An introduction to the Business book club @ The Foundry and an overview of Contagious - How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age by Jonah Berger. with thanks to 33voices.com

1. CO-LEARNING LAB
(BUSINESS BOOK CLUB)
@ THE FOUNDRY
Ed Curley
1

2. Objectives
Build a sustainable social learning environment
and culture
Support the creation of a strong collaborative
culture
To learn! to grow! to share!
2

3. Business
as a
learning
community
3

4. Share & Learn
5

5. If you want to teach people a new way
of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach
them. Instead give them a tool the use
of which will lead to new ways of
thinking – Buckminster Fuller
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6. We need to be able to hold spaces for honest, authentic and
positive conversations …… This got me thinking about how to
create and hold ‘spaces’ or ‘opportunities’, where people feel free
to share ideas, opinions and knowledge in a spirit of collective
learning and development…… That they can contribute to
whatever the topic and that their contribution will be listened to and
respected….. and that we all come away having learned
something, and a little bit more enriched from having participated in
the process…..
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7. How does it Work
& does it =
Value?
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8. Themes
identified by
participants
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9. Books identified
that best fit
learning themes
10

10. Source book/s,
through library or
purchase
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11. We meet to discuss
key learning points
and how we will
apply them
12

12. Agree and commit to Key
Actions Plan –
Keep a learning log
Agee (where appropriate) to
feed back to the group on
progress against key actions
13

13. Meetings
schedule
agreed –
usually monthly
14

14. Consider
What are the key learning points from this book?
 What have I learned that is Important for me?
 What’s working?
 What’s not working?
 What do I need to know more about?
How would I apply the key learning points to my
business and or job?
How would I measure successful implementation of
the key learning points?
What questions have I that others might be able to
help me with?
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15. “What will you
we do with
what you we
have
learned?”
16

16. “in front of the new complexity of business, the only
solution is the interplay, how the parts work together.
The connections, the interactions, the
synapses. It is not the skeleton of boxes, it is the
nervous system of adaptiveness and
intelligence. you could call it cooperation.
Whenever people cooperate, they use less
resources”
Yves Morieux
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17. 18

18. Knowledge emerges
in response to
compelling questions
Powerful questions help attract
collective energy, insight and action
as they move throughout a system
World Cafe
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19. Generative
Capacity
Capacity to challenge
guiding assumptions …, to raise
fundamental questions regarding
that which is
'taken for granted' and thereby
furnish new alternatives for action
20

20. Dialogue
Comes from the Greek words dia
and logos. Dia means 'through';
logos translates to 'word' or
'meaning'. In essence,
a dialogue is a flow of
Meaning…
21

21. Create a Learning Log
22

22. Jonah Berger
Assistant Professor of Marketing
at the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania
His work has been featured in The New
York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The
Washington Post, Science, Harvard
Business Review, Wired, BusinessWeek,
and Fast Company
23

23. word-of-mouth generates more than
twice the sales of paid advertising
and is
the primary factor behind
20-50% of all purchasing
decisions… 24

24. “Harnessing the power of word of
mouth online or offline, requires
understanding why people talk and
why some things get talked about
and shared more than others. The
psychology of sharing. The science
of social transmission…
25

25. What % of word
of mouth
happens on line?
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26. Only 7% of word
of mouth
happens on line…
Research from Keller Fay Group
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27. We tend to overestimate online word of
mouth because it’s easier to see……
But we don’t think as much about all the
offline conversations we had over that
same time period because we can’t
easily see them…
28

28. Virality is made:
Virality isn’t born, it’s made.
Regardless of how plain or boring a
product or idea may seem,
there are ways to make it
contagious…
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29. Word of mouth is not
random or luck,
it becomes a science
when you understand
the ‘Why’
30

30. Impact marketing is
about advocacy –
when your customers
become the conduit for
your message,
you’re having impact
31

31. Leverage word of mouth
advocacy by following
these 6 STEPPS:
1. Social Currency
2. Triggers
3. Emotions
4. Public
5. Practical Value
6. Stories 32

32. be
remarkable
We like to talk about
things that
enhance our self-esteem
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33. Remarkable things provide
social currency because
they make the people who
talk about them seem,
well,… more remarkable!
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34. a ball of glass will
bounce higher
than a ball of
rubber
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35. A strong Trigger can be
much more effective than
a catchy slogan –
what does your brand
trigger?
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36. Top of mind
means
tip of tongue
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37. A professional business environment
8 minutes from the Airport
e.g.
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38. We tend to share content
that provokes more positive
emotion –
when we care,
we share
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39. For something to be
shareable,
it has to be relevant –
to have a
practical value
40

40. Value Proposition
“A believable collection of the most persuasive
reasons people should take the action you’re asking
for. It is a promise of the value you will deliver.
what problems do you solve, what situations do you
improve (relevancy), what specific benefits do you
deliver (quantified value)? tells people why they
should buy from you and not from the competition
(unique differentiation)”…
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41. 42

42. Stories
43

43. Wrap it in a story –
Stories Stick
Stories carry things
Make sense of the world
Easy to remember
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44. Stories are trustworthy –
make it more
believable by
making it personal
45

45. 46

46. It’s the
message,
not the messenger that makes your
brand shareable
47

47. Where might
this book
take you?
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48. 49

49. 50

50. The quality of your life is determined by the
quality of your relationships. The quality of
your business is no different…
Harvey Mackay, businessman and author
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