Barack Inc

  

Issue No. 130 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (March 10, 2009) features a hot-off-the-press book detailing how social networking helped Barack Obama capture the U.S. presidency—and what businesses can learn from his strategies. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). 2026 update! The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago opens on June 19, 2026.   Barack, Inc. is one of the books in the "250 Years of USA Books!" collection posted on John Pearson's Buckets Blog and his Pails in Comparison Blog. Corporate Social Dysfunction That’s right: corporate social dysfunction, or CSD. This week’s authors warn, “Following the Obama-inspired guidelines laid out in this chapter will almost certainly benefit your company, but only if you also strive to overcome a serious business problem we call CSD.” They elaborate on CSD in their chapter, “Be Social: Business Like Politics Is Extremely Personal. “After helping hundreds of leaders think about social technologies, we have found all too many are afflicted with CSD’s primary symptoms—egotism and a reluctance to relinquish control to their communities, be it customers, employees or partners.” Much will be written on the Obama campaign. This early book challenges the old wisdom that government must learn from business (dollar-a-year executives saving the country, etc.).  “What if it turns out that business has more to learn from politics than the other way around?” Yet with just four chapters and 142 pages (plus epilogue and sources), I was still looking for fresh insights after chapter two—and then: Wham! The book delivered. These two business experts/authors site Obama’s use of social technologies as having a “double-whammy effect”—turning “excited individuals into a nationwide crusade.” They add, “Obama capitalized on Internet technologies hardly imagined in the last presidential election—blogs, texting, cell-phone networks, and an entire coast-to-coast grassroots community (My.BarackObama.com). So what’s new?  You’ll have to read the delicious details in this primer on how companies and organizations can leverage social networking (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) to create and connect communities.  It includes fascinating examples from companies that have solved their CDS problems.  Someone on your team must read this, especially chapters three and four. To order from Amazon, click on the title for Barack, Inc. – Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign, by Barry Libert and Rick Faulk.   Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:  1) The authors say that “CSD also infects its victims with the false impression that business is not personal.” On a scale of one to five (five is high), how would you rate the community and personal relationships you have created among your customers, employees or partners? 2) How savvy are your senior team members and board members regarding social networking? Do they use Facebook, Twitter and other ways to connect and communicate? Counting $ and Sheep - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit One of the big ideas in the Budget Bucket, Chapter 15, in Mastering the Management Buckets, is to understand and communicate your cash flow plan. A pumpkin farmer has a very simple cash flow forecast: 11 months of expenses with one month of revenue. Other seasonal businesses are the same. Some churches experience a major drop in tithes and offerings during the summer months. Colleges and universities experience revenue spikes when tuition is due three or four times a year. Rescue missions often receive more donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons than at other times.  How do you get there? How do you eat an elephant? Take a bite at a time. If you’re not there yet, be sure that one of your Top-10 corporate goals for this fiscal year is to create cash reserves by year-end of X number of months, with a goal to be at X month’s reserve by X year. Sleep well! For more budget and financial resources, visit the Budget Bucket page of my website and check out the book recommendations and the template for your monthly financial reports cover page—plus an excellent booklet on nonprofit investment policies. MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon.  Visit the Board Bucket webpage, one of 20 buckets in Mastering the Management Buckets.

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