Click here if you can’t see this video interview with Mitch Joel.
Mitch Joel has a new book out and it made me so damn uncomfortable! It is an eye-opening, sobering view of what it is going to take to compete … not just in the future, but right now. And it’s not going to be easy.
Mitch is a brilliant strategist, visionary, and business leader and his new book, Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It, is brilliant too. It’s so … honest. Uncomfortably honest!
I was happy to catch up with Mitch and talk to him about the new release. Be sure to watch the insightful interview I have posted above to understand why Mitch thinks we are in a period of “leadership hell.”
In his book, Mitch emphasizes that we need to act NOW to adjust to five converging forces:
#1 – Direct relationships with consumers – The real opportunity of social media connection. Don’t abdicate the personal relationship to a third party or big box retailer!
#2 – Utility – We have too much of everything on the web. Be useful to cut through the clutter. He also features an all-time great case study for Charmin Tissue! If toilet paper can have a useful digital presence, can’t you?
#3 – Active media – Create media that provokes consumers to interact.
#4 Sex with data – Not just data mining. Data understanding, This is what leads to discoveries and action.
#5 – One Screen Marketplace – It’s not three screens — marketing is only about the screen that is currently in front of your consumer at that moment.
As I mentioned, CTRL ALT Delete is unnerving in its scope but ultimately practical in that it provides solid advice on how to deal with these cataclysmic changes, both on a personal level and a business level.
Some of the urgent scenarios he presents seem daunting. That’s why you need to keep this book in front of you for the next 12 months as a reminder to “deal with it, deal with it, deal with it.” This is not some pie in the sky prognostication. It is already here, it is already happening.
We simply must adjust or risk obsolescence. You see, Mitch is more than smart. He’s also right.
Disclosure: Book link is an affiliate link
