Book News: April 13th, 2011

By Charlene Li

“Be Open, Be Transparent, Be Authentic” are the current leadership mantras – but organisations often push back. Traditionally the concept of control predominates, but the new world order demands openness.

In Open Leadership the author offers the next step resource that shows leaders how to tap into the power of the social technology revolution and use social media to be “open” while maintaining control. This important book explains how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yammer, Jive and other popular social media sites can improve efficiency, communication, and decision-making for leaders and their organizations.

As Li explains, openness requires more, not less rigor and effort than being in control. Open Leadership reveals step-by-step, with illustrative case studies and examples from a wide-range of industries and countries, how to bring the precision of this new openness to both inside and outside the organization.

The author includes suggestions that will help an organization determine an open strategy, weigh the benefits against the risk, and have a clear understanding of the implications of being open. The book also contains guidelines, policies, and procedures that successful organisations have implemented to manage openness and ensure that business objectives are at the centre of their openness strategy.

By embracing social media, leaders can transform their organizations to become more effective, decisive, and ultimately more profitable in this new era of openness in the marketplace.

Published by Wiley. ISBN, 0470597267. £13.29