Customer Reviews

Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World

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A business book that starts with a quote from the Matrix. I was sold from the first page. But I held back from my review, wanting to wade in more deeply before snapping to judgement.

And with each page I am just more invested in finding out what comes next.

The quote that starts off the book is relevant because it is a parallel to one of the central theories of the book: that humankind has created a machine that is ruling how she/he behaves. That machine, is the organization, the company, which, when broken down is a collection of humans.

It posits a strategic mission, should you, of course, choose to accept it.

And you can, armed with Humanize, no matter what level of organization you're at, it is for both the minion and the maker of any organization or corporation. Because it seeks to empower YOU, dear reader, to transform your organization to a more people-centric ecosystem.

In the chapters that follow the introduction, we see the status quo, the problem with that state, and the concrete work needed to change it, step by step. Both practical and theoretical, through this book we are informed that the status is not... quo. But through some free help that is provided in conjunction with it, we are shown the way through.

Work? Of course, yes. But the promised end result sounds so much more like the world we ought to be living in.

Yes, this is, in part, a book about social media, a strategic one. But it's not one with rapid decay, one of the ones that is obsolete by the time the hardcover edition arrives at your house.

No. This is one of those books that will be relevant for years to come. Centuries in internet time.

I believe that even companies that are doing great, and people who love where they work, who are empowered to use social media to solve problems internally as well as externally, will want to pick up a copy.

Here's the test. Get the sample chapter on Kindle for PC. Read it, right now. If evolution to a more social world is any part of your vision, I challenge you to read that and not want to have it in your hands tonight.

Humanize is talking about change that is coming. Social media is giving individuals more than a voice, it is changing how we think about things like organizations. Jamie and Maddie lay this out clearly and provide great examples and recommendations for using this information. Their "Trellis," the four crucial elements organizations should look to incorporate, is a clear starting point for change. It won't be easy, but this book will make you think about it.

I'm recommending it to leaders in many different types of organizations and everyone who wants to lead in this changing environment.

Personally, the most awaited book of all time.

OK, that part isn't true about Humanize. What is true is that it is good. Damn good. That's the good news. Maddie Grant and Jamie Notter do a very nice job stepping through what they call their "trellis", the four human qualities that company's SHOULD have: Being Open, Trustworthy, Generative and Courageous.

They suggest, after setting up their "collision course", a proper corrected course that companies can follow to change the very way they do business.

The bad news is, through no fault of the authors, that most of corporate America is not prepared to undertake the kind of heavy lifting that is necessary to make this kind of dramatic change.

Too bad. Humanize is solid work in the right direction. The authors have done some heavy lifting, even offering worksheets for companies interested in tracking their progress towards becoming more human.

It's a good piece of work. Buy it confidently.

Why is there such a big difference between our lives and our work? Why do organizations struggle to make Social Media work?

For the same reasons... we don't bring our humanity to work, and big organizations institutionalize inhuman activities. Customers don't like being treated like a number.

Authors Maddie Grant and Jamie Notter unravel these dehumanizing forces and recommend solutions in their new book Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World. I interviewed them to help you get a sense of the importance and power of this book. Also, the book is hardcover, so if someone at your company doesn't "get it", you can hit them on the head with the book until they do.

"Humanize" is not a book about social media tools, strategies and tactics. It's a book that addresses what really creates online success (or failure) for organizations: Heart-centered leadership.

I've worked with hundreds of nonprofits on various aspects of online marketing strategy, and often been in situations where I know that the organization will not succeed with even the best tools and strategies if they do not change their culture first. Humanize addresses these core problems in a way that is easy to follow. Get this book if you want to avoid wasting a whole lot of resources on yet another failed social media campaign.

Humanize is a breath of fresh air! The social media sphere is currently clogged with navel-gazing self-proclaimed experts who preach "authenticity" but are really only concerned with teaching the appearance of authenticity to their high paying executive clients. This book challenges people at every level of your organization to rethink the way information and communications are handled.

Traditional marketing is losing it's effectiveness. The general population of consumers is more savvy and far skeptical than ever before. They are also becoming used to the interactive communication offered by those companies that are leading the way with social media.

To be really effective, though, social media can't just be relegated to a tiny sub-department of your marketing group. Yet many companies want to box the social phenomenon into old marketing processes without making any real changes to the company culture. As Grant & Notter point out the transition to a more transparent, open company culture (internally and externally) is at best challenging, and worst downright terrifying:

"Cultures that value control highly tend to bristle at the idea of transparency, because control of information is viewed as a source of power." - p.79

The evolution that many companies are currently going through is painful and messy because there is no real desire to change the way things are done internally. But Humanize insists that this is really the only way for your company to thrive and survive in the coming years. I could not agree more.

We've all experienced the impact of technology on how we do business, and on how organizations work. Computers. Email. Mobile phones. All things we now take for granted, but they had a profound effect on how we got work done.

Social media--which lets anyone publish anything from anywhere, and which creates instant communities around shared interests--will have a far more profound effect on how we do business than anything we've seen so far. It will literally force us to tear up and re-knit the fabric of how our organizations are structured. I have believed this to be true for a while, and we finally have a book that explains why this transformation will happen, what the post-social media organization will look like, and how to transition your business from a hierarchical, mechanistic structure into to a far more sustainable, effective people-centric organization.

In the first four chapters, all written in an informative yet highly readable style, Grant and Notter explain the origins of our current process- and best practices-based corporate structures, why those structures will fail if they don't change, and what the challenges are to making the change happen. This is not a pollyanna cheerleading book about how great social media is; the changes will happen but they won't be easy for many organizations to absorb.

That's where the second half of the book comes in. In four brilliantly written chapters, the authors offer detailed, practical advice--complete with downloadable worksheets and specific examples and suggestions for how anyone (not just executives) can start making a difference today. Humanize allows you to help your organization become open, trustworthy, generative (being able to produce/create value on an ongoing basis) and courageous. And, for those organizations who can make the transition, it will allow them to build far closer, more valuable relationships with its customers and its employees.

I am not typically a fan of business books, but I really enjoyed this one, both for its subject matter and its readability. I would recommend it for anyone -- at any career stage, industry or job function -- who wants to understand where business is going, and how to be part of making the change happen.

Humanize is outstanding - it captures so much about the current marketplace without being dependent on the "right now" problem so many other books have... that being that they are only relevant "right now" when they are written, because the world changes so quickly and the examples are no longer valid.

Instead, humanize uses the social world as the context for identifying what is wrong with our current management and organizational structure norms. From there, anyone in an organization can understand what steps he/she can take to make a positive impact on the organization.

My professional work is now primarily focused on the nonprofit sector, which this book is not specifically written for, but it applies well nonetheless.

I have purchased an additional copy to send to a former boss who is particularly innovative and intelligent. I will also be purchasing copies for a handful of my MBA professors, because this context is desperately needed in a business education.

In the same vein that Marshall McLuhan ("Medium is the Message" and "Global Village") turned the spotlight away from the technology of the times and trained it rather on what the technology revealed about how we were changing as human beings, Jamie Notter and Maddie Grant explain how the advent of social media signals a change in how organizations will "manage" people. Using a "machine" metaphor to describe the undercurrent of modern management inspired by Frederick Taylor and others early in the last century, they propose that the effect of recent technology in the larger society has ushered in a new framework for relating to human beings in the workplace - ah, one that is human! The irony of our times.

Whether you manage an organization or consider yourself managed by an organization, if you are interested in getting clear about a revolution that is happening around you before it becomes a chapter in a history book, read Humanize. Not only does it lay out how mindful organizations have been adapting the way they relate to their talent, more importantly it provides the elements any interested person can focus on to swim in the new current. The authors provide a "trellis" of 4 operating principles organizations and managers who wish to be successful in the new environment can follow: being Open, Trustworthy, Generative, and Courageous. Within these principles, they further outline three focal points -- Culture, Process, and Behavior - to fully understand how these principles can be fostered and practiced in real life. Humanize is both insightful, clear social analysis and a "how to" for the new world order as it relates to organizations. Ultimately, it's a call to action. Worth your time and attention.

"As the Internet has become more central in our lives, we have begun to witness a revival of the importance of being human." Page 3, Humanize.

From that point forward, from that beginning, this book underlines and asterisks--as the subtitle says--how important being people-centric is for organizations to succeed in a social world. Chapter 4, "Challenges to Socializing Business," was particularly helpful. it walks through the major hurdles such as culture, hierarchy, risk, process, and more, providing helpful insights and solutions businesses and social media professionals can apply.

Most importantly, it provides great instruction about the importance of and how to be open, trustworthy, generative and courageous.

The easy-going yet professional tone, appropriate lists, and useful subheads make it very readable, even if you have to do it in short spurts.

For any business or individual about to get more social this is where they should begin to keep themselves human, because that's who the social world wants to connect with. And if it's too late, and they're already down the wrong road, this book can bring them back.