The Red Couch outlined

Robert Scoble and Shel Israel have outlined how they see The Red Couch, the book on blogging they are planning (see my recent post).

Highlight from the outline introductory segment:

The Red Couch argues blogging is changing everything and businesses choosing to ignore it, face the same fate as the blacksmith who ignored the automobile a century ago. It will explain why this is a good thing, for both business and its customers, prospects, partners—even their own employees and investors, offering numerous examples of how blogging brings them closer together. It will examine how blogging improves trust relationships, word-of-mouth networks, employee collaborations, distribution and response to company announcements, job search and recruiting and so much more.

And this:

The Red Couch looks at the fears expressed by executives—fear of a loss of centralized control, fear that antagonist will post unsavory comments and most-of-all fear of the transparency that is required to be credible in the Blogosphere, where the de facto rules are that you do things more out in the open than the SEC or GRAH governance would ever require. In the Blogosphere, you share ideas early and customers tell you, with remarkable candor, whether your concepts are considered brilliant or bone-headed. You allow critical comments to remain posted and will be wise to praise competitors when they deserve it. The result, the authors argue, will give practitioners a healthier, wealthier company with the kind of credibility you gain in simple conversations but can rarely attain via expensive advertising and PR campaigns.

If this is key to overall content focus, then this should be a very good book indeed. It will also be great seeing how this develops with two so very different (but extremely complementary - and complimentary!) people leading it.

Read the full outline on Shel's blog. Add your opinions.

(Additional note: Shel said he has registered the domain TheRedCouch.net where the project will be soon.)

Comments

[shel israel]

Thanks for the pointer, Nev. You are the first to pull quotes from the proposal and it gives me some sort of confirmation that we are articulating well. Those are the two key elements, and if we stray, please draw us to that fact (and these words). The challenge really is the Scoble-Israel relationship. We process differently. I think what will carry us, is our deep respect for eacah other.

[Neville Hobson]

Shel, this is so encouraging to hear. The intro outline, from which I pulled those quotes, means that The Red Couch is a book about business, not a book about blogs.

I look forward to participating (along with just about the whole blogosphere, I expect) as things develop.

Talk about a collaborative project!