The Now Revolution Book Review

This year at BlogWorld East in New York City, I had the pleasure of listening to Jay Baer discuss the topics in his book, The Now Revolution, which he co-authored with Amber Naslund.  I thought Jay did a wonderful job keeping the audience engaged in the discussion, with all of us wanting to learn more. When it was time for the session participants to check underneath their chairs for a complimentary copy of The Now Revolution, I knew that whether there was a copy there for me or not, I had to read this book!  Well, it turned out, even though there was no free copy taped underneath my seat, a gentleman in my row looked around and said, “I already have a copy, who would like mine?”  I spoke up very quickly!

So, yes, I did receive a free copy of the book, from Jay, in a sense, but other than being in the room that day to hear his presentation, that was the first time we had ever met.  And, although BlogWorld was in May, and I’m only writing about The Now Revolution in this post, I actually finished the book in June, in three quick sittings.  Yes, not only did the book keep my attention, but it also had me tagging pages with small blue Post It Notes, so that I could go back and reference the material.  See picture below.

The Now Revolution is a really good book. And, it’s not just another “social media book.” It’s about your business in a real time world. The book focuses on the necessary “Shifts” (there are 7 of them) to make your business faster, smarter and more social. These “Shifts” represents chapters or sections and through each one, readers learn about the changes that need to take place within their organizations.  Whether it’s process, policy, older structure, or culture, The Now Revolution addresses how we have to account for what real time customers require, in order for the business to survive.  It’s very clear that the Shifts are written with the customer in mind; consumers will not wait for a business to catch up with the way they need their communication and quick access to a company’s information, products and/or services.

A few of my favorite Shifts in The Now Revolution include:

Shift 2:  Find Talent You Can Trust – Because it’s not only about the people on the outside (your constituents) you’re trying to engage, but it’s also about your own employees and finding the talent to build your business.  I remember reading Jim Collin’s book, “Good to Great” and it always stuck in my mind how you have to have the “right people on the bus.”  This Shift is also rich with helpful recruiting information, so you can find the right people in order to connect them with your customers to find mutual value.

Shift 3: Organize your Armies – This Shift makes it clear that you have an army of champions within your organization, but it’s important to organize them and provide clear roles.  The Shift has a great chart on Page 66 that includes the “Roles of Today” as well as the “Revolution Roles” and the responsibilities of different job functions.  I also really liked this section of the book because it discusses employee guidelines and mentions a helpful list of documents (provided by social media consultant Jason Falls) that are necessary for any organization that participates in social media.

Shift 6: Build a Fire Extinguisher – Every company needs to build a fire extinguisher in the event of social media crisis.  We all know that crisis is no longer excluded to those companies in the travel, hotel or pharmaceutical industries.  In this Shift, there’s a helpful chart on the levels of crisis escalation and who should participate, as a situation moves toward crisis status.  I also found the “Eight Steps to Crisis Recovery” to be very useful information.  The entire section educates and prepares companies for what a crisis may look like today.

Overall, I found all of the Shifts in the book filled with insight and because the information flowed logically, it was an extremely easy read.  I also liked the QR codes where you’re able to find out more information about the many case studies mentioned in the book.  The Now Revolution is a must read and a book that will stay on my shelf, always close by. Thank you Jay and Amber for your hard work on this book…it really shows!