Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign [Hardcover]

Barry Libert (Author), Rick Faulk (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0137022077 | ISBN-13: 978-0137022076 | Publication Date: January 15, 2009 | Edition: 1

Barack Obama's campaign didn't just make history: it teaches lessons that every business can profit from. The Obama campaign was brilliantly planned, strategized, and executed, and built to drive home a powerful, consistent core value proposition: the proposition of change. Moreover, it had an extraordinary understanding of innovation, manifested by its extraordinary use of technology to achieve specific, quantifiable goals. In Barack, Inc., Barry Libert and Rick Faulk present the Obama campaign as a business, identifying lessons any business leader can use to maximize performance. Libert and Faulk cover issues ranging from marketing to leadership, strategy to execution. They reveal how Obama's team identified and honed a powerful core message, and applied it flexibly in response to changing circumstances without ever compromising core brand values. You'll discover how Obama built a focused, "no-drama" organization that empowered local decision-makers without sacrificing nationwide consistency or discipline. Finally, the authors, executives at the world's leading provider of business social networking services, show how Obama leveraged social networking at a scale unprecedented in the history of either politics or business. From start to finish, Barack, Inc. is actionable: packed with ready-to-use strategies and tactics that can help you succeed with any goal, in any marketplace.

Editorial Reviews

Review

As featured on ABC News Now and Marketwatch Radio Network.  Also featured in The New York Post, Investors Business Daily, CNN.com, The Boston Globe, Globe & Mail, CIO Insight, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and many others.

About the Author

Barry Libert is chairman and Rick Faulk CEO of Mzinga, a leading enterprise social technology and services provider. The company manages over 14,000 online communities, which draw more than 60 million total online visitors every month.

 

Libert is a recognized authority on entrepreneurial leadership strategies and a pioneer in the business use of social technologies. He recently co-authored We Are Smarter than Me, a critically acclaimed book created in collaboration with Wharton Publishing and more than 4,000 community participants that illustrates how businesses can profit from the wisdom of crowds. A one-time McKinsey and Company consultant, Libert has also co-authored two other highly regarded books about the business value of information and relationships entitled Cracking the Value Code and Value RX. He is also a regularly featured keynote speaker who has delivered speeches to audiences of 20,000+ globally.

 

Faulk is currently the CEO of Mzinga, and has more than 21 years of executive leadership and marketing experience at some of the world’s most notable high-tech companies, among them Cisco, WebEx, Intranets.com, PictureTel, Shiva Corporation, and Lotus. Early in his career, he also founded First Software, which grew to sales of more than $175 million in less than four years and was ranked on one of Inc. magazine's lists of fastest-growing companies in the United States.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (January 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137022077
• ISBN-13: 978-0137022076
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #684,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fluffy book on Obama's campaign not a business book - do not waste your money!, March 1, 2009

By 

L. C Glover "Varied Interests" (Half Moon Bay Ca, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

The book is a very quick read which usually translates to very little substance. This book is no exception to the rule. The authors, Barry Libert & Rick Faulk, seem to have an agenda to push social networking in the marketing space which their company specializes in. The world would be better off if they had not published this book -- there would be more trees in the world.

There is very little in the book regarding business related topics and leadership. The elements that are in the book are very simplistic and nothing new. The description of the Obama campaign makes it sound like Obama did nearly absolutely everything perfect which we know is not possible for an effort over two years long. So, the authors seem to have rose colored glasses on which gets a bit annoying as you read the book.

The book also does not mention that his opponents did not do a good job of using technology, thus making his effort seem that much more impressive. Obama's campaign did a good job of using the latest technology and using their volunteers well. The book would have been much more useful to go into greater detail on how the logistics of the campaign were conceived and executed so well. Also, the book does not try to quantify what types of business would benefit from the social network approach to marketing.

I gave the book two stars as the writing was not bad but lacks anything useful or substative. Do not waste your money on this book!

The keypoints from the book are:

Chapter 2 (Be cool):
* Ignore the sideshows - keep your eye on the center ring.
* Fix the problem; forget the blame.
* Play hardball when necessary.
* Vent outside the tent.
* Adjust to the moment.
* Lead with humility

Chapter 3 (Be Social):
* Cultivate the new grassroots, the netroots.
* Create a seamless community.
* Nurture your lists.
* Let your netroots grow into every crevice.
* Arm yourself against, and don't take cheap shots.
* Turn CRM into CMR.
* Make your marketing mobile.

Chapter 4 (Be the Change):
* Confront reality and put problems in context.
* When you're on solid ground, don't back off.
* Share your vision of the future.
* Forget the squabbles, strengthen the team.
* Never forget the power of the personal touch.
* Get unfiltered information.
* See yourself clearly.

Now that you have read them -- now you can forget about this book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I Hear You Knocking, April 27, 2009

By 

Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

In the lead-up to the January 20, 2009, presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, there were around one dozen books landing in stores and looking for a little elbow room on the major display shelves.

There are big winners and major losers with so much product hitting the marketplace. In this one, business partners and authors Barry Libert and Rick Faulk fail miserably in their attempt to cover the Obama campaign from the technological angle through this skimpy "analysis" that utilizes four chapters that total less than 140 pages. Simply, if one feels that the statement, "Business - Like Politics - Is Extremely Personal," (which is found in the book) is revolutionary, then this will be an incredibly solid read.

The authors essentially take tidbits of research that could have been pulled from any number of media sources during a campaign that was launched in February 2007, but had a foundation set much earlier, and weave it into a ridiculously simplistic "Business 101" outlook. The material in the chapters - Success You Can Believe In - And Emulate, Be Cool, Be Social, Be the Change - would not be new to any person who has had an introductory business course within an educational setting or is chasing a slice of the "American Dream."

The text ultimately morphs into a commercial for Libert and Faulk's framework for social software and networking, with Obama - like the reader - along for the ride. It is best to search for a real analysis of the technological approach from the campaign that is worthy of studying for the historical value and possible application to the daily grind of staying a few strides ahead of the competition, professionally and personally.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sigh... No, you CAN'T...., March 2, 2009

By 

The Taminator "There's no going back. You've ... (The People's Republic of Indiana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Big white margins, large print, less than 150 pages of actual content, a hard cover... where was the environmental lobby when this thing got printed? Anyway, I ordered this book because of the unlikely success of the Obama campaign, hoping to glean some lessons for my business. I didn't really get it. What I got was a bunch of key points with very little explanation as to how to go about it. I signed up for social networking sites the day I incorporated my business, as the book strongly suggests, but after over a year all I've gotten are people from high school wanting to relive the good old days, not business contacts or referrals. With the authors being in the online social networking business, this was the primary advice I wanted out of the book and didn't get.

One problem as mentioned in other reviews is that while the authors at least point you to the various technology-based portions of the Obama campaign, they fail to mention how the McCain campaign failed so miserably in this respect. As a lifetime resident of Indiana, a swing state for the first time I can remember, I was pummeled with Obama advertising. Everything from ads on local conservative radio stations to pressing "select" on my Dish Network remote gave me opportunities to learn about Obama, where the McCain campaign did absolutely nothing. Not only was I not told how they did what they did, I was not taught how not to fail by learning the mistakes of Obama's opponent.

There is very little here on general leadership or business tips, new or old. The book mostly a big praise-fest of the Obama campaign without getting into the nuts and bolts of the execution. I need the details, guys. If you love Obama obviously you'll love this book. If you're looking for helpful business advice, particularly in the area of social networking & general technology, and wanting to know if it's the right thing for the business you're in, you won't find it here. I hate posting negative reviews like this because I really like the campaign slogan "Yes we CAN!" and was hoping to find out how I could too. Someone needs to sit the authors down and tell them "No you CAN'T!"-- at least, not without the details.