The Impact Equation: Are You Making Things Happen or Just Making Noise? [Hardcover]

Chris and Julien are becoming the Dynamic Duo for all things entrepreneur and media. What I found most refreshing about The Impact Equation is that they don't hide behind any bs, something that's all too common out there in the marketing/entrepreneurship/media space. These guys haven't just conjured this stuff up out of thin air, with one eye on the cash rolling in and the other on how clever they appear to everyone else, they've actually been living and breathing this stuff. They do it consistently and authentically.

They've tried things out and screwed up as much as they've succeeded (or perhaps more) and don't shy away from that; they've used it all to inform what they've put into this title.

What I also love is how they openly criticize (constructively) their last book, "Trust Agents", saying that it didn't go deep enough and wasn't as actionable as they'd have liked it to be. Not only have they addressed that here by making sure there's real depth, insights and a liberal scattering of action points (which, for my money, is where the gold is), but it requires an openness and honesty that's present right through the book.

The book's content is rich, covering a heap of topics within the structure they've laid out: CREATE - Contrast, Reach, Exposure, Articulation, Trust, Echo. I may have rolled my eyes a little when I saw the acronym they'd coined, but you know what? It kinda fits.

I suspect they could easily have written a separate book for each of the elements within the CREATE model, but that would have left gaping holes in the completeness of the information they wanted to offer. And it seems pretty clear to me that establishing concrete value is something that was the most important thing to them in writing this - something I think they've achieved.

At first I groaned. There was a natty acronym with a "formula" attached to it. The formula was C(R+E+A+T+E). Personally I would have added an L and made it TREACLE, but there you go. In fact Chris and Julien are taking their own medicine, and "giving their idea handles". I could be sniffy about it, but I bet it works.

The formula is a series of ingredients that when combined are designed to help you connect to more people, more effectively. As a series of things to do, there's a mix of inspiring calls to action, practical tips for getting better at stuff, and general principles that will affect the way you work. It's a big toolkit held together by the formula. Whether it's too much stuff or manages to keep itself on the rails is a challenge that so far they seem to be managing.

As an ambitious book, it doesn't feel too big. I'm reading it half way through Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (also recommended) which gives me a peculiar slant on everything I read at the moment, as I constantly look for my own biases and try to correct them. It's chock full of stuff, rattles on at a giddy pace, has a style that feels warm and generous without getting too slushy, and has a big idea that it really wants to share with people. The authors have both done great things with this knowledge, and you feel that they genuinely want to make their approach available to all.

Blessedly short on social media mumbo jumbo, long on purpose, direction and useful tips. I think most people will take a lot away from this book, and I suggest you give it a whirl. The proof of the pudding will be the impact it has on what I do next...

Thanks Chris and Julien, looking forward to pressing on.

Those who have already read Chris Brogan and Julien Smith's previously published book, Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust (Wiley 2010) may recall their citing of David Maister's concept of a success equation in his book, The Trusted Advisor. The formula for high-impact business success (I = C x R + E + A + T + E) to which the title of this review refers is explained in the first chapter. The nature and extent of Impact are determined by the nature and extent of six additional components:

Contrast: Is your idea significantly better?
Reach: How well-connected are you?
Exposure: How often do you connect and interact with those in your audience?
Articulation: Is your idea both clear and compelling?
Trust: Do people believe - and believe in - you?
Echo: How well does your idea resonate with your audience?

Brogan and Smith observe, "By working on each part of the equation, one at a time, you will begin to see what you're doing right, doing wring, or nit doing at all. You will see where your strengths are and why your ideas are spreading, or why they aren't spreading as much as you'd like. You'll understand what you need to work on, and you may even be able to prevent your mistakes. Thus last part is the one that's vital." I agree.

They are world-class pragmatists who possess an insatiable curiosity to understand what works, what doesn't, and why, then share what they have learned with as many people as possible. They devote a separate chapter to each of the seven, devoting most of their attention to HOW to achieve and then sustain high-impact business success. I commend Brogan and Smith on their skillful use of various reader-friendly devices that include checklists, bullet-point reviews, and dozens of boxed insertions of interactive initiatives such as these in the first three chapters: "Rating Each Attribute for Yourself," "Action: Get Your Game Face On," "Tying Emotion to Ideas," "Contrast: How to Improve," and "Impact Example: Skylanders from Activision." These devices will facilitate, indeed accelerate frequent review of key material later.

These are among the dozens of passages that caught my eye, also listed to suggest the scope of their coverage:

o Impact = C x (R-E-A-T-E, and, Why the Impact Equation Matters (Pages 10-16)
o The Attention War (25-29)
o Build Before the Need (42-47)
o An Ecosystem of Ideas, How to Recognize Bad Ideas, and, Obvious but Somehow Not Obvious Bad Ideas (60-68)
o Method #2: Have More Ideas (74-77)
o Too Many Ideas (107-109)
o Discovering the Core Message: Three Methods (122-126)
o Why Platform Is Essential to Audience Capture (146-148)
o The Fallacy of Needing a Vast Platform (169-171)
o Three Very Different Interactions (200-203)
o Basic Human Behaviors (209-212)
o How to Become Credible, and, How to Become Reliable (215-218)
o The Benefits of Human Sacrifice (229-230)
o Ways to Untangle (253-254)

On Page 197, Brogan and Smith observe, "We hope the concepts in this book help you develop the channel you have always wanted -- one that helps spread a message that matters and helps everyone reach the audience they know they can speak to. Once you have these tools and have mastered them, the next step is to pass them on, to give someone else the ability to leave an imprint. So give this book to someone. It may help them a lot."

I realize that no brief commentary such as mine can do full justice to the material that Chris Brogan and Julien Smith provide in this volume but I hope that I have at least suggested why I think so highly of it. Also, I hope that those who read this commentary will be better prepared to determine whether or not they wish to read the book and, in that event, will have at least some idea of how to master and then apply the formula for high-impact business success.