A friend recently sent me an invite to join LinkedIn. I almost just followed that with "a social networking site" to describe it in case you aren't familiar, except that it's not really for socializing; it's for business contacts. Thinking, heck, what's one more on top of Facebook, MySpace and Friendster, I got my page, filled out the resume-like q&a's and sent contact requests (like a friend request). An urban planning friend in Portland, Oregon, sent an e-mail back asking basically, why should I bother?
Um, wow. In my desire to be a part of the latest and greatest, I didn't ever really stop to think about that one. I'll admit I wasn't really planning to get any business out of LinkedIn, and I'm not looking for a job. Thinking that the site itself might provide me with its mantra, I checked out the "about us" page, and there it was: "LinkIn's simple philosophy: Relationships Matter."
Wow again!! This is EXACTLY what we tell people at our business etiquette seminars. In business, being nice might be seen by some as unnecessary to getting ahead. After all, don't nice guys finish last? Nope. In
business, your professional skills get you in the door, but it's your people skills that seal the deal.
One of the goals of our Emily Post business etiquette seminars is "to build better relationships. And here is LinkedIn expressing that same principle. With a network of connections (according to them, 12 million) who can stay in touch, put people in touch, and generally vouch for each other, it will be interesting to find out. And no matter what, I love that they highlight the importance of relationships in business.
Hey, my boss here at Google mentioned this to me as a great networkworking tool! I'll have to sign up
Posted by: Juliet | August 10, 2007 at 02:59 PM