Breaking Out: How to Build Influence in a World of Competing Ideas

by John Butman

How do you gain influence for an idea?

In Breaking Out , idea developer and adviser John Butman shows how the methods of today’s most popular “idea entrepreneurs”—including dog psychologist Cesar Millan, French lifestyle guru Mireille Guiliano ( French Women Don’t Get Fat ), TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, and many others—can help you take an idea public and build influence for it.

It isn’t easy. Butman argues that the rise of the “ideaplex” (TED, Twitter, NPR, YouTube, online learning, and all the rest) has caused such an explosion in the creation and sharing of ideas that it has become much easier to go public—yet much harder to gain influence. But it can be done.

Based on his own experience in advising content experts worldwide, Butman shows how the idea entrepreneur breaks out—by combining personal narrative with rich content, creating many forms of expression (from books to live events), developing real-world practices, and creating “respiration” around the idea such that other people can breathe it in and make it their own. The resulting idea platform can reach many different audience groups and continue to build influence for many years and even decades.

If you have an idea and want to make a difference in your organization, build a change movement in your community, or improve the world in some way—this book will get you started on the journey to idea entrepreneurship.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Audiobook

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a while to figure out where this fit. I had recently read Michael Hyatt's book "Platform", and I think that "Breaking Out" is a good wrapper for "Platform". In the Hyatt book, the focus is on using social media to spread your message. "Breaking Out" has content on coming up with the message on the front end of the process, and expanding the "platform" to include speaking engagements, books, and other forms of getting the message out, beyond social media. The examples were different than I've seen in other places -- I appreciated tying in Ben Franklin and especially Ralph Waldo Emerson's use of the speaking circuit to get his messages across and to make a living. (Mark Twain's autobiographies are also good examples of this.) I didn't find as much of a call to action as I had hoped, though. This seemed to be more descriptive, but interesting.

[Frederico Carvalho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Li recebemente o "Breaking Out", do autor americano John Butman l, sobre empreendedorismo de ideias e influência.

O livro é um "how-to" com alguns métodos dos empreendedores de ideias, incluindo o psicólogo de cães Cesar Millan, a estruturas organizacionais como o TED, Twitter, YouTube, na forma como organizam e constroem uma ideia pública criando influência para ter escala.

O livro tem o contributo de 9 especialistas no conteúdo, que partilham o enquadramento de como o empresário da ideia se desdobra ao combinar uma narrativa pessoal com conteúdo rico, criando muitas formas de expressão.

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#livro #leitura #book #instabook #livros #marketing #influencia #marketingpessoal.

[Dave Irwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, while hitting some of the "success guru" paint by numbers points, for instance mentioning Tom's Shoes, is still worth a read. I found it to be well written and easy to digest. The meta analysis of writing a book on the "ideaplex" as the author so eloquently puts it is something for a seater person than me to take on. I find it fascinating that John Butman questions why others would want to write book about an idea but does not really provide his own motivations for the same to be a little off putting but not so much that I would not recommend the book itself.

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about influence especially using modern day social media venues such as the internet and all its iterations to build a following. Most of the premise is illustrated by actual examples of those who have marketed their ideas - from Benjamin Franklin and Thoreau to modern equivalents (the dog whisperer and French women don't get fat author). These folks have built a body of knowledge and in turn built influence for their idea.

[Robin Tierney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting case studies of individuals who've pursued, as the TED Talks slogan goes, ideas that matter. Finding what fascinates you, distilling it into an idea, building a framework to convey practices related to the idea, expressing it in various ways/media, and influencing others.

[Grady Lawlor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The structure John presents is a slightly different approach than I've heard others in this field speak of. I did feel at times this could have been an essay/assigned homework that was being presented at the front of class. Aside from this, the practical reasoning behind Breaking Out seems solid and will be a worthwhile read for anyone trying to go public to gain longterm traction for their ideas.

[Alberto Lopez · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author is grasping straws. Clearly, Mr. Butman has reached the point of diminishing returns after authoring book after book. He peddles his coining of the phrase "Idea Entrepreneur" as if it was some sort of revelation or as if the world really cared. That for centuries people have been trying to be entrepreneurial when promoting their ideas disproves that it is a novel practice, no matter how cool the name we give it is. Furthermore, this fact raises the question of whether it is important at all to call it something if no one called it anything all this time. My answer is NO. Naming it does not any value to the practice. In certain industries, the use of technical terms is essential to the clear understanding of the subject matter. In this case, his efforts to create a technical descriptor have resulted in a total miss. As the book evolves, it painfully develops and stretches ideas far their fracture threshold. While grandiose sounding, you will do best by skipping this essay.

[Glenn Mar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book may surprise based on its self-assessed category (Management) and publisher (Harvard Business Review Press). To me the correct category would be "media" I suppose?
As per the title the author promotes his views on how to build influence. He does this by using the examples of a hand full of people who have successfully "influenced" - 'idea entrepreneurs' in Butman's lingo. Butman's day job as an advisor to would-be influencers gives him credibility.
Butman's use of historical precedents particularly Henry David Thoreau and also Ralph Waldo Emerson (who have a strong link to the author's hometown Concord, Massachusetts) are a feature of the book that I found particularly interesting (maybe because I don't have a liberal arts in my educational background).
Surprisingly the main link between the successful ideas people that were interviewed for the book is that they are motivated by a greater good, with some mentioning Gandhi as their inspriration for example, even though some are doing very well thank you as far as generating wealth by successfully promoting their ideas.
Also surprisingly for a book on this subject published in 2013, the author writes that publishing a book is still the most effective way that successful influencers achieve the most effective form of influence.
Worth a read, especially if you are interested in ideas and ideas about ideas...

[Richard Gombert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. This was a good overview of the "breaking out" process with a look at what is common between them. Focuses primarily on the last 20 years with some look back to 100-200 years. Rally this could be propagated back even further.
This book tries to create a "process" that someone could follow to break out into the ideaplex. I think that is overly optimistic. While there common aspects to ideas that do break out, I do not think someone could apply a formula up front.
However this can be used as framework that one could follow to see if their idea would merit advancement.

[Mimi Bear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent perspective of giving a voice to our purpose..be it skill, talent or obsession. I was very happy that he wasn't self promoting himself and his business. Sometimes authors do this and it's such a turnoff.
I am reading the books he talks about and it is even more enriching to do so. He delighted me with their voice and as I read them myself it's wonderful!
There needed to be a few more how to's however. How does one start to put that perspective down on paper?
Enjoyed it very much.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for work-related reasons, and so approached this with trying to get through it quickly and then was surprised to find that it was meatier and more interesting than I wanted it to be for a quick skim!

[Tai Odunsi · Rating 2 out of 5]

few if any insight here; obvious hindsights that read like a collage of wiki entries

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. Butman seems like a good writer and he seems passionate about what he calls the ideaplex , but I don't think this book lives up to the title.