Tuning In to Leadership (and much more) With A Great New Book

One of the highlights of the past few months has been the opportunity to gain some early insight into the forthcoming new book, Tuned In, by Phil Myers, Craig Stull and David Meerman Scott. 

I'm excited about this book on a number of levels.  In a pre-release article about the book, Phil, Craig and David make a promise to readers that they will show us an approach to finding "overlooked marketplace problems that, if solved, bring in customers who willingly buy your products and services without being coerced." 

From my discussions with Phil and from reading the article and advance materials, I am confident that this promise will be more than kept, offering some much needed guidance for executives and marketers looking to create offerings that resonate with buyers.  After 22 years leading high tech marketing teams, I couldn't help but ask myself, "Where was this book was all those years when I needed it?"  Well, it's here now, or at least almost here, and marketers everywhere will be well served to read and apply the well-researched and well-developed ideas and approaches in this fascinating and practical new book.

Tuned In presents a six-step process for creating a resonator: "a product or service that so perfectly solves problems for buyers that it sells itself."  The examples, approaches and ideas for realizing resonators and for supporting the creation of an organizational culture that institutionalizes the requisite thinking and processes are the heart of the work. The steps: find unresolved problems, understand buyer personas, quantify the impact, create breakthrough experiences, articulate powerful ideas and establish authentic connections offer powerful and practical guidance for marketers and executives everywhere. 

Valuable Guidance for Leaders in Tuned In:

We all read and relate to ideas through the filters of our own experiences, and as I've immersed myself in writing, speaking, training and teaching on all things leadership during the past few years, I've started to view the world through the eyes of how great leaders at all levels transform organizations. The Tuned In tagline reads: "Uncover the extraordinary opportunities that lead to business breakthroughs," The breakthrough for me personally from this book is the perhaps unintended but powerful framework that emerges for creating and sustaining the leadership culture necessary to realize a Tuned In organization.

During the research for my book, Practical Lessons in Leadership, my co-author, Rich Petro, and I came away from hundreds of hours of interviews with the perspective that most leaders do not operate with a holistic view of what leadership is supposed to deliver to an organization.  Tuned In helps solve that problem by offering clear context for the role and priorities of leaders at all levels as they pursue creating breakthrough experiences for their customers.

The Top Priorities of a Tuned In Leader:

• Creating the environment (atmosphere) necessary for individuals and teams to be comfortable and confident to take the risks and pursue the actions needed to identify and realize offerings that resonate.

• Bringing together individuals and teams with the talents, skills attitudes and sense of adventure needed to succeed as a business that is constantly searching for unresolved problems and applying the discipline needed to turn those into resonators.

• Ensuring that expectations and performance are defined, communicated and measured against customer and market standards, not just internal or competitor standards.   Inherent in this activity is establishing a new way of measuring performance that aligns with the Tuned In Process. 

• Developing his or her leadership credibility by ensuring that words and actions match and ensuring that associates receive the mentoring, feedback and developmental opportunities needed to grow and to pursue new and greater tasks.

• Constantly searching for, identifying and supporting the development of formal and informal leaders.

• Fostering an environment that encourages action-focused debate at all levels, across all functions up and down the leadership chain.

Armed with these priorities, Tuned In leaders, from the CEO to the front-line managers have a clear view of how they should invest their time and focus their energy.  These items define the job descriptions of leaders at all levels and help guide the development of To-Do lists across the organization. There is no wiggle room for misalignment on these activities as an organization seeks to create offerings that resonate and surprise and delight buyers with great experiences. 

The Bottom Line for Now:

Phil, Craig and David in Tuned In offer a pragmatic and effective approach for creating and sustaining success, regardless of the size or style of organization. Building on their framework, a Tuned In approach to leadership will help institutionalize the approaches and practices that they advocate.

You can and should read the book for the practical and actionable framework on creating value, but the richest veins of gold here for me are the ideas that the authors prompt for reshaping and invigorating our leadership habits.

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Join me for a webinar on Tuned In Leadership this Friday, June 13th at 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. PDT

Comments

[Phil Myers]

Art,

Thanks for the comments on our book. Your slant on this is particularly relevant in today's economy. Too many companies retreat during a recession and leaders play it safe, pushing their teams to focus only what is obviously connected to generating revenue. Tuned In leaders do the opposite. The companies we found that sustained leadership positions did so because the leadership team didn't get distracted by the events of today and maintained their focus on discovering new problems for their companies to solve. The biggest breakthroughts often come when times are the toughest.

All the best,

Phil

[Michael Ray Hopkin]

Art, excellent application of the Tuned In principles to leadership. Successful leaders naturally follow many of the principles that come out of the six-step process for creating a resonator. Often the resonator they create is their own ability to lead effectively.

I couldn't agree more with your priorities of a Tuned In leader, especially the fifth. Great leaders tune in to things they can do to develop other leaders. I have a great respect for leaders who work to develop others to become equal or better leaders than themselves. They groom people to take their position. And ultimately they find themselves in a better place.

Looking forward to your webinar. -Michael

[Anne Pauker Kreitzberg]

Art:

Caught your webinar last week. Great job! I hope those who missed it will check it out at www.pragmaticmarketing.com//TunedInLeadership.

As financial services top execs continue their free-fall, we see a great example of the road an Extreme "Revenue Drives All" Leader can take -- it can be a great ride, but you can easily end up in a ditch. Just another reason to be a TunedIn Leader.

Like you, I think TunedIn is a neat book: straight-forward, great examples and a quick read.

Best,
Anne