Wikinomics and the importance of sharing

CP-tapscott

One of the most influential books I’ve read in my career is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott. You know those books where you can still remember just where you were, what you were doing and what you were feeling as you read them? Well, this one ranked up there for me and I think about it to this day.

Wikinomics is about breaking down barriers. It describes a new kind of economy where sharing knowledge and expertise and trusting that others will do the same for you is not just something you do with trusted colleagues, but is critical to even the largest, most successful enterprises. In light of trends like “brand journalism” and “content marketing” the idea of sharing expertise openly and transparently may sound almost quaint. But in 2006, it was new and I was rapt.

Having been baptized in Tapscott’s belief that sharing is a sound business practice, I’m thrilled to be joining the University of Richmond’s School of Professional and Continuing Studies as a part-time instructor with its Institute on Philanthropy. On January 25-31, I’ll work with marketing experts from across Richmond to present a curriculum on non-profit marketing.

The goal of the program is to arm non-profit leaders with essential tools for marketing their organization—strategy, excellent written content, a command of rich media, social/digital media and public relations. I’ll focus on media outreach. If you want to see how the media pros at The Hodges Partnership build media lists, connect with journalists, write press releases, distribute news and measure success, I’ll be covering all of the above in detail. And while my expertise certainly doesn’t rise to the level or value of the business acumen detailed in Wikinomics (sorry, no gold mines here) I will take some pride in sharing openly and freely what I know and what I’ve learned through more than a decade of slogging it out on the front lines of PR. 

I think Tapscott would approve.

(Photo: Caroline with Don Tapscott at the 2014 Niagara Summit in Las Vegas. Don was as keynote speaker and Caroline presented on social strategy.)

Caroline L. Platt

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