Table of Contents

Introduction  2

Chapter 1   SUCCESS YOU CAN BELIEVE IN--AND EMULATE  6

Getting down to business may be passé.
Getting up to politics could be the wave of our future.

Chapter 2   BE COOL  16

The indispensable quality of a leader whose decisions
and actions can change people's lives is his cool--his calm rationality,
steadiness under pressure, and ability to stay on message and
control strong emotions.

Chapter 3   BE SOCIAL  58

Business--like politics--is extremely personal.

Chapter 4   BE THE CHANGE  104

Impermanence rules the universe.
Those who resist change resist reality and life itself.

Epilogue  144

Sources  148

Index  156

Promotional Information

Barack Obama’s campaign didn’t just make history: it teaches lessons that every business can profit from. The Obama campaign was brilliantly planned, strategized, and executed, and built to drive home a powerful, consistent core value proposition: the proposition of change. Moreover, it had an extraordinary understanding of innovation, manifested by its extraordinary use of technology to achieve specific, quantifiable goals. In Barack, Inc., Barry Libert and Rick Faulk present the Obama campaign as a business, identifying specific strategies, tactics, and techniques any business leader can use to maximize performance. Libert and Faulk cover issues ranging from marketing to leadership, strategy to execution. They reveal how Obama’s team identified and honed a powerful core message, and applied it flexibly in response to changing circumstances without ever compromising core brand values. You’ll discover how Obama built a focused, “no-drama” organization that empowered local decision-makers without sacrificing nationwide consistency or discipline. Finally, the authors — executives at the world’s leading provider of business social networking services — show how Obama leveraged social networking at a scale unprecedented in the history of either politics or business. From start to finish, Barack, Inc. is actionable: packed with ready-to-use strategies and tactics that can help you succeed with any goal, in any marketplace.

About the Author

Barry Libert is chairman and Rick Faulk CEO of Mzinga, a leading enterprise social technology and services provider. The company manages over 14,000 online communities, which draw more than 60 million total online visitors every month.

Libert is a recognized authority on entrepreneurial leadership strategies and a pioneer in the business use of social technologies. He recently co-authored We Are Smarter than Me, a critically acclaimed book created in collaboration with Wharton Publishing and more than 4,000 community participants that illustrates how businesses can profit from the wisdom of crowds. A one-time McKinsey and Company consultant, Libert has also co-authored two other highly regarded books about the business value of information and relationships entitled Cracking the Value Code and Value RX. He is also a regularly featured keynote speaker who has delivered speeches to audiences of 20,000+ globally.

Faulk is currently the CEO of Mzinga, and has more than 21 years of executive leadership and marketing experience at some of the world’s most notable high-tech companies, among them Cisco, WebEx, Intranets.com, PictureTel, Shiva Corporation, and Lotus. Early in his career, he also founded First Software, which grew to sales of more than $175 million in less than four years and was ranked on one of Inc. magazine's lists of fastest-growing companies in the United States.

Reviews

As featured on ABC News Now and Marketwatch Radio Network.  Also featured in The New York Post, Investors Business Daily, CNN.com, The Boston Globe, Globe & Mail, CIO Insight, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and many others.