"the cluetrain manifesto"
by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls & David Weinberger

Reviewed by Bob Boyles, Principal
Smarter Distribution

ISBN: 0-7382-0244-4

Today, in the year 2003, picking up "the cluetrain manifesto" is like picking up a jug of sour milk. It looks fine but one whiff and you know that it's time has passed.

Written during the heyday of the dot com bubble "the cluetrain manifesto" basically a tirade on how the internet is going to change the whole world and how the empowered people are going to revolutionize corporate management, etc.

"the cluetrain manifesto" is full of phrases like "Companies need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships."

In some ways reading this book is like looking at a snap shot of our attitudes during the dot com bubble. There was no stopping the internet and those stupid companies that got in the way were going to be bulldozed by the power of free information and a networked customer population. The trouble is, someone forgot to remember the basic rules of capitalism. Information may indeed want to be free, but the generation of profits still rules the day.

Some of the ideas in the book do ring true today. Such as:

• The more informed the consumer is the less ability to corporation has to manipulate opinion with advertising, etc.

• The hucksterism dished out by most corporate PR departments rings hollow with most consumers today.

• The internet has allowed individuals to communicate and create communities and express themselves in their own voice.

However, slogging through this book in this day and age is tiresome. Turns out the cluetrain has aged at internet speed.

About Bob Boyles and Smarter Distribution:

Bob Boyles started his strategic consulting business in 2001 and has focused on the change that technology is forcing in the supply chain and how independent distributors can not only respond to that change but also maximize the return they are seeing on their investment. Bob has spent a significant amount of time as an Installation Consultant for several of the big name software companies in the distribution market. Working with hundreds of distributors across the country on installing, upgrading and utilizing their software. Bob also worked as Corporate Systems Manager for one of the largest electrical wholesalers in the country. Bob is a graduate of Appalachian State University (BS - 1981) and University of North Carolina at Greensboro Graduate School of Business (MBA - 1985).

You may reach Bob Boyles at 972-304-1180 or through the website at www.smarterdistribution.com.

© Copyright 2003, Robert S Boyles Jr. All rights reserved. This article cannot be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part, without the express written permission of Robert S. Boyles, Jr.