Joel's Mutterings

Networking 201

You know the why (cause your going to get thirsty), the how (never eat alone), the where (face to face and in cyber space) and even the when (every chance you get). These are the basics of networking.

If developing a network is Networking 101 then Networking 201 is what to do with the network you have.

So here is a syllabus for Networking 201:

Always deliver more value then you get.
Top networkers are not in it just for what they can get out of it for themselves.

Keep current with the people in your network.
One must stay in contact more often then when they have occasions to need to access their network.

Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up
Don’t connect and not follow through. A good initial connection should lead to some follow-up.

Don’t take your connections for granted.
Treating your connections like a means to an end or as just one of many will break down rather then build up your value in their eyes.

Granting access to your network adds to your networking value, it does not devalue it.
Do not make the mistake of keeping score. This not about trading favors but rather about everyone doing the most they can for everyone.

Offer up aid even when it is not looked for or requested.
Members of your network should not need to ask for your aid. If you perceive a need you should offer any aid at you can.

Sometimes the answer is no and that is OK too.
Just because you feel someone could or should be of aid it is ok if they decline with good reason.

Don't Miss Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along

Ok so I stumbled upon this just by luck when I discovered Felicia Day’s twitter stream and her mention of the third and last installment of Dr. Horribles Sing-Along Blog which she was in.

This project, which seems to have been a “while on strike passion project,” is well worth seeing however you have just about 24 hours to see it all before the creators take it down.

So while the big rush this weekend might be to see Dark Knight (especially I hear at your local IMAX theatre), I think this is well worth 45 minutes of your time.

What is Social Media?

Wikipedia defines Social Media as “an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories, and understandings.”

Social in this context should not as Bronwyn O’Shea (a member of my ExecTec networking group) has pointed out before be confused with the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary definition: “marked by or passed in pleasant companionship with one’s friends or associates”. As clearly there is no or very little companionship (at least of the type that can be discussed in polite “HR approved” conversation) occurring online.

More specifically, I think they are trying to say that this media is “tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others of one’s kind.”

So what the heck does that really mean?

More importantly should we even bother to care or is this destined to be as relevant as my pet rock and mood ring?

It seems things are involving at a rapid pace and media, in this context, now includes many more sources of information then the traditional print, radio, film and television.

Online more and more forms of “cultivation, conveyance, or expression” are coming into being.

More importantly these new types of expression are truly hyper forms of expression which interact with other forms of conveyance and seem to almost cultivate on their own.

Change is happening and while I do not think the dust is anywhere near settled, I think that now is the time to put a toe in the water so that we as executives do not end up as technological sticks in the mud being laughed at as the next generation of technological elites march past us.

Face it by 2010 there will be more Millennials and GEN-Y-ers then Baby Boomers. With 96% of this up and coming generation already participating in “social media” and today wielding $350 billion per year worth of spending power, the fact that they spend an average 16 hours per week online is a sign post we should not ignore.

So where can we start?

I need not say that if you are not on Linkedin.com stop wasting time reading this and go sign up. I will wait till your done and come back.

Good now that is done, I will not be discussing Linkedin.

In order to be involved in social media it must be something you participate in. This is about the conversation and is not a passive experience. Social media is about interaction it takes theinternet, which has been till recently as much about one way broadcasting as network television was and is, to a new level.

In the past, we interacted with the internet, which is to say a bunch of static information. Now the aim is interact with each other through the internet. Not to use it as a way to avoid each other but as a way to engage and deepen ones connection.

There are the obvious sites like Facebook, Myspace and many others. But I think to get a true understanding of what is out there one needs to look to Friendfeed, Twitter and Plurk. Here on the cutting edge one can glimpse where things are going. One need not get sucked in and tank there GTD track record but to ignore the trend is to flirt with obsolescence.

If you wish to interact with me (besides the obvious first choice of coming to one of my ExecTec dinners) you can do so on Twitter or Friendfeed or BrightKite

Fascinating Technology

Robert Scoble blogged about this new service which is in beta this AM and I thought I would share with the few of you who are not among the 28,933 people who follow him on twitter or on friendfeed.

TinyEye is an image search engine.

Which is to say you upload a photo to it or point to an image URL and it will show you all the matches in its database (still small but growing).

They do this by creating a unique finger print for each image and then comparing those finger prints. If I heard correctly they plan to be able to do the same for video clips as well in the future.

Below are two sample searches off their website:

By the way you can follow me on twitter here or friendfeed here.

Mark Ordesky

Not that it should surprise anyone, as Ordesky is a rather unique last name given to the family courtesy of a clerk at Ellis Island with a unique view of spelling, Mark Ordesky of Lord of Rings fame is my older brother.

I am pleased to be aiding my brother in a right of passage as he launches his online presence. After nearly 20 years with New Line Cinema and countless movies and projects this week he launches a new phase in his life as an Independent Producer.

We have been busy setting Mark up online with a Linkedin Profile, Blog, Face Book Profile along side the more mundane exchange server and traditional (well less then traditional but the high tech part of it is transparent) phone services.

Mark has always told me in life there are friends and friendlies with the true difference that friends will be there for you when the big job is over.

I am helping Mark realize that staying connected with your true friends is more then a state of being and hence he needs a true online presence.

I look forward to seeing what he will create I have always been a fan of Mark’s creative endeavors even back in the day when he wrote his work on my TRS-80 Model 1 in my bedroom while I slept (waking me periodically for technical support).

Welcome to Marko 2.0!

courtfive:

After 20 years at New Line Cinema, the company has been downsized and folded into sibling studio Warner Bros. Court Five is the paddle tennis court on which I played happily as a child on Santa Monica Beach. Now I return to it as an independent producer to play again!

Me and my family at the beach!

Right People, Right Jobs

How do you know the job is right for you?

Are your potential job candidates the right people for the job?

Times are tough and lots of people are on the move which makes the issue of hiring the right people and being hired to the right job more critical then ever. However more then not we become gripped with desperate job seeker and desperate hiring manager syndrome.

How often have you hired the best candidate that you interviewed but really wished for a better candidate? Many have brought friends and family into jobs for the comfort factor but failed to seriously consider if those people were the right person for the job or company.

Management guru and best-selling author Jim Collins is quoted in this weeks Business Week as saying, “getting the right people is crucial to success?more important, even, than your strategy.”

Hiring is often about finding someone that fits the costume and not who will be the best clown. We create job descriptions (often ones that are left over from and custom made for the previous occupant of the job) and then we set about finding a person who will fit that need.

There are many factors to consider about a candidate and a job. Is there a cultural fit? I don’t care how desperate your are for the killer sales dude with the ability to close a deal with a smile and a handshake. If he is a cultural train wreck for your company then a train wreck is all you will have. You can not buy success and ones ability to craft the right team is critical.

In The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, Patrick Lencioni outlines his Four Disciplines of a Healthy Organization. All of the disciplines involve hiring the right people who fit the company and understand their role.

Least we think this is all about hiring right, landing the right company and the right job is as much the workers issue as is hiring for the companies. Desperate job seeker is the rule more then the exception. This affliction is not limited to the unemployed and out-placed either as it is just as easy to be tempted to move companies only to land where the grass is not only not greener but where you clearly are out of your element and worse off for the change.

Can you honestly say you know yourself well enough to judge if you would be a good fit in a specific company or cultural environment. When the last time you asked a perspective employer about more then pay, benefits and job responsibilities, let alone asking what is the management style of the hiring manager and CEO.

Hiring is never easy and finding a good job is beyond tough in the current environment.

If you could give your high school self advice upon graduation, what would it be?

juliaallison:

I’ve been asked to speak at a Manhattan high school’s commencement next week. Given that I remember little except that my own high school’s commencement speaker (a board member) was mind-numbingly boring and woefully off topic (classmates remind me that she spoke about death.

So … I’m asking you - if you could give your high school self advice upon graduation, what would it be?

Many a person says commencements are about beginnings however today you start the next step on a journey to a start. Will you be free to make your own choices, absolutely. Will there be great times ahead, to be sure. But with freedom comes the burdens of responsibility. No more can you slack off and know that someone else will cover you.

So this advice I pass to you as the best of wisdom from someone who has passed this way before.

A) Live life like everyday is precious. The next so many years may be the most care free and fun of your life.  Savor the day and walk through these days with your head held high and engaged in life.

B) Form friendships and know that some of these people will form the foundation of your life for years to come. Likewise enemies made from here on out may last a lifetime and they will reappear in the future when you least appreciate it.

C) Do not waste these years or the opportunities that they will present. Your future is out there for you to discover, enjoy life but do not party so hard that you miss the sign post pointing the way towards your bright future.

D) Make the best choices you can since from here on out your choices count and will make a difference in the future.

If nothing else, when all else fails think in terms of what you will say to your future self when you get there.

The Value of a Network

Someone to call when in doubt is great in a pinch, the ability to reach out and make something happen is salary enhancing to say the least, but knowing the right person at the right time is as our friends at American Express would say, priceless.

So what is the value of your network?

There are those who would say a network is only worth what it produces and others who are not sure if networking is worth the time involved. Some will pay lip service to the ideals of networking but still never find the time to network until they are dieing of thirst by the side of the unemployment highway.

Recently, Linkedin a well know if not always understood bastion of professional networking was valued as part of a round of funding at 1 billion dollars. With 23 million members one might argue that sets the value of each member at $43.48.

All mathematical fun aside, clearly one can not and should not put a price on ones network because each and every contact is of limitless value and the only real question is how to tap that value.

One of the questions I am asked most often is what one should do with Linkedin and other networking tools. It seems getting started is not hard but what to do once you have establish your network is anything but intuitive.

Here are some tips of what to do once you have established or re-established your network:

Spend some time every (day, week, month) keeping up with what is going on in the lives of the people in your network. In some cases this is done passively by reading their blogs, twitter posts, Facebook statuses or profiles on their social networking tool (Friendfeed is good for this) of choice. This allows you to stay current and interested in these people. I may not talk to my good friend William more then 5 or so times a year but I know what he is up to and when we do connect those connection are more meaningful cause I am not as out of touch with his life as I would otherwise.

Make the effort to stay in touch. If you keeping up with the lives of those in your network then finding excuses to stay in touch is not a big deal. Many day to day events are an excuse to reach out. Post a comment on their blog drop them a note to say you were thinking of them or share an article or link that you know to be meaningful or useful to them.

Connect your friends. Go out of your way to introduce those in your network to each other. I am always meeting people and introducing them to others who I think would appreciate, be able to aid or benefit from the other person. People like to meet people in similar or even allied fields of interest and you never know when fate will produce something great out of a not so chance meeting.

Review your network. Make sure you spend a little time browsing who is in your network. These are not baseball cards to be stored and not looked at for fear of devaluing them. No matter if you use a Rolodex ofbusiness cards or have more contacts in Linkedin then Ron Bates you need to review who you know so that you do not forget who you have met.

Be more willing to give then receive. Simply put if everyone asks and not one gives then it is a worthless network. However if everyone is willing to give what they can then the value of the network is limitless. What to you is a simple favor is priceless to someone and likewise that big need of your may be simply achieved by someone you know or is connected to someone you know. If you are know for what you do for others many more will be willing to help you achieve your goals. So spend sometime reaching out and helping others achieve their goals.

Do not stumble around in the dark. If you are using Linkedin or several other of the social networking tools you have the ability to know who you are dealing with. So take the time to look up those people you meet and if it so happens that you meet the cousin of a valuable member of your network make sure you point out the connection.

Get out and connect. It is not enough to connect over the internet. Having met a person once or twice they are much more likely to remember you and be willing to do something when the time comes. So get out and mingle with your network once in awhile (more then once a year). If you are staying currently with the people in your network you will never lack for opportunities to do this.

Feel free to keep up with me at: Twitter, FriendFeed, FaceBook, BrightKite (want an invite send me a note).

Getting Started

I would not say I know much about start-ups although I suppose I know much about getting started. My experiences is mainly in the nuts and bolts of starting up the operations of a business. Creation of bank accounts, telephone systems, HR issues, payroll, office space and the such. Most of my practical experience come from the creation of multiple production offices and companies.

There is of course a whole world of start-up experiences beyond these daily nuts and bolts issues.

Start-up’s have been much on my mind of late as I have been pondering what will now be next weeks ExecTec networking topic (if you are not already familiar with my networking efforts in LA I welcome you to learn more here).

Here is a part of the topic for this Tuesday’s dinner:

What does it take to start up a new idea? We all have ideas but few actually act on these ideas. There are many obstacles on the way to getting started and more then a few have fallen victim to the bigger issues of funding, intellectual property issues, prototyping, business planning and basic execution of an idea.

What are you in it for and are your partners in it for the same thing? Will your business be a life style business that allows you to gain income with little or no effort in the end or are you trying to create a cash flow business that will generate serious revenue? Do you wish to be rich or do you want to be master of your vision and company?

Is your idea compatible with VC funding or would you be better off with more traditional business funding?

What separates inspiration from conversion? Can you be sure your idea is worth the risk? What should be your first step? Is it even safe to talk about the idea?

Do you focus on the product, the funding or the sales?

Getting outside advice is critical the question is where to get quality advise without loosing your shirt or idea?

My dinner on Tuesday will be the first of a series of opportunities to join others in exploring the world of start-ups.

Amanda another ExecTec member will follow along on Thursday at her LA Agile & Scrum User Group discussing “How do you get a new idea off the ground?”

Andrew Warner is hosting his “Getting Your Startup Funded? Mixergy Forum the week after and if you did not catch his excellent interview with Dan Gould that he did in as a lead up to this event it is well worth a listen as well as some of the other materials he has posted on his blog.

Lots of good thoughts and lots of good opportunities to start getting connected!

Conflict is not bad

Heather Vescent in her blog brought up the issue of conflict and who found some clarity in Gallups Strengths Finder book which showed that one of her 5 key strength was “Command”. A strength that does not fear conflict but sees it for what it is.

I wanted to add my thoughts on Heather’s reconciling her relationship with conflict:

Many people confuse conflict with a lack of cooperation.

The concept of Fierce Conversations as a concept and as outline in the book by Susan Scott makes clear the value of not just agreeing for the sake of it.

Many people like meetings where they are managed to zero conflict. This is great for a cult but it really makes for a weak business. Diverse thought makes for a strong solution and a good manager evaluates all ideas not just those that are close to his/her world view.

I think when dealing with conflict it is always good to have some ground rules like dealing with problems and issues and not people. Just because someone prefers another path does not make them the problem.

Also being solution oriented and not problem oriented is always a better way to deal with conflict.

If people were more willing to approach conflict and engage in fierce conversations then we would get farther faster and with less pain.

Joe Mandese does not get social networking

I commented on Mr. Mandese’s blog post today where he clearly seems to miss the value proposition that Plaxo and other social networking tools represent.

 As social networking is a pasion of mine I responded as such to him. Feel free to find your way to his site and add your own thoughts or share them here.

Mr. Mandese,

Excuse the formality of this note but I see we do not know each other nor are we connected in anyway shape or form as far as I can tell (or perhaps we are but you clearly have no way to know).

I think you are missing the point. Plaxo and and other social networking sites such as Linkedin are valuable in and of themselves and not just as tools to be desired by an old media giant to help it in developing an open community. While I will agree with your assumed premise that the old media should be developing a more direct relationship with its consumers, I would say you the old school should be looking to expand your thoughts on the value of online social networking.

You come off like one of those executives who held out against email in favor of more traditional written communication. This is hardly worthy of an Editor-in-Chief who should be more of a thought leader then a technological stick in the mud.

Face it, the millions of professionals on Linkedin and the plethora of people socializing on Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, Tumblr and many other socially based web 2.0 sites can not all be wrong.

Networking is something you do for yourself and not for others. Today as Editor-in-Chief the world beats a path to your door but as my more notable brother (now that reference would mean more to you if you were part of a social network along with me but I assume given the unique nature of my last name you will get it none the less) there are friends and friendlies and the real difference is who you will be connected with when the chips are down and the job/title is not in play.

Simple put, when done correctly those in your online network are the people you are truly connected with. Perhaps you only really consider the few people you have connected with on Linkedin and Facebook as worthy of your connection but I somehow doubt it.

I would have respected you more if you had told those few advertising big shots that you were standing your ground and not playing into the system. It is as if you come off in a bad light for having pandered to what for them is a valuable tool.

To use your own words, the rules are changing and so are the times. I certainly hope you are wrong and that Mr. Roberts and Comcast see more in Plaxo then you do. Things are on the move and it is more important to ever to be connected both with one’s consumers if you are a media giant or with your network of valued connections if you are an executive in any business.

Now there are executives who to this day survive without email and without other technological tools and perhaps even flourish without them. However, they are the exception and to be sure one needs not look far or deep into their organizations before finding executives who do get these tools and do use them.

I will stand and defend your right to stay connected in the manner of your choosing, but I would argue that those who find a way to maximize their social connectivity using these new tools will win the day.

Joel Ordesky