Barry Libert

Biography

Barry Libert is the founder and chairman of OpenMatters, a strategic advisor and investor in organizations that are based on social, mobile, and cloud technologies.

Libert has spent the last decade founding, investing in, and advising social software and analytics companies, including Mzinga (social software and analytics), Innocentive (open innovation), The Pulse Network (business and consumer video network), and MedNetworks (social analytics for healthcare). Together, these firms manage more than 15,000 online communities with nearly 50 million users for more than 350 public and private organizations. Libert has also advised the US Army, ESPN, Jet Blue, Us Against Alzheimer`s, The National Down Syndrome Research Institute, Babson College, and other leading organizations on their social, mobile, and cloud initiatives.

Libert is the author of five books and 14 e-books on social and open business models, transparency and authentic leadership, and governance. Previously, he held positions with McKinsey & Company, Arthur Andersen, and the John Hancock. He has published articles in Newsweek, Barron`s, The Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on CNN, CNBC, and NPR.

Libert received his BA from Tufts University and his MBA from Columbia University. His expertise is in business social media investing, strategy, and organizational design, including leadership and accountability. In addition, he is a regularly featured public speaker on the impact of these technologies on business models, governance, and economic results.

Publications

Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign

Barack Obama`s campaign didn`t just make history: it teaches lessons that every business can profit from. The Obama campaign was brilliantly planned, strategized, and executed, and built to drive home a powerful, consistent core value proposition: the proposition of change. Moreover, it had an extraordinary understanding of innovation, manifested by its extraordinary use of technology to achieve specific, quantifiable goals.

In "Barack, Inc.," Barry Libert and Rick Faulk present the Obama campaign as a business, identifying lessons any business leader can use to maximize performance. Libert and Faulk cover issues ranging from marketing to leadership, strategy to execution. They reveal how Obama`s team identified and honed a powerful core message, and applied it flexibly in response to changing circumstances without ever compromising core brand values. You`ll discover how Obama built a focused, "no-drama" organization that empowered local decision-makers without sacrificing nationwide consistency or discipline. Finally, the authors, executives at the world`s leading provider of business social networking services, show how Obama leveraged social networking at a scale unprecedented in the history of either politics or business.

From start to finish, "Barack, Inc." is actionable: packed with ready-to-use strategies and tactics that can help you succeed with any goal, in any marketplace.

Titles

The Future of Leadership is Social:
A truly new type of leader is emerging -- one who embraces change, attacks age-old challenges with bold new solutions, and recognizes that leadership is as much about listening and collaborating with people as it is about making hard decisions. The overwhelmingly positive response to this leadership style is also a reflection of our increasingly social world. In this world, we expect our leaders to be more socially conscious, connected and transparent if they want to gain our support and trust.

The Business Value of Social Technologies:
The Web 2.0 evolution has enabled companies to connect in transparent and impactful ways, achieving a greater competitive edge. In order to take full advantage of this movement, companies must embrace open dialogue and fully understand the implications of becoming a more "social" organization. The use of online communities is gaining rapid momentum and is proving to be a must for enterprises looking to engage, innovate and "disrupt."

More businesses are shifting power to employees in an effort to tap into the collective intelligence from many. For these forward-thinking companies, wisdom, insight, and decision-making no longer lie solely in the hands of the anointed few. By creating a new level of transparency and engagement, community extends the reach and impact of critical HR, marketing, and customer services processes, to facilitate idea sharing, innovation and brand recognition.

The Changing Face of Business:
Businesses today are faced with heightened challenges -- limited budgets, unknown brands and even stronger competition. The old way of doing things won`t enable us to overcome new hurdles, so businesses need to become agents of change if they want to survive and excel. Changing strategy is one thing, but truly changing the way businesses operate needs to start from the top down, as seen in our most recent Presidential election. People embraced change and that feeling is here to stay. Businesses now have to rise to the same occasion.