I am taking a week of vacation.  Today’s post is a Best of 2009 Post.  It celebrates some of the best content from the site based upon user feedback and analytics.  It was originally posted on this day.  I hope that you enjoy it!

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This post is a book review. It is a book that should have a great impact on a great number of fields including that of Information Technology.

Jeff Jarvis has produced a masterpiece of the Information Age that will live as a cornerstone in explaining the future of commerce and the relevance of the Internet forever. The book is What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis . It is a wonderful, conversationally written explanation of exactly what it is about the way that Google, the company, acts that makes it the most successful corporation in the Internet Age and the fastest growing company in history. 

The writing on this book is probably at about the eleventh grade academic level. It comes in print , audio , audible , and kindle versions. There are few illustrations and makes a very good listen or e-read. If you are lucky enough to listen to it, you will be treated to the author’s voice in presentation. What Would Google Do?

There were a number of fantastic parts about this book.  Jarvis will definitely have you walking around your workplace asking, “What Would Google Do?” after you read this.  I especially liked his explanation of the link-based economy from the lens of the success of Google and failure of Dell earlier this century.  This early section of the book is one of the best story-based explanations of this phenomenon that I have ever read.  Another strong part of the book is description of the value proposition of an information based company today.  He has a terrific explanation of why in the Industrial Age, the goal of a company was to charge the maximum price that the market would bear, but today, in the Information Age, that idea gets turned on its tail.  He suggests that today companies must charge the least that the network will permit to grow and survive without competition.  My most lasting memory of the book, though, will be his link between the simultaneous coming of the Information Age and the Age of Abundance born from an Age of Scarcity and Industrialization,  I truly enjoyed how he made all of these points, and many many more, from the perspective of asking why Google does what it does and how that is so fundamentally different from all organizations that have come before it.

The question that I pose for today’s thought is whether your organization functions more like Google as described in this book or more like the main stream media and dinosaurs of marketing that he profiles? To get you started, I recommend that you read Google’s corporate philosophy.  This is the same place the Jarvis starts his book.  Whether you read the book or not, this is a priceless read for Information Professionals.

What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis is a book that every Information Technology Professional needs to read. I give it my strongest recommendation. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for December 31, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin .

Photo Credit: Jeff Jarvis

Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.  Don’t forget that our Amazon Holiday Store is still open and a great way to support the site!

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