is tremendously insightful and though you won’t find him citing real world success stories of companies selling wood finishes or electrostatic coating, relevant stories and anecdotes abound.
Libert is a gray haired author of four popular business books about the “information age” and the “social revolution,” including “We” Are Smarter Than Me. He conceived Social Nation because he understands your frustration with the topic. He knows that most of us do not see how social media tools are relevant or useful for our businesses.
“Few leaders understand all of the skills that are necessary to build a company in today’s social world ”
—Barry Libert
“We’ve been trained in other skills that have been necessary to build companies that were created in another age. In order to evolve from yesterday’s skills to today’s social competencies we have to understand where we’ve come from and how much work we have to do yet.”
But the book doesn’t accuse anyone of being a dinosaur. Instead, the author is very compassionate about the reasons why some of us feel totally alienated when it comes to the subject of social media. He believes that many of our long-standing (social) rules still apply. But with our best interests in mind, he also warns that our businesses could quietly slip away into a huge abyss of isolation (my words) if we do not embrace and begin to nurture new skills that WILL be necessary in the future. He calls these skills “physical strengths”—capabilities that will change your culture and then of course, everything else. He offers a step-by-step process to—as the book’s subtitle goes—“harness the power of social media.” In a phrase, Social Nation promises to “help you refocus your company on your future—your community, their insights and contributions.”
“We’ve been trained in other skills that have been necessary to build companies that were created in another age. In order to evolve from yesterday’s skills to today’s social competencies we have to understand where we’ve come from and how much work we have to do yet.
You might like to know that Libert dismisses Facebook early on in the narrative. He says, “Facebook and Twitter have already built their own nation” and are benefitting from it tremendously. “This book is about helping YOU, first define, and then build your own social nation.”
More for your money
While the lion’s share of the book is dedicated to providing “Seven Principals” he says we need to understand in order to be successful in the future. You’ll get your investment back in chapter two: “Why Social Skills Matter.” It explains a lot. Certain skills are developed so that humans can adapt with each progressive age. Agrarian workers and leaders, for example, had to learn and develop new social and technical skills in order to prosper in the newer Industrial Revolution. It’s the same thing now. We have highly developed physical and—to a lesser degree—informational skills. Now we need to adopt and develop emotional and social skills (or strengths).
Four types of organizational strengths (abbreviated from the book)
- Physical > hard work > tactical
- Informational > smart work > analytical
- Emotional > connections > partnerships
- Social > networking > anticipating
Obviously we all have social skills but most of us use just physical strengths. Hard work and tactical execution “to make things and meet the concrete demands of their businesses” best describe these social beasts. They want to get a job done. Therefore, they tend to be focused solely on production and are far less concerned with the needs, desires and feelings of their employees and customers. Libert says, “How their constituents are ‘feeling’ or what they are looking to achieve as individuals is not central to their thinking.” The book describes Alan Mulally, Ford’s CEO, as an individual driven by Physical Strengths. (But he surrounds himself with others that have varying degrees of organizational strength.)
Backing up his promise to help you “refocus,” Libert offers an online Social Skills assessment that will help you identify with “scientific certainty, how social a leader you are, where there is room for improvement, and what you can do to ensure your success.”
Social Nation wraps up with a helpful section on “how to get started” including 10 pitfalls to avoid. Good book, order enough of them for your entire team.
INSIGHT:
These four organizational strengths are the new rules for building a company. If you don’t facilitate at least a trend toward balance in each of these metrics you could fail to communicate your good intentions, rendering yourself and your company irrelevant and quite alone.
I welcome your comments or more discussion.
Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social Media to Attract Customers, Motivate Employees, and Grow Your Business is available online at Amazon.