The Power in a Link E-Book

Dave Gowel

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 258

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Make your LinkedIn account work for you and your business LinkedIn is not just another social media tool. It's the world's largest professional online network, with over 120 million users in over two hundred countries. The Power in a Link shows you how to employ this remarkable yet misunderstood resource to execute networking strategies and processes for your business, secure deals, and use (not abuse) your existing relationships. Author David Gowel, the man the Boston Globe has called the "LinkedIn Jedi," delivers the understanding necessary to map networks, stimulate word of mouth, and leverage unparalleled business intelligence to close deals. Arguing that LinkedIn is not social media at all, but instead belongs in a category all of its own, the book cuts through the noise in the crowded social media world with practical applications and explains why all professionals should embrace it in order to achieve success faster through relationships. This book: * Advises readers how to spur effective network growth by projecting the right message online * Demonstrates how to build and enhance readers' online presence * Shows readers how to seek targeted introductions to the connections that matter most * Explains why LinkedIn has been misunderstood and therefore misused by many users as well as how to correct past LinkedIn mistakes Partly conceptual, partly autobiographical, and partly technical, The Power in a Link includes success stories from Gowel and other professionals that demonstrate the effectiveness of his techniques.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Foreword by Roger Staubach

Preface

About the Author

Introduction

What You Can Expect to Find in The Power in a Link

What Has Kept the World Fast Asleep?

How I Ended Up Here, Writing This Book

Introduction Summary

Part 1: Why Wake Up?

Chapter 1: Engaging in the Social Capital Trade

Chapter 1 Summary

Chapter 2: LinkedIn-a-Nutshell

Untapped Resources

The Object of Our Affection

Chapter 2 Summary

Chapter 3: Social Network Analysis

Mapping Your Real Network

It's Not Just What You Know

Chapter 4: A Search That Is Truly Advanced

Chapter 4 Summary

Part 2: From Army Ranger to LinkedIn Jedi

Chapter 5: A Lesson in the Power of the Network

How I Got LinkedIn

For Those Seeking Jobs

Chapter 5 Summary

Chapter 6: Well-Connected Connections

Just Do It

Capital from Kurzina

Chapter 6 Summary

Chapter 7: When Recommendations Are Powerful

Some Interesting AdVentures

Recommendation FAQs

Chapter 7 Summary

Chapter 8: Make Better Introductions

Finally Seeing the Mountain View

Chapter 8 Summary

Chapter 9: In Like a Ranger, Out Like a Rockefeller

Working Out the Kinks in My Network

Chapter 9 Summary

Part 3: Getting Technical

Chapter 10: Disrupting Your Privacy and Security

A Disruptive Technology

Privacy and Security Best Practices

Chapter 10 Summary

Chapter 11: Projecting the Right Message

Profile Best Practices

Personal Profiles at a Collective Level

Chapter 11 Summary

Chapter 12: Effective Network Growth

To Accept or Not Accept

Network Growth Best Practices

Chapter 12 Summary

Chapter 13: Business Tools

In Search of Good Company

When to Link Out

Chapter 13 Summary

Chapter 14: The World at Your Fingertips

If You Give a Man a Fish

If You Tie a Fishing Rod to His Hand and Handcuff Him to a Boat

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

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Copyright © by David Gowel. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Gowel, Dave, 1980-

The power of a link: open doors, close deals, and change the way you do business using LinkedIn/Dave Gowel.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-13467-2 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-118-17594-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-17595-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-17596-5 (ebk)

1. LinkedIn (Electronic resource) 2. Business networks—Computer network resources. I. Title.

HD69.S8G69 2012

658.8 072—dc23

2011029145

To the woman who taught me the power of earning social capital through leading by example, seeking first to give, and then to receive. Mom, thank you for all that you've done and all that you are.

Foreword

I Have Made several significant career changes in my life, including the transition from being a civilian to serving in the military; from the military to the NFL; and from the NFL to commercial real estate. Throughout these diverse careers, I've noticed a common trend relevant to any industry: exceptional relationships lead to exceptional success.

A naval officer is ineffective without his sailors executing tactically. A quarterback cannot score touchdowns without seamless teamwork between linemen who block and receivers who catch. And a broker does not close deals if he does not provide the best service to his clients. The success of these professional relationships is also influenced by the caliber of the players involved. To achieve more than mediocrity, one can hope to be surrounded by remarkable professionals who also perform beyond the call of duty. However, I've found that it is unwise to simply hope you will always join teams of remarkable performers who work well together to consistently achieve superior results. Such successful relationships require proactivity, a challenge that the best teams overcome together.

While building exceptional relationships or achieving peak performance once you find them, “hoping” is a common practice many professionals deploy. Dave Gowel has shown me that when used properly, LinkedIn allows professionals to replace hope with decisive action in this context. This tool lets people find key contacts in a mutually beneficial manner, making the resultant business relationships more productive.

I met Dave through his company's work with Jones Lang LaSalle, a firm for which I am currently the executive chairman for the Americas. At the time we met, I was interested in his military background and entrepreneurial spirit. I did not fully appreciate the value that social technologies would play in business. However, I've now learned how Dave's company, RockTech, is helping the world understand how these new technologies make relationship building and management more efficient than ever.

Some believe that our tech-savvy youth are becoming introverted as they spend more and more time interacting with their peers online. However, Dave shows us that the art of communicating and building relationships is now actually more effective than any methods my generation had the chance to use, thanks to these new technologies.

In this book, you will learn both the potential power that your current network already contains, as well as how to turn that power into tangible opportunities and warm introductions with the help of LinkedIn.

From one football player, corporate leader, military officer, entrepreneur, chairman, board member, and avid reader to another, this book is well worth the read.

—Roger StaubachNFL Hall of Fame Quarterback andExecutive Chairman, Americas,Jones Lang LaSalle

Preface

My story starts as a West Point cadet looking to serve my country, become an Army Ranger, see the world, and learn what it really means to be a leader. After leaving the military, I found myself on the unexpected path of watching a social media revolution explode in front of me while teaching on the subject of leadership as an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This allowed me to transition from a West Point graduate and Army Ranger serving in a tank platoon in Baghdad, to a young educator at a world-renowned academic institution, to the CEO of RockTech, a company I cofounded with Mark Rockefeller. All of this occurred in less than six years, in the worst economy of my life, and all before I turned 30. This confluence of learning from the brilliant young minds at Facebook's ground zero (I liaised with Harvard's faculty and administrators from my position at MIT to support the Harvard students participating in our courses), the intellectual curiosity surrounding this revolution at an academic powerhouse, and my entrepreneurial desire to start and lead a civilian enterprise have made me comfortable speaking authoritatively on the currency that made this new “power” possible: social capital.

Having reached my thirtieth birthday while finishing up this book, I don't purport to have decades of industry experience that allow me to sit atop a mountain in the lotus position, posing riddles to my visitors. However, it is because my professional life has been spent between the social media generation and corporate America's current leaders that I can see both perspectives on how each is using these new technologies—and see as well what each is lacking. The latter group struggles to understand why the former so readily shares so much information about themselves publicly and substitutes face-to-face interaction with texting or wall posts. The former group hasn't had as much opportunity to experience the powerful impact that a warm introduction or sage bit of social business intelligence can have on a business deal, career transition, or personal challenge.

Describing the past decade of my life as a whirlwind would be quite the understatement. Between the life-changing experiences of graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, earning my Ranger Tab, serving in Iraq, and cofounding and leading two civilian companies, I also orchestrated high-end events for multiple four-star generals in Europe, moved to Boston and grew my network from scratch, taught military leadership to students at MIT and six other schools, was accepted into a master's program at Harvard, and cofounded a successful marketing firm in a recession—all while being in awe of the little trooper my wife and I welcomed into the world in 2008.

Today, I am a CEO, an entrepreneur, and a leader who recognizes that I can achieve nothing without a talented, well-informed, and aligned team executing (and improving upon) my vision. I wrote The Power in a Link to help the world see what I've experienced by recognizing that LinkedIn, which so many consider a contact manager or res´ume´ site, is so much more than it appears. I'm a walking case study that demonstrates the professional power of this unparalleled business tool. LinkedIn's social map and its accompanying relationship-focused search capability will change business forever, whether you like it or not. In fact, it was my use of LinkedIn that put this book before you today. I used it to request a warm introduction to Anne Smith, a senior executive at one of the world's leading publishing houses of social media books through the following e-mail that I sent one evening to a client and friend:

To: Foote, Richard

Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 7:21 p.m.

Hi Richard: I was passed the name of Anne Smith today by my writer as your name popped up as being connected with Anne in LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/anneelizabethsmith). Do you know her well? As we consider if now is the right time to publish my book (given LinkedIn's upcoming IPO), I'd love to invite Anne to our office on the Rockefeller Family Floor at 30 Rock to seek her thoughts on how best we should proceed with my book. Any thoughts you have would be, as always, much appreciated.

—Dave

Because of the social capital I built with Richard, I received this helpful reply early the next morning:

From: Foote, Richard

Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011, 8:48 a.m.

I know her very well. It would not be an understatement to say she has been one of my best friends for almost 40 years (we went to college together). I'll be in the Boston office this afternoon. Send me a note as to when it would be a good time to speak and we can talk about how I can be helpful.

Due to the subsequent meetings this simple request stimulated, I received my contract from John Wiley & Sons to publish this book on April 18:a mere two months after I directly stimulated word of mouth using the knowledge I proactively and swiftly gained through LinkedIn.

About the Author

Dave Gowel is the CEO of RockTech, a board member of the East End House, and founding member of the Kendall Square Association. Dave graduated from West Point, taught at MIT as an assistant professor of military leadership, and served as a U.S. Army Ranger and Armor combat platoon leader in Iraq. Through his successes, Dave earned the title of “LinkedIn Jedi” in The Boston Globe.

In addition to the time Dave spends focused on LinkedIn and the platform RockTech has built to enable its adoption, he supports various nonprofit organizations in educational and military causes.

Dave lives with his wife, Julie, and son, Charlie, in Boston, Massachusetts.

You can find more at: www.linkedin.com/in/davidgowel.

Introduction

It's a strange feeling . . . being awake while everyone else is asleep.

Although you may not actually be nodding off as you read this, if you're like most of the world, you probably have not yet woken up to the real power of social technology—especially the professional networking site, LinkedIn. It's one thing to know that there's power in this forum; it's another entirely to be able to explain how you already use it successfully to close deals. We're going to help you achieve the latter. The core value proposition of LinkedIn to successful professionals is outlined in the sections that follow.