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I was elated to receive this email – LinkedIn has finally realized that they have the promise and the potential to become a social networking platform, and not simply a “hand-shake” website!

But it didn’t take long to start receiving less than stellar news from each of the apps I tried, which made me ask: do these guys really understand what it takes to succeed in the application arena?

1. It has to work!  Don’t put half-baked stuff up there!
2. Web 2.0 is about self-service – what’s next when it doesn’t work?
3. I’m assuming you get the 1-9-90 phenomenon, so what are you doing to engage big advocates like me to test this stuff before your mass release?
4. Do you have the support infrastructure to support it?
5. You’ll get one chance to create an exceptional experience and unfortunately, today wasn’t it!

I know there are really bright, hard working developers at LinkedIn and each of the respective partner companies, and I commend all of them for extending their reach.

What do you think about LinkedIn Applications?

In an economically turbulent time, does fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about “the other guy” work?  It seems to be effective in our political process.  How about in the business community?  I often wonder what effect this approach may have on both the short-term Relationship Currency® with that brand and in the longer-run, what about the organization’s Reputation Capital®?

Here is the latest FedEx campaign on the “published reports about DHL’s reduced capabilities…”

What do you think?

Today, Thursday, October 16, 2008, is National Boss Day.  As I thought through the significance of the day, I reflected on the state of our current workforce. We all know and understand there is a continued increase in the unemployment rate of US workers, and I believe that if people within America’s organizations turned inward for improvement on relationships, they may find more productivity and in the long run a reason to maintain current workforce levels.

This prompted me to create and share with you a systematic approach to implementing five fundamentals that nurture more effective relationships within any organization:

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There are three types of relationships:

• Personal – These are your friends (golf buddies, neighbors, parents at kid’s school, etc.); they like your warts and all and you choose them, making them rather safe.
• Functional – These are people you work with to perform your job or realm of responsibilities.  You build relationships with them, often because you have to (colleagues, customers, suppliers, etc.). You don’t necessarily choose all of them, but because of the context of your relationship, likewise they feel fairly safe.

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Increasingly, I find myself working on various speaking, training and consulting engagements in Canada. During a recent dialogue with some colleagues and clients there, I asked about the health of their economy. One of the most interesting responses I heard was, “Unlike in the U.S., our media is not trying to drive us into a recession.”

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By Neal Gorenflo & David Nour

Many B2B sales organizations create separate roles for winning new accounts (hunting) and winning additional business from existing accounts (farming).  This can lead to little to no coordination between sales people.  This is a colossal blunder.  Why?

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