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Whether you should buy Anywhere: How global connectivity is revolutionizing the way we do business depends a lot on your experience and how much thinking you've done about all things digital and networked. I consider myself a person who's done a bit of both. Here's my situation.

In February, 1996, my first grandson, Theodore, was born. The Digital Age was just dawning.

So, rather than send a conventional birth announcement, I sent one via email. I asked friends all over the world to send me the newspaper from their town on the day Theodore was born.

I wound up with stack of newspapers that came up to my waist. Every continent was represented. A friend of mine was travelling on business and was in London when he got the news. He sent a copy of the Financial Times clearly stamped: "Do not remove from reading room."

That year I wrote an article on "Leadership for a Networked World." The next year Jeff Senne and I wrote Cyberpower for Business, which Inc. magazine called "a book every CEO should own."

Today I live a good part of my life online. And I read about and write about what's going on with technology and how technology, business, and human nature interact.

In short, I'm a citizen of the evolving digital world. If you're like me or if you like reading about technology trends and forecasts, give this book a pass. You probably already know most of what's in it and you'll be put off by the breathless "gee-whiz" prose.

But we're not the only kind of potential reader for Anywhere . Some of you are like my friend Jim.

Jim is the VP for sales of a specialty chemical company. He's got an engineering degree. He makes sure his Blackberry is within arm's reach at all times.

Jim uses technology, but he hasn't given the evolution of the Digital Age or its future much thought. He's been busy with other things, like helping his company grow and planning for its future.

When he told me that he'd read the book, I asked for his reaction. Here's what he told me.

Anywhere had a lot of things that Jim either didn't know or hadn't thought about. He picked up a lot of ideas that he wants to research. He liked the way the book sketched out how we got to where we are and suggested where we may be going.

Anywhere has several "quizzes" spread through the book. Jim thought he wouldn't like them, but he found them helpful.

He noted that most of the examples are either large companies or tech companies, so if you bend metal, mix chemicals or run a retail store, you're going to have to work to extract value. Even so, if you want an overview of what the connected world of the future might look like and ideas about how businesses will adapt, this should be a good book for you.

There's a third kind of possible reader who's different from me and from Jim. It may be you if you haven't really paid much attention to how things have been changing. It's certainly you, if you've been saying to yourself, "I really need to learn more about this digital revolution."

If you recognize yourself in that sketch, Anywhere is a great choice. It's well-written and it presents a knowledgeable view of how things may unfold that's as good a guess as anyone's.

No matter what kind of reader you are, there are some things you should be aware of. If they turn you off, this book is a bad choice for you.

This is an enthusiast's guide to the future. It's well written, but almost depressingly positive at times. Pesky issues like security, privacy, learning curves, and cross-border jurisdictional issues have no place here.

Nor do competing viewpoints. Because the book is a promotional piece for the Yankee Group, you won't find much here about what their competition thinks.

If you do decide to read this book, here's something to keep in mind. Peter Drucker said that there are only two things we know for sure about the future. The first is that it's unknowable. The second is that it will be different from today.

Additional Resources

The Yankee Group has a web site to support Anywhere . The site has a full annotated table of contents. You can download chapter 9: "How Anywhere Do You Need to Be?"

It's a nice site, but there's something missing. Despite all the discussion in the book about connections and how products will not ever be done and how customer comments will shape product developments, there's no place for comments on this site.

There is a section to "Interact with the Author" which includes the usual stuff. Follow the author on Twitter (http://twitter.com/emilynaglegreen) and you'll see that her Twitter activity so far is to flog her blog posts. But if you're a technophile or even techno-friendly like me, you'll find the blog posts deep, thoughtful and informed.
 

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.