Building a Better Network

Read a really great article in yesterday's WSJ on "How to Be a Smart Protege", which presented some excellent ideas - for anyone trying to develop a mentoring relationship - or frankly any type of professional relationship. Some of the key concepts and the ideas presented are recounted here.

Key concepts:
1) Don't seek just one mentor, seek many. Build a "developmental network".
2) "Relationally savvy" individuals are very good at building these networks - and we can learn from them.

"Savvys" are successful because they:

• Aren't shy about initiating and maintaining contact with people that can support their development.
• Are expert at recognizing when colleagues are interested in becoming mentors
• Put a lot of work in at the start of a relationship with a mentor to make sure it is successful
• Come prepared for meetings with their mentor, and follow up/keep them up-to-date
• Share information -- they are open, sharing, and trusting
• Make it mutual - good mentees find ways to add value to the relationship
• Are personable - they're simply easy to get along with
• Have a positive attitude - see relationships as an opportunity to "build bridges"

Anyway, take the time to read this one. There's great advice in there for mentees, mentors, and anyone that could be more thoughtful about the value that they give to and receive from others.

LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203937504574252141852898888.html

Cisco's John Chambers on Collaboration

Great interview via FT.com with John Chambers of Cisco: http://www.ft.com/cms/8a38c684-2a26-11dc-9208-000b5df10621.html.

Some insights from John:

• On the role of the CEO: to communicate externally, and accurately represent the culture and direction of their organization; most CEOs today are "command and control" and the future will require moving beyond that..., successful leadership requires the ability to effectively change.
• On the importance of collaboration: it is critically important to future productivity growth - we are really doing it "1to1" today, we need to move beyond empowerment to true group decision-making and "collaboration enabling different business models"
• Enabling collaboration: new networking tools will truly enable better collaboration - video conferencing, telepresence, blogging, wikis, social networking, etc. - John provides a great example of using video coupled with wikis and bookmarks to internally disseminate information

Two primary thoughts on this interview.

1. On collaboration: Although John doesn't deeply articulate how this will evolve, he does talk about using a variety of tools that Cisco uses (and sells) and then speaks about the importance of adding discipline and process. Since collaboration really represents another opportunity for sustainable competitive advantage, digging deeper to understand successful collaboration methods is a worthwhile exercise...
2. On communication: As an important enabler of collaboration, John does a great job of illustrating the use of video mail in conjunction with other tools (at 9:04 of the interview) - worth a listen).

Some critical questions:

• How does an organization reach the appropriate communication level internally and externally - to enable collaboration (internally), differentiate effectively (externally), etc.?
• How does an organization best utilize technology to enable that communication?
• Assuming the communication is in place, how does a firm move beyond that to build and institutionalize true collaboration?