Likeable Business by Dave Kerpen - Book review

Likeable Business

Why Today's Consumers Demand More and How Leaders Can Deliver

By: Dave Kerpen

Published: October 9, 2012
Format: Paperback, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 0071800476
ISBN-13: 978-0071800471
Publisher: McGraw-Hill









"This book is for everyone who is a customer. who agrees that organizations need to be more likeable and wants to be part of the solution, online and offline", writes social media expert and co-founder and CEO of Likeable, Dave Kerpen, in his strategy filled and results oriented book Likeable Business: Why Today's Consumers Demand More and How Leaders Can Deliver. The author describes how to be a likeable company through an obsession with customers, having employees create a superior experience, and through a new type of leadership.

Dave Kerpen understands that in today's highly connected, internet based and social media driven world, companies that are not superior in every possible way are likely to fall by the wayside. Mediocrity in today's wired business environment spells disaster. The author points out that while a bad customer experience is shared instantly through the various social media platforms, great customer service can be spread to others in the same way. Dave Kerpen offers the insight that it isn't enough to be only concerned about the company's customers. Employees, colleagues, and others who interact with a company must also passionate about the business, its products, and its services.

Dave Kerpen (photo left) recognizes that being likeable requires a total commitment to excellence from the top leadership to everyone within the organization. The author also provides evidence that customers are also important elements in building a likeable company. Through the social media channels, interested customers can share their own experiences, good or bad, with the company. Knowing what was done right, and where improvement is needed, are powerful data points for any organization.

The author shares his eleven principles for creating a likeable business. Those eleven pillars are as follows:

* Listening: One mouth, two ears, many opportunities
* Storytelling: Tell, don't sell
* Authenticity: Just be yourself
* Transparency: The truth shall set you free
* Team playing: There's no I in team or culture
* Responsiveness: Taking listening one step further
* Adaptability: Change or perish
* Passion: Love the work you're with
* Surprise and delight: Every mistake is an opportunity
* Simplicity: Remove the clutter
* Gratefulness: The ROI of thank you

For me, the power of the book is how Dave Kerpen combines a comprehensive theoretical framework, for establishing a likeable business, with the practical strategies and tactics to make that vision a reality. The author presents his case for creating a likeable company, through engagement on the various social media, in a clear and concise manner. Not only does Dave Kerpen offer evidence of the importance of utilizing social media effectively, but carries the concept of a likeable company much deeper into the organization. The author shares the concepts of not only engaging customers, but also the company employees in an entire cultural change.

Dave Kerpen offers what amounts to a manifesto for establishing an entirely new vision of how an organization should operate and behave at every level. To bolster his case, Dave Kerpen presents case studies, complete with illustrative photographs, of companies utilizing the eleven principles of a likeable company under real world conditions.

I highly recommend the organizational transforming book Likeable Business: Why Today's Consumers Demand More and How Leaders Can Deliver by Dave Kerpen, to any sales and marketing professionals, executives, leaders, customers, and anyone within a company who truly believes in the power and importance of being likeable. This book will guide your business toward a fresh vision, a more engaged company culture, happier customers, and a stronger bottom line.