Jeff Bennett's Blog

Charlene Li has been on the forefront of the evolution of social media for several years now through her work @ Forrester Research and more recently Altimeter Group.  Charlene is an analyst by trade and gifted in her ability to report on what a product or service is today…with an eye toward how this product or service will impact us tomorrow.

What I have most admired about Charlene though is that she employs a “practitioner” approach to her analysis.  If you have been a digital citizen and active on Facebook, Twitter or in the blogosphere in the last few years… you were sure to see Charlene participating in this open community all of the time.  It has been great to track on her progress building Altimeter.  It has been great to learn from her as she leveraged these contemporary channels to communicate what she was analyzing.  Social media can augment the work of an analyst in a big way.

I was happy to get an advanced copy of Charlene’s new book, “Open Leadership.” I believe that the release of this book is timely for many reasons.  First, all of us in leadership positions are trying to determine ways to utilize social media in our management approach…inside and outside our companies.  Second, transforming our leadership style to take advantage of all that is going on in the world is a necessity.  Openness, transparency, context are all key aspects of leadership today…if we are to be effective.  Third, there is a sense of authenticity to this book as Charlene is a practitioner of these approaches…I have seen it in how she is building Altimeter and participating with all of us on the social web.  Lastly, Charlene brings some great examples of open leadership into the book featuring leaders who have adopted these practices like Paul Levy (Beth Israel Hospital), Scott Heiferman (MeetUp), John Chambers (Cisco..and formerly Wang when I was there), and many many others.

I have been deploying several of the approaches that are addressed in “Open Leadership.”  The days of command and control are in the rear view mirror.  The pace in today’s markets require an open and collaborative approach.  We can do so much more when we open up and allow our teams and customers to participate in the planning, development and execution processes of our businesses.  We all own the result then.  I am not talking socialism here.  I am not espousing throwing everything up in the air for chaos either.  I am saying a kind of “open command” where leaders lead…and draw on the talents of their teams and learnings/contributions of customers…for the greater good of an organization.  This is a learned behavior on my part as I have been raised and educated in a command and control world.  It is emancipating though when you see how this manifests in a business.  I am a big believer.

“Open Leadership,” is an important book for these times.  Thanks for writing this Charlene and sharing these important lessons with all of us.