I couldn’t help but notice a link between two tweets that came in within a few seconds of each other. I don’t know the answers, but these are both awfully good questions.
dan_mcweeney Sales people used to be the networks, leads. Now everyone has a community ( or should ) how does that change your business?
then
leashless RT @cheeky_geeky: “You’re not just hiring the person, you’re hiring the community they come with” – http://bit.ly/1zqZ9H (RT @jiconoclast)
I have spoken about the New Patronage Economy – but the implications of personal brand networks can be both negative and positive.
Recent M&A activity in the web consulting space seems to be all about these personal network brands. Think of Altimeter, for example, hiring Jeremiah Owyang, the highly trafficked Web Strategist, from Forrester. Or his enterprisey compadre Ray Wang, who brings the entire AR community with him, being their go to guy.
RedMonk also plays these dynamics. When we hired Coté, having never met him in person, we knew fell well that he brought a community with him – see Drunk and Retired. Same for Tom Raftery.
Of course there is a potential downside to hiring talented, highly networked folks – I am sure Forrester would rather it hadn’t lost so much talent recently… but success in business is all about managing risk.
Personal communities and word of mouth. Nothing is different from business as usual then, other than the internet, and the scale it brings for community building. One other area of the business that should be doing more to identify individuals as root nodes – customer relationship management (CRM). If someone highly connected and popular starts whaling on you, that can be an almost unmanageable crisis.
2.0 can affect your bottom line. Do the maths. Just sayin’.
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James Governor’s Monkchips » Personal Communities: fundamental changes in business http://bit.ly/404LxB with nods to @rwang0 and @jowyang
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
By the same token, well networked individuals pose a very real threat to the position of recruiters. I must say, they hardly endear themselves to you, so I suppose it’s not quite like they help their cause anyhow.
“…If someone highly connected and popular starts whaling on you, that can be an almost unmanageable crisis…”
…especially if said person is an idiot and is popular with idiots.
James
Thanks for the kind words, we’re excited about what the future holds. Honestly, I think that Forrester continues to hire talent and grow existing individuals.
hey jeremiah. Forrester surely has plenty of talent. no doubt about that. and of course you are “replaceable”- that said, you – more than anyone understands the new community dynamics at work here.
suluklak – but of course. and its funny that so many idiots have such big networks!
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