Driving a Social Enterprise

Book Review: Groundswell – winning in a world transformed by social technologies August 7, 2008

Cover Design

I just finished this 286 pages book by Harvard Business Review Press. I was very excited to get my hands on this book – the title itself was very catchy to begin with and I was expecting a book talking about both internal groundswell (internal adoption at enterprises) and external groundswell (B2C adoption). Not sure why but I expected and yes, on this count I was disappointed. The book had just 1 chapter on internal groundswell. I really wish it was more!

On a positive note, you can easily relate to the overall message of the book - the essence of groundswell thinking is not about what to do but how to do it. Even though this message is repeated many times, once you get it, the following lessons learned from the book makes more sense:

• Lesson 1: Groundswell is about person-to-person activity.
• Lesson 2: Groundswell is about good listening.
• Lesson 3: Be Patient… Groundswell touches all the people and hence needs time for buy in.
• Lesson 4: Be opportunistic… If a great idea comes along, grab it. You might not have another chance.
• Lesson 5: Be flexible… Groundswell thinking requires constant learning and adjustments.
• Lesson 6: Be collaborative… need I explain further?
• Lesson 7: Be humble… Groundswell creates community power and ideas.

Overall, a good book to grab specially if you are on the B2C side of marketing or technology. Chapter 2 is a great read – explains what is groundswell and all the underlying technologies enabling groundswell. Happy Reading!