Digital Leader: 5 Simple Keys to Success and Influence

The book “Digital Leader,” written by Erik Qualman was a life changing book. Not life changing in the sense that I will forever hold it near and dear, but groundbreaking in that it introduced a new way to look at the world around us, specifically how the digital world has impacted our lives. I found myself thinking to myself “wow these are such simple things that can actually improve the quality of my life.” His ideas about boosting productivity by reducing multitasking were the first ideas that made me reevaluate my habits. I am constantly multitasking, and although I already knew it was taking a toll on my ‘actual’ productivity, this book made me think about how much it was actually affecting me. The book also contains lots of statistics on digital use, as well as other interesting tid bits including how many year a person will spend waiting in line- 5. One quote that stuck out to me the most was, “once you accept the fact that you aren’t going to get everything done, then you can better address what should get done.”-@equalman. This quote is something I try to remind myself of often, especially when it comes to pleasing people. I have always been someone who tries to please everyone and ends up dividing my attention up so much that I don’t end up really pleasing anyone. Although this book really is about how to become a better digital leader, there is so much hidden life advice that could be applied to countless situations. Qualman also suggests adjusting one’s leadership skills to adapt to today’s digital world. He uses the acronym STAMP in order to better explain and lay out the steps to becoming a better digital leader. The ‘S’, Simple; success is the result of simplification and focus. “T”, True; be true to you passion. ‘A’, Act; nothing happens without action---take the first step. ‘M’, Map; goals and visions are needed to get where you want to be. Last but not least, ‘P’, People; success doesn’t happen alone. One of the examples he uses to show how STAMP can transform you is Forrest Gump. This may sound a bit strange, but Qualman uses Forest Gump to show that, “anyone can reach his or her dreams; success is truly a choice” (Qualman, 30). A key takeaway from STAMP and Gump is that, “life is uncertain, because of this uncertainty, much of our success depends on the understanding that while we cannot control life’s events, we are in absolute control of how we react to them” (Qualman, 30). Overall, I highly recommend Digital Leader to anyone who is looking to simplify their life and learn some great tips on transforming into the best digital leader and digital user that you can be. Qualman does an excellent job at making the book both easy to follow and interesting to read.

Club 52 - Paul's (Short) Review Of Digital LeaderErik Qualman's Socialnomics is one of the most important books I've ever read about the social web - if not about the Internet in general. When I found (through surfing) that he had a new book, I was thrilled.I'll admit I bought it without knowing anything other than the author and the title. I was surprised with what was inside.It's really not like anything traditional to the books about the Internet space. A more proper title (but one that wouldn't sell) would be something like "How To Be A Real Leader In This Digital/Social Age." With that said and done, my review:It's a book more along the lines of "How To Win Friends And Influence People" than it is anything that's come out in the last 50 years. That's actually a very good thing.The framework is "STAMP" - Simple / True / Act / Map / People. Here's my big take away from each.Simple - Life is complex, those that simplify it win.True - Being well rounded no longer works in a globally competitive world. I gotta niche.Act - I guy who starts as many things as me can't leverage the inertia I really need in this day/age.Act - Firm in destination - flexible in path.People - (via Malcolm Gladwell) - Customers desire, and are demanding, partnerships with companies.The "old" success literature is still very true if you make sure it adapts to a digital world. Erik did that in this book.Awesome.Bonus - Book contains the world's greatest vacation autoresponder that Il will be using on every vacation from this point on.One of my new years declarations was that I'd read a book every week. Join me on this journey? [...]

This book has changed my life and it was really simple. I have battled the e-mail war for several years and it just seems to get worse. I took the advice of this book, as simple as it is and it changed my life. The book says the average person sends and receives about 40 text messages per day and sends and receives about 140 email messages. I am right at the top of this average most days. I would get down to about 20 or so emails and before I knew it I'm can to 100 plus.The simple advise of this books is to number 1, take control of the technology or it will control you. I am the kind of person that if there is clutter I struggle and I have been working to clear away clutter in all aspects of my life. Number 2 is to cut off all alerts when it comes to email, fb, twitter, etc at least on the mobile device. Number 3 is to determine two 30 minute time periods in each day to respond to e-mail, handle it just once. It is either deleted, responded to with a brief response, or put in a read later file. I have done this for the past several days and I maintain an empty inbox. My stress level has gone down, it is amazing. By the way, the read later file is not that big but I have decided on my own to check it a couple times a week and if something has been there more than 10 days, it's obviously not very important, delete it.Awesome book, great read, kept my interest, couldn't put it down.

This is an excellent read. Erik provides a framework for living life in a digitally networked world. One in which our social and business circles are increasingly fusing. We leave behind us a permanent digital trail, both by what we may publish about ourselves online and what others may - creating opportunities to enrich our lives, greater transparency of our actions and new risks. Erik's framework once you grasp it is simple, comprising of a set of innate principles, values and approaches that successful leaders naturally use and apply. Erik discusses and places these in the reality and context of today's digitally connected world.