"As Bharat Anand shows in this eminently readable book, connections are now more important than content."--Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and To Sell Is Human Harvard Business School Professor of Strategy Bharat Anand presents an incisive new approach to digital transformation that favors fostering connectivity over focusing exclusively on content. Companies everywhere face two major challenges today: getting noticed and getting paid. To confront these obstacles, Bharat Anand examines a range of businesses around the world, from The New York Times to The Economist, from Chinese Internet giant Tencent to Scandinavian digital trailblazer Schibsted, and from talent management to the future of education. Drawing on these stories and on the latest research in economics, strategy, and marketing, this refreshingly engaging book reveals important lessons, smashes celebrated myths, and reorients strategy. Success for flourishing companies comes not from making the best content but from recognizing how content enables customers' connectivity; it comes not from protecting the value of content at all costs but from unearthing related opportunities close by; and it comes not from mimicking competitors' best practices but from seeing choices as part of a connected whole. Digital change means that everyone today can reach and interact with others directly: We are all in the content business. But that comes with risks that Bharat Anand teaches us how to recognize and navigate. Filled with conversations with key players and in-depth dispatches from the front lines of digital change, The Content Trap is an essential new playbook for navigating the turbulent waters in which we find ourselves.Advance praise for The Content Trap"As Bharat Anand shows in this eminently readable book, connections are now more important than content. His insights will bring you several steps closer to understanding the digital revolution and how you can avoid its many perils."--Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of Drive and To Sell Is Human"A very smart book--creators, ignore this at your peril. This revolution has been twenty years in the making, and Bharat Anand makes the past (and the future) a lot more clear."--Seth Godin, New York Times bestselling author of Meatball Sundae and Linchpin"Bharat Anand has written the rarest of books, one that combines deep strategic insight with great practical impact. The Content Trap is both a delight to read and the essential book for understanding today's digital revolution. In the process, Anand debunks the conventional wisdom time and time again; his insights are sharp, perceptive, and strikingly original."--David Garvin, C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School"'Content is king' may once have been true, but favoring content over connections will only get you dethroned today. In clear and compelling prose, Anand shows us how to lay the strategy groundwork to thrive in an increasingly connected world. Understanding the Content Trap is the true solution to your digital dilemma!"--Barry Nalebuff, Milton Steinbach Professor, Yale School of Management, co-author of Why Not? and Co-opetition, and co-founder of Honest TeaFrom the Hardcover edition.
