Author: Dorie Clark
Publisher: Portfolio Penguin
Reviewer: Emily Perry, director of demand marketing experts, Humm Media
As B2B marketers, it is our mission to help achieve growth by turning our businesses or clients into thought-leaders. Easily admired, though hard to achieve; especially if you base your definition not upon creating infographics, writing endless blogs or networking like mad at high-level conferences, but Dorie Clark’s definition of thought-leadership: “True thought-leadership is a gift. It’s a willingness to be brave, open up, share yourself. It’s a willingness to risk having your ideas shot down, because you genuinely believe they can help others.”
It simply is no longer the case that if you work hard and keep your hands clean, you’ll receive the recognition you deserve. Nor that if you write loads of content you’ll be seen as the go-to people. Instead businesses must become true thought leaders. And so, through a range of case studies and interviews, this is what Stand Out aims to achieve. It is a short and simple guide to help you or your business become a recognised expert in your field; helping identify your ‘big idea’, carve out a niche and then create a following around it.
Unless you come from the US or are very familiar with American business, it’s unlikely you’ll have heard of the businesses being discussed. Because of this, sadly I found it hard to engage with the case studies. The ones I did know, however, were organisations that you tend to find in business books about differentiation – for example the argument that competition can come from anywhere is demonstrated by Apple taking over the mobile phone market. While a great example, it would have been interesting to see something a little bit different and not the stock ‘what American business do the majority of non-Americans know?’ answer.
If you can stomach a fair amount of self-celebration (the author is at pains to remind us that she writes for the likes of Forbes and Harvard Business Review), then this book is worth picking up. I found myself making a few notes on the pages and the questions at the end of each chapter serve as a useful reminder to make sure you stay on track. Saying this, not so much as a B2B marketer but definitely if you are trying to figure out your next big thing, stand out in where you work or, as in my case, a business owner looking to take your organisation to the next level.
Star Rating:
3/5
