Ahhhhhhh!

Sorry, but my blog is in danger of turning into a series of posts of lists! I hereby resolve to keep it to a minimum. The only problem with keeping it to a minimum is that is appears I got a number of hits on my blog concerning a recent post having to do with Lessons Learned, thanks to Jeff's KM Blog.

Still, while lists are good, and probably easy to digest (and concise), I feel I need to keep them to a minimum.

Meanwhile, I'm a bit disappointed with LinkedIn (Linked In). In an earlier blog, I was attempting to see how long it would take me to get to a business contact 4 degrees of separation from me to try to strike of a business arrangement (I actually attempted to reach 2 people through different channels), and after almost 2 weeks, no response...dead on the vine. I will try it again some time, but it is a tad disheartening. The project moves forward thanks to Jack Vinson who saw the post on my blog and introduced me to someone who seems to be up to the task.

So, I'll keep on posting....

Comments

[Jack Vinson]

Be patient with LinkedIn. I don't know that I would expect multiple degrees of separation to be useful in any world, virtual or physical. The best LinkedIn connections are the 2nd degree connections through people who can verify your existance as a good human being - and people who are actively using the service. Even those of us who have LOTS of connections don't have all our connections there.

[Konstantin Guericke]

LinkedIn definitely has not been an instant gratification network. Definitely, finding someone who your contacts know directly is key. The third degree works pretty well in terms of trust and speed, but the fourth degree is not that different from the sixth or eigth or tenth. This is why we are re-designing LinkedIn and also providing a new contact mechansim called InMail. I'm not sure if it's one that is right for this use case, but it would sure speed things up. One of the people making your introductions may be a European who is basking on the French riviera for a full four weeks . . .

[Jeff Oxenford]

Tom,

I'd be interested in any comments you received about the lessons learned. I've presented them at a few conferences and often hear good stories from people who relate. I'm glad you found them interesting enough to post.

Jeff