The title of this book gets your attention. The subtitle hints at what Ms. Venneri, presently the chief marketing and communications officer at a telecom-based firm, and formerly with the Seattle Mariners, is really up to. She grabs your attention, then pays it off in a somewhat less raucous way, with the noun of the title ostensibly serving as an acronym that describes what it takes to get it done in today’s competitive environment:

• B: Brave enough to take risks
• A: Authentic enough to follow tried-and-true business practices
• L: Loud enough to attract serious attention
• L: Loving enough to care for your employees and customers
• S: Spunky enough to do things differently
• !: Inspired and excited enough to go and make things happen

It is also a term that relates to a promotion that she used at a trade show, where she distributed 10,000 balls to achieve some visibility. It worked. While she does use examples from a few companies, the man who founded the firm she works for, Who's Calling, gets a preponderance of coverage. Which may be a good thing for the company. But it leaves many other avenues unexplored.

Her fundamental message is encompassed in one line: "We've found that being aggressive, being loud, being different, and being a little wild make our marketing dollars go much father than if we played the game like traditional buttoned-down business executives." But her company is metrics-driven, so it isn't all about just bouncing higher and brighter than the suits, even though that may be more fun—if you have the guts to do it.—GSV 

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