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I came across this new book, hot off the press, while in the USA recently. It was selling so quickly that the book store had to take the last copy out of the window for me. The book follows the trend first started in the 1980s when Tom Peters and Bob Waterman had the bright idea that the best way to learn about management is to follow the actions of managers in successful companies. Their book ‘In Search of Excellence’ sold a million copies and many authors have followed the same pattern since, as typified by the several authors who have tried to capture in print the magic of Apple’s Steve Jobs.
This book is a similar attempt, but directed at Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, whose story was captured in the film Social Network and who has become an icon of the emerging world of social media. The timing of the release of the book is perhaps unfortunate as we find that ‘Zuck’ - as the author calls him throughout - has recently had to apologise to those who bought shares when first offered to the public a year ago. Their value has gone down by a third and there are well publicised concerns about decline in market share.
But on the positive side, the guy has created a company which is worth 60 billion dollars so it would be churlish to suggest that we cannot learn from what he has created. We don’t have to like him – and if you believe the film there is not much to like – but we can still take lessons from his experiences. This is certainly the contention of the author though the sycophantic tone of the introduction does make one wonder whether the analysis has been sufficiently objective. The description of the amazing growth of Facebook in the first chapter is quite selective, with nothing about the disputes with the Winklevoss twins and the forcing out of his fellow founder Eduardo Saverin, stories that made such good drama in the film.
It becomes obvious early on that the author has not had any direct cooperation from Zuckerberg and his company but has instead tried, from afar, to conceptualise the essential ingredients of such dramatic success. The implied assumption is that there are lessons to learn that can be applied elsewhere by readers who follow the same principles, just as we should have done when we read books about Apple and Google. The alternative view – which is perhaps too negative – is that maybe these guys just had uniquely brilliant ideas at the right time and/or were just luckier than you and me!
Whatever reservations we may have about this type of book, it is worth examining what the author has come up with as Zuck's secrets of success. These are classified into five key elements, each of which provides the basis of one chapter. However, I began to have even more concerns about the book’s conceptual rigour when I saw that these five elements all begin with a 'P', just like the five principles of marketing. These are different ‘P’s which are shown below:
- Passion
- Purpose
- People
- Product
- Partnerships
On the positive side, each chapter does make some good points about successful management of a growing business but I never felt that these points are unique to Facebook; successful executives in almost any business would emphasise the importance of being passionate about the business, of having a purpose that makes a difference to the world, the need to hire great people and to ease out those who are not integrating with the culture.
These are the sort of messages that are delivered and which it is difficult to argue with. In some cases the book veers too much into clichés and statements of the blindingly obvious; 'Passion + Action = Results' was one unfortunate example; 'successful leaders are purpose driven' another. There were a few references to other major companies – with Apple getting most mentions – but the only other company discussed in detail is one called Zappos, apparently an example of good people management and a winning culture. I did like the framework they use to describe their culture but then found out that the company – an on-line shoe retailer which I had not heard of before – was sold to Amazon in 2009. I would have preferred to hear more about Amazon and how it integrates such corporate cultures with its own.
The chapter on Partnerships does contain some interesting points and focusses particularly on Zuckerberg's partnership with Sheryl Sandberg, his Chief Operating Officer. The author’s model of the need for 'Visionaries to combine with Builders' is an interesting one and follows much the same arguments that were used by Google's founders when they brought in Eric Schmidt to run the business at a crucial point in their growth cycle. But as I read about Zuckerberg's capacity for partnerships, my mind went back to the film and the treatment of his school-friend Saverin, the break-up of his relationship with Sean Parker. I know it was only a film but other books on Facebook have told the same stories; the author loses credibility by being too selective and not showing both sides of Zuckerberg’s management style.
But despite all these reservations it is an interesting read, with some good learning for those with limited experience of management thinking. But don’t think that the content – in particular the five P's – were necessarily the key drivers of Facebook's extraordinary success. They are just good management principles that we should all try to apply. But we might also need a brilliant idea at the right time – and an awful lot of luck – to create a $60 Billion company!
Buy the book
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