Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
Michael Hyatt
Thomas Nelson (2012)

How to “get noticed and win big in an increasingly noisy world”

Given the blizzards of messages we receive electronically and the cacophony of voices competing for attention, it is much more difficult now than ever before to create or increase demand for a product or service. Michael Hyatt offers what he characterizes as a “step-by-step guide” to getting noticed. He agrees with Shakespeare: “All the world’s a stage.” Therefore, whatever we wish to communicate must have both a stage and an attentive audience. Extending his metaphor, Hyatt explains, “This book is all about attracting that audience, turning on the brightest lights you can find, and building passionate loyalty so your audience stays with you through every line, every scene, every act. It’s not about ego or being the center of attention. It’s about having something of value to others and finding the most powerful way of getting that message to others who can benefit from it.”

What Hyatt proposes is a five-part process, with each Part consisting of specific action steps. This approach covers both the “what” and the “how” as he provides a combination of information, insights, and counsel. For example, “Part One: Start With WOW” has seven sequential action steps:

o  Create a compelling product [or service]
o  Bake in the WOW
o  Exceed market expectations
o  [Be aware and] beware of obstacles
o  Don’t settle for less than great
o  Give your product [or service] a memorable name
o  Wrap the WOW in style

Part One enables the reader to understand “how to create, name, and package a compelling product (the what). If you don’t have that right, nothing else matters.” Material in Parts Two-Five explain how to prepare to launch, build a home base, expand reach, and engage one’s “tribe.” Hyatt inserts dozens of checklists throughout the 60 brief but remarkably substantial chapters.

He concludes the book with an especially significant incident when he and his wife attended a Tony Robbins seminar and at one point, they and all others were invited to walk barefoot the length of one of twelve lanes of scorching hot (i.e. 1000º) coals, each lane about 20 feet long. That experience became “a powerful metaphor in our lives…What does this have to do with building a platform? Everything…Just like fire walking, the key is to start.”

Presumably Michael Hyatt agrees with me that it would be a fool’s errand for anyone to attempt to apply immediately everything they learn from his book. Also, I think that modifications must be made with regard to how relevant strategies and tactics are executed. Moreover, the nature and extent of the platform will vary from a presentation to one person such as the CEO of a prospective client to an audience of 1,500 at a major professional meeting. However, whatever the given circumstances, the basics remain the same and they are covered thoroughly and eloquently in this book.