Lethal Generosity: Contextual Technology & the Competitive Edge

By: Shel Israel

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Lethal Generosity: Contextual Technology & the Competitive Edge is the sequel to Age of Context: Mobile, Sensors, Data, and the Future of Privacy, a critically acclaimed and best-selling book co-authored by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble.

The previous book reported on the rapid convergence of five technology forces - mobile (and wearables), social media, the Internet of Things (IoT), location technologies, and data creating the promising - and the occasionally freaky sensation that our devices are starting to know us better than the closest people in our lives.

The story picks up two years later in Lethal Generosity, where the freakiness has faded and retailers and other public-facing companies are rapidly adopting these new technologies.

This time, instead of technologies converging with each other, these contextual forces are converging with humans in the form of Millennials, the first generation of digital natives. The book examines them as customers, employees, and competitors, and advices companies run by older cultures on how to adapt to this significant marketplace change.

The result of all this is that power has shifted from sellers and brand efforts to buyers who use social media to influence each other. Companies who ignore this shift do so at their peril. Companies who do adjust will flourish, the author argues.

Just what should brands and merchants do: Israel prescribes a policy of lethal generosity. By being kind to your customers at every touch point, you'll prevent any customer attempts to hijack them through traditional marketing.

©2015 Patrick Brewster Publishing (P)2015 Patrick Brewster Publishing

using technology to help your business thrive

An interesting treatise on how to use technology to gain and keep your customer with out acting like a used car salesman.

Fascinating look at Successful Biz Strategies

Shel Israel explores the concept of providing customer centric service vs. business centric service and how that works in today's world.

While the regular practices of business over the last 100 years have focused on how to make the most money by telling the customer what they need to buy...Lethal Generosity is about LISTENING to the consumer and providing them with the best possible solution. Even if that means sending them to another store to get a better deal. By doing that, you lose the initial sale, but gain a loyal customer who will champion your brand.

It was also interesting to hear about some of the technologies that businesses are implementing to make the shopping experience more customizable and helpful. It'll be interesting to see where this beacon tech will take us over the next few years.

Jeffrey Kafer did a great job narrating this book. I kept forgetting that he wasn't the actual writer because the stories sounded as if they were experiences he himself had.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com.

Uncritical tech cheerleading

Silicon Valley can do no wrong, and you, humble business owner, must jump in with both feet or you will be left behind. Is there an app for that? Then you better hitch your wagon to their star, because it's the only way you're going to survive.

The anecdotes in this book reek of survivorship bias. Only the winners are presented, and no thought is given to the unknown, uncounted competitors who crashed and burned (perhaps taking their overeager partners with them). I have to wonder what this book would have looked like if written in 1999. Would the author have spent a chapter extolling the virtues of Pets dot com like he does with the Tapingo app (an app I've never heard of, which has a 2.5 rating on Itunes)? This sort of tech prognostication seems to have about as much worth as the former QBs yapping on Sunday morning about who will win the day's games.

The narration was great, however.

I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com

Bringing Marketing into the 21st century

Shel Israel writes and coins the phrase Lethal Generosity which is meant to explain what companies are doing now to dominate their field and get the new generation (Millennials) to interact with brands. He talks a lot about the different brands that have succeeded and where other brands have failed.

I had never really considered listening to an business focused book on audio (I felt like the typical businessperson driving to and from work listening to an audiobook on how to be better at business). But I’m really glad that I did. Jeffrey Kafer provides the perfect “soundtrack” for this book. His calm and understanding tone allows for a breezy and quick listen to this short book. Kafer had the benefit of this book being written to be easily understood — which makes the audiobook version even more valuable. It reads like a fiction novel, but is a non-fiction book with lots of really great details in it. This was my second book from Kafer among a (now) growing list in my backlog. I’ll listen to pretty much anything he narrates now.

As a preface I must mention that I am a marketing guy. I work for myself and I am finishing my degree majoring in Marketing. I also usually hate being considered a Millennial. This book took some of the stigma away from the name Millennial and explained how to market to and employ this generation of people. Israel explains in detail how to work with Millennials the right way, and how to advertise to them.

If you have been out of the loop for a while and don’t understand what it means when someone says “Uberize” or the Uber of something — this book will help you understand that a bit more.

My favorite part is the real stories that Israel employs to make the points/topics incredibly easy to understand. This book would make a great “text” for a Marketing class–especially a new media marketing class (which sadly not many universities are making required yet). A quick read at 134 pages and a great audiobook performance by Jerffrey Kafer.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.