Harvard Business Review

If you want to delve more into networking from a strategic perspective, this is a fascinating exploration of how information – and connections – flow based on the nature of those connections. The authors note, “networks deliver three unique advantages: private information, access to diverse skill sets, and power.” And from a career development perspective, they also often deliver job opportunities, knowledge shared among colleagues, and a highly effective way to showcase your professional persona. Read the article here…

The Guy Kawasaki Theory of Schmoozing version 1.0 was ad hoc: get to know the people that you need for a specific deal. It was short-term and focused.Version 2.0 is ad infinitum–maybe even ad nauseam. It’s taken me twenty years, but I’ve figured out that it’s much easier to make a sale, build partnerships, create joint ventures–you name it–with people that you already know than with people you just met. Read the 9 steps to becoming a great schmoozer at How To Change the World

Owners, CEOs and Directors don’t let your Account Managers, Inside Sales, Support, Accounting etc. be the only contact that your customers has with your company, be accessible and interested. It will do wonders for your relationship with your customers. At the Danish Business Summit 2006 in Atlanta, Charlotte Jorst owner of Skagen Designs, explained about how her and her husbands close connections with their customers had always been a major contributor to their success. Skagen Designs sells more than 2 million watches per year, and still today Charlotte gets behind the counter at the major retailer stores, to secure mind share and to network with the people who sells her designs.

Hank Paulson Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs did just that (reached out): “When I got back to the office in January, I called 60 CEOs in the first week to wish them happy New Year. I had never done that before, but it was great. I asked them about their business and their relationship with Goldman.”

Read the complete article at “How I Work” at CNNMoney.com

A very interesting take on how organizations can use social networking tools to advance their strategic goals. Good combination of strategy and tactics, of special interest to those looking to expand their value to (and role within) their organizations. This is a white paper written by one of the social networking software vendors, Cerado.

The paper addresses the following:

- What is social networking?
- Why does this matter? Isn’t “social networking” just for high school kids?
- How can my organization get closer to customers/members using social networking?
- Examples of how financial services firms, associations, and other organizations, large-and-small, are using social networking today.

Read the paper here…

Here are some good tips from Linkedin employees on how to improve your profile. Read the tips at the blog How To Change The World.

The Internet offers powerful tools to help you find the right people, connect with them, and close deals with them quickly and cost-effectively. In this book “The virtuel Handshake”, They’ll give you all the tools you need to use the new generation of “Web 2.0 technologies”: blogs, social network sites, virtual communities, and many more.

For a limited time you can download it for free here…

“Travel on business often enough and it’s bound to happen: You have to travel somewhere with your boss — or his boss or their bosses. Any of these people can affect your career, for the better or for the worse. There is no question that it can be a time of added stress, but it can also be an opportunity to improve your position in the company.” By Terry Riley posted on MSN

And for all you bosses, be aware, we are prepared. Read the complete article and 7 tips here

CNNMoney.com reports that a new study published in “The Journal of Labor Research says that drinkers earn 10 to 14 percent more than those who refrain from drinking…Those who drink socially, for example, may have an easier time finding a new job if they had made more business contacts, the authors claim, or they might strengthen relationships with co-workers or clients that could ultimately affect their salary.”

Ok, before you start a rampage of alcoholism, it might be worth considering why people that are successful drink more. Maybe due to their success they have a higher disposable income and therefore they can afford partying and going out more often, so…did the chicken come before the egg or.. Anyways it’s a good networking rule never to drink alone.

Read the complete article here

“You LOVE me, my ideas, and my business, and you can’t get enough. Yay!”

Have you ever attended a networking event where everybody and their mama’s pitching the “world’s next billion-dollar invention” to everybody else?

It’s a common theme among most networking functions:

“Let’s talk about me, me, me, me; that will totally excite others — and, certainly get the word out!”

Read the complete articel at trizoko™: biz journal a site with a no bulls# angle on doing business.

An article from Time Magazine states that “A study finds that Americans are getting lonelier” and concludes that it is unhealthy to get socially isolated.

On a positive note for all the members of DABGO the article also states “Well-connected people live longer, happier lives, even if they have to forgo a new Lexus to spend time with friends.”

Read the complete article at time.com