I was very impressed with Groundswell, the book by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff about the impact of “social technologies” on business. When it came out, two years ago, both authors were with Forrester research.
Josh, along with Forrester colleague Ted Schadler, has a new book out soon: Empowered. Josh recently posted that there’s an article based on the book in Harvard Business Review, and that the article can be read online (it still can at the time of writing).
Now, many business books condense down well to article length, and many articles can be summarized by a single figure, often a 2×2. In some cases, the shorter forms are the best investment of time. In other cases, they serve to whet the appetite for the more substantial fare. If Empowered is anything like its predecessor, it will be pretty substantial.
Anyway, I include a 2×2 from the article. As usual with management 2x2s, the upper right quadrant is the good one. If you feel empowered, and act resourceful, then you are a HERO: a highly empowered and resourceful operative. I’d prefer less drama (HERO?) and more grammar (act resourceful? shouldn’t that be resourcefully?).
This figure, with 20% HEROs, reflects the data from Forrester’s survey of 5,000 information workers. The article breaks out the data a little, and I assume that the book breaks it out a lot. The article also highlights relationships between HEROs, managers, and information technology, and I assume the book discusses these relationships in more detail.
Meanwhile, Josh’s Groundswell co-author, Charlene Li, has her own firm, Altimeter, and her own book: Open Leadership. I should get hold of a copy…