How Social Technologies Have Disrupted Organizations [CDO Guide to Social Business Preview]

How Social Technologies Have Disrupted Organizations is a quick overview of the business and social environment around commercial, government and nonprofit organizations that sets the context for using social business for digital transformation.

How Social Technologies Have Disrupted Organizations [CDO Guide to Social Business Preview][UPDATED] Social technologies are quickly changing the context around why people buy products and services. Leaders of organizations in business, government and nonprofit sectors harbor a false assumption that is becoming lethal in the digital social age: they assume that products and services have inherent value to customers and constituents. In fact, products and services represent costs to customers and revenue to producers and service providers.

Customers must use products or services to create outcomes that are personally or professionally meaningful. The use of the product or service is where the customer or constituent produces value. This is why they buy. “So what,” you might be thinking. In this post I’ll show how digital social technologies are weakening mediocre products and services and how organizations can use social business to strengthen their offerings. Read a more in-depth treatment in […]

Executive Career & Job Search Resources

adviceMy predictions from the 1990s and beyond about the disruption of “careers” and “work” have been coming true at an increasing pace, so here I’ll offer a quick retrospective of key trends as well as numerous how-to resources for using these disruptions to your advantage. Disruptions change the rules. Although most people don’t like “the rules” at times, we all take comfort in them because we have a clue about how to manage and get what we want. No one likes to feel clueless, but that’s how disruption causes most people to feel, so they try to avoid it. However, by facing the world head on and understanding the profound economic and social changes that are happening, you can see where the proverbial puck will be and skate there before most other people. Let’s go!

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Executive's Guide to Blogging

Three-Step Executive's Guide to BloggingThis Executive’s Guide to Blogging offers executives a pragmatic, conservative approach to blogging. For years, now, I have beseeched all the executives and “knowledge workers” I know (that’s thousands) to blog, so please consider this as part of that campaign—with benefits (because this is a how-to post). Here’s why: In the Knowledge Economy’s pervasive digital networks, you are invisible unless you come across people’s screens regularly. And, while you are invisible, your potential business partners are seeing people who do flit across their screens. If you aren’t there, you are in a bloody ocean that gets smaller every year. Don’t stay in, the water is not fine. Please understand that I’m stating this as a simple fact. I’m sure you’ve read books like The Long Tail, which describe how we are all publishers now, that is, those of us who decide to use the free tools at our disposal.

Blogging is 21st century thought leadership, which is table stakes in the Knowledge Economy. Your thoughts represent and “scale” you, so they help you to connect with people with whom […]

How to Create More Career Opportunity in 2012

Many employment or career-related discussions contain a feeling of gloom and doom, but I have noticed a paradoxical market development: that the unpredictable and volatile economy that affects all businesses and careers is actually driving more demand for expertise, but the demand doesn’t look the same to companies or workers. Here I’ll explain how this works, but even more important, I’ll give you some practical tips on using the market to your advantage (featuring social technologies).

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You Know Facebook Connect, but why not LinkedIn Connect?

You Know Facebook Connect but why not LinkedIn Connect?You Know Facebook Connect but why not LinkedIn Connect? discusses credentialing across websites in the Web 3.0 version of single signon.

Shannon Clark, on his Slow Brand blog, presents the idea of a LinkedIn Connect, which would enable users to authenticate and share certain approved information from their LinkedIn presence on third-party sites. He writes, “Why isn’t LinkedIn looking to be the Identity layer for not just a few applications running inside of LinkedIn or a very small handful of LinkedIn Partners, but instead to offer a strong, business focused identity layer for 1000?s of business applications across the Internet?” Great question that merited some cycles.

Here’s the post, with my thoughts below. A good thread with some technical discussion, but understandable for non-techies, too.

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LinkedIn Becomes an Enterprise 2.0 Syndication Machine with API

LinkedIn Platform: a groundbreaking new opportunity for enterprises and individual executives to leverage syndication to enhance collaboration and reduce data management costs: highlights of the platform and analysis […]

Job Search Tips for Disruptive Times

Job search in a disruptive environment, and how to use social networking to create the advantage […]

How to Manage Your LinkedIn Network Post-Employment or Consulting

How to manage your LinkedIn network when you leave an employer or consulting client: quick checklist […]

In Chicago: LinkedIn's Promise for Driving Global Relationships

Presenting Linkedin for Cross-border relationships and deals 18 February 2009 in Chicago, hosted by the Swedish-American Chambers of Commerce […]

2009 Vision & Strategy Papers Just Published

Take advantage of breaking Web 2.0 trends to manage risk and enhance rewards in 2009

2008_Predct2008 was a momentous year punctuated by rising economic uncertainty, Web 2.0 innovation in politics and increasing opportunity to create uncommon advantage in many industries. How much can volatility increase? We are on a merry-go-round that’s accelerating; it’s giddy and scary, depending on one’s point of view.

To celebrate and help you to seize the day, I have spent the past week on three articles that represent some of my most important writing of the year:

Web 2.0 Case Study: Obama’s Use of Social Media 2008 Year in Review: Social Media out of the Gate, in Full Run 2009 Predictions and Recommendations […]