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Desperation. . .

Companies are gathering as much data as they can on the individual consumer. Companies that have that information are selling it or making it available often times in ways contrary to their promises. The consumer is figuring out how to fight back. Where is advertising going?

It seems to me that we are heading down some rocky roads when it comes to advertising and how to “reach” the consumer.

• Google is giving its own sites priority in their search results (evil!)
• Facebook “inadvertently” (right) sent individual identities to advertisers
• Advertising companies are “screaming” at Microsoft for putting in “do not track” function in Internet Explorer 9 – which tells everyone they should have it
• The government is looking at regulating who can track what – that aught to be useful (NOT)
• Print companies are scrambling to figure out how to “monetize going digital”
• Advertising clients are moving budget dollars from traditional to digital advertising including e-books

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By Dwight Frint and Suzanne Mayo Frindt

I have the honor and privilege of knowing and working with the authors of Accelerate. They dedicate their passion and their lives to developing strong leaders throughout the world. They have written a leadership manual that will, I’m sure, find its way onto every true leader’s bookshelf.

Their first intention in writing the book is for the reader to come to understand how to sustainably expand his/her reach and impact. Perhaps more importantly, one learns how to enroll and enlist other leaders so that the teams they form reach levels of performance and impact not thought possible. Leaders who understand the principles outlined in this book will find whole new levels of self-expression, effectiveness and creativity.

The authors first orient the reader, in clear straightforward language, so that the material that follows makes sense logically as well as emotionally. They make a compelling case for understanding that there is no “normal” for business except perhaps unrelenting change. That means new ways of working together, building collaborative teams and replacing the old “command and control” structure with leadership which provides a clear vision and enrolls employees in that vision – then get out of their way!

So the essential “notions” of the book are laid out as:

• Replacing Commands with Vision
• Finding New Ways of Working Together
• Building Collaborative Capital Requires Relationship and Confrontation
• Operating Principles – a Systemic Shift

The authors explain why Self-Generated Accountability is key to visionary leadership. They build on nine principles:

1. Be Present, Stay in the Game
2. Listen Newly, Be Intentionally Slow to Understand
3. Take Yourself Lightly
4. Declare There is Nothing Wrong or Broken Here and Now
5. Explore truths: Mine, Theirs and Ours
6. Confront and Deal with Real Issues
7. Be Responsible for Creating Value
8. Make it Safe and Productive
9. Be Responsible for What Gets Heard

Here’s the rub. Reading the book is nice and you will learn much, but it is made quite clear that unless readers are willing to put the principles in practice, nothing of substance will be changed in your life. The need to provide “how to” guidance lead the authors developed work pages for the reader. Of course, this then leads to a bit of a challenge for those who chose the e-book version of Accelerate. That challenge was easily handled by ensuring that the digital versions of Accelerate supplies a code and the workbook section can be downloaded, for no additional charge, from the 2130 Partners’ web site.

The Frindts provide a simple, eloquent and insightful book that will enroll the reader into a highly leveraged leadership model. It is obvious that the experience they have gained in their work as an executive leadership and education firm has been brought to bear in Accelerate. Get it, read it and then be a highly leveraged leader having extraordinary impact on those around you.