What is your impression of networking? To many, it’s an insincere trade of favors or, at best, an elegant way of using people to get what you want. I actually asked this question of a group of PhD students at a Top 5 engineering school and one student near the front asked, “You mean, with other people?”

Conversely, what’s your impression of relationships? When talking about relationships, most use characteristics such as trust, depth, and vested interest. So, if relationships have been around since the Ice Ages and we all know what they are, why is it that we’re becoming increasingly disconnected? In many ways, we’re losing our ability to touch people!

Robert Putnam, in his bestseller Bowling Alone, clearly describes how our health, our democracy, and yes, even our happiness, depend on a certain amount of social capital. Yet for many, when it’s easier to send someone a voicemail who works three offices down the hall from you instead of walking over for a conversation, or to send them a Crackberry text message instead of picking up the phone and calling them, is there really any question about the dramatic erosion of our sense of community? Every day, we pass people in the hallways wearing company badges (so we know they work there), but we have no idea who they are! When someone transfers, we’ll send out a memo that says, “Bob has joined our team,” but make no mention of his spouse and young children who just moved across the country, don’t know a soul here, and are struggling to fit in. Here’s an idea – as the department manager or division executive, why don’t you have Bob and Mary (that’s her name from the personnel file by the way) over to your home with a group of his peers and their spouses for them to all get to know each other. Here’s a “Dadism” for you – people deal with people they know, like and trust!

As a leader, if you genuinely believe that your human capital is your most valuable asset and a clear differentiator in the marketplace, you must search for, assess, on-board, train, develop, coach, and constantly align that talent for what the organization’s needs today, as well as anticipating its future requirements. And when things don’t work out, try to outplace that talent with the least amount of disruption to the business. Ask yourself, what part of this formula couldn’t benefit from stronger relationships? If we all know the value of relationships, why do so few of us really practice the fundamentals daily?

You have an opportunity to build relationships every minute of everyday. Yet, most people go through each day with their head buried in checklists and action items. Building and nurturing relationships must become the dye in the fabric, not the patch. Networking functions are patches; drive-by-greetings are patches; insincere getting and giving business cards are patches. Let me save you the time – the Yellow Pages serve the same purpose. Relationships should be the dye in the fabric. They should permeate through who you are and the culture of the team you’re building.

Helpful tools are social networking technologies such as LinkedIn, ZoomInfo and Spoke, which automate the mundane and resource intensive tasks of data entry, analysis, search and recommendations – but they should never replace the fundamental value of trusted, value-based introductions. Users of these tools should also never forget that there are three fundamental types of networkers: Givers (God bless Mother Theresa), who give altruistically; Takers (we’ve all known some), who only call or email when they want something; and Investors, who see their personal, functional and strategic relationships as their most valuable asset and consistently aim at more effectively identifying, building, nurturing and leveraging those investments for a quantifiable return on those relationships.

Which one are you? Giver, taker or investor? If I were to ask three of your colleagues, customers, executives or even friends, which one would they say you are?

Your personal and professional success depends on the diversity and quality of your relationships with others, yet most of us don’t spend enough time building, nurturing and quantifying the key relationships we need to achieve success. That’s where Relationship Economics® comes into play. Relationship Economics isn’t about networking; it’s about learning how to invest in people for an extraordinary return. It’s about understanding Relationship Currency®, accumulating Reputation Capital® and building Professional Net Worth®. It’s about learning the art and science of relationships to get things done in a systematic, disciplined manner.

So, I ask you again, what’s the strategic value of your business relationships?

About the Author:

David Nour is a social networking strategist one of the foremost thought leaders on the quantifiable value of business relationships. David is the author of Relationship Economics (Wiley, 2008), a senior management advisor, and a featured speaker for corporate, association and academic forums, where he shares his knowledge and experience as a leading change agent and visionary for Relationship Economics® - the art and science of relationships and Relationship Currency. To learn more, please visit: www.relationshipcurrency.com

Popularity: 8% [?]

Are you LinkedIn®? Do you Spoke®, Ryze®, Jigsaw® or ZoomInfo®? In 2008, will you get a Second Life®?

If these social networking concepts are not in your radar, you are ignoring a dynamic trend that could have a profound impact on key areas of your business such as profitable revenue growth, talent acquisition and development, and operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Wikipedia defines a social network service as one that focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities. The concept of Social Network Analysis (SNA) – the intersection of several key disciplines including sociology, anthropology, psychology, organizational design and graph theory – has existed in academic circles since the 1930s and 1940s. Although interesting, the study of patterns in human interaction has unfortunately been confined to academia with little visibility or application to corporate leaders and their efforts in not only strategy formulation, but strategy execution as well.

In many leadership circles and boardrooms, there is seldom a shortage of organizational mission, vision, strategy, values or beliefs. (What I often refer to as “wall art.”) But where it consistently breaks down is when dealing with concepts such as the strategic relationship dashboard, strategic relationship initiatives, and personal relationship development action plans – all of which lead to strategic relationship outcomes.

Strategic Relationship Planning is driven by a core set of questions around critical company business goals including the identification of the most relevant and strategic relationships we need, critical relationships we already posses within and external to our corporation today, and a plan as to how to systematically, intentionally, and strategically add value to the social network we currently have to create leverage with the relationships we need.

This dynamic Favor Economy is the core motivator of the 17 million users in over 150 industries that have converged on a single online platform that didn’t exist until only a few years ago.

Although many leaders have heard of LinkedIn, there are still many who are either under the impression that it is a fad that will simply go away or that it has little bearing on them personally or professionally. What they neglect to realize is that 499 of the Fortune 500 companies have director-level profiles and higher on LinkedIn. Even Barack Obama recently teamed up with LinkedIn to reach entrepreneurs, small business owners and executives, asking them very pointed questions regarding their needs from the next U.S. president.

So, what can an executive learn from LinkedIn? Here are the Top 5 Lessons:

1.The exponential value of a highly decentralized organization. Although your corporate organizational chart may control chaos and illustrate command and control, many organizations are attempting to control a dynamic 21st century workforce with a WWII model. By extending the organization’s reach beyond the traditional four walls, you exponentially extend and expand the organization’s learning and growth elasticity.

2.Corporate Relationship Deficit Disorder. By design, traditional organizational charts tend to create geographic, functional, and project-based silos that are not conducive to collaboration, communication and shared best practices. One thing that SNA has consistently proven is that knowledge management is not a system but a process.

3.Adaptive Innovation. An organization’s most valuable talent simply cannot be creative in isolation. The ability to leverage highly communal experiences such as Second Life, particularly with geographically dispersed teams, nurtures the necessary DNA for a team or organization to adapt its business model to a constantly evolving market.

4.Flight Risk. Stifle the creativity of the 20, 30 and now even the 40-year olds, and your most valuable talent will leave in the next 12 months. As reciprocal loyalty continues to decline, leaders must find ways to align the personal objectives of key individuals with those of the organization to get things done.

5.Social networks as accelerants of your brand equity. Beyond the measurement analysis of your hard assets, the next evolution is one of leveraging the corporation’s soft assets. Social networks, by definition, encompass the three most critical examples of such soft assets: 1) People, continuously proving to be any organization’s sustainable differentiator, 2) Relationships, as an individual, team or organization’s most valuable asset across an ongoing trust continuum, and 3) Brand, that which time after time creates sustainable loyalty and continued investment in any organization from employees, suppliers, customers and shareholders.

As a leader, you can pretend that MySpace and Facebook are for “kids,” LinkedIn and Second Life are simply “fads,” and that the status quo will suffice, or you can embrace social networking as a strategic, intentional, and thus quantifiable asset in driving profitable revenue growth, winning the global war on talent, and the constant evolution and integration of highly optimized global processes.

So I ask you again – what is your social networking strategy?

About the Author:

David Nour is a social networking strategist one of the foremost thought leaders on the quantifiable value of business relationships. David is the author of Relationship Economics (Wiley, 2008), a senior management advisor, and a featured speaker for corporate, association and academic forums, where he shares his knowledge and experience as a leading change agent and visionary for Relationship Economics® - the art and science of relationships and Relationship Currency. To learn more, please visit: www.relationshipcurrency.com

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Investing in Bankruptcies

Investing in bankruptcies can be a big money maker for the real estate investor. Investing in bankruptcies can result in a substantial income when you choose the right property. There are several laws that can change from area to area that govern bankruptcies. This means that there are risks involved to the investor, and being aware of these risks can help your investing tremendously.

A large risk that you face with bankruptcies is that the owner can come back and lay claim to their property. Some states even have laws stating the bankruptcies are not complete for a certain amount of time. You will have to determine if your region has this type of law protecting the homeowners when they file bankruptcy. If this is the case you may want to make sure the home is vacant before making an offer on the property. You do not want to put your money into something only to lose it when the homeowners get back on their feet.

When the owner defaults on the mortgage a bankruptcy order is then put in place. The bank will start the proceedings necessary to regain possession of the property. These bankruptcy properties are usually listed in the local paper under the sheriff’s sale heading. The opening bid usually start at approximately two thirds of the appraised value of the home. The highest bidder is awarded the property. Investing in bankruptcies can greatly increase an investor’s portfolio.

Having a plan of action when you are investing in bankruptcies is a crucial part. The first thing you must do is determine what your plans for the property are. Is it going to be a rental property or do you plan to flip the house? Determining what you want to do with your properties beforehand is important so that you know what area to look in, and how you can make a profit from your new property.

Choosing the bankruptcies carefully is a high priority. You do not want to find bankruptcies which will be depreciating, instead look for high growth potential that will increase in value. Just because the price seems to be right does not mean the property is the one for you. Determine what the average selling time was of the houses which have been sold. This will give you a good indication as to what you can get for the property you are looking at.

When investing in bankruptcies you should always look at the bottom line. If you can not make a 10% or greater return on the investment then it is not a good property to purchase. You must know your market. Looking at past sales in the area is key. Determining whether the area is growing or declining is an important factor in the bankruptcy. Knowing how long each house that sold stayed on the market is also significant. You may find bankruptcies which have been on the market for six months or more, this is a good indication that it is probably a bad investment. With all the other investors out there, if one of them did not want it, you probably do not want it either.

Once you become more familiar with investing in bankruptcies you will learn what to buy and what to avoid. You will understand which areas are good investments and which ones are not worth your time. You will also be able to understand more of the real estate market and the lending red tape. This will help when you are investing in bankruptcies.

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Want to make money investing in real estate? Get immediate access to real world strategies, tactics and tips for successful – and profitable – real estate investing – not outdated ideas from the 80s! Click here -> http://www.RealEstateRant.net

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Are you someone who wants to own a home someday? Who does not? But what is holding you back? For most of us the answer is finance. If you have a bad credit record, it is unlikely that you will get a house loan to buy your dream house.

For most of us the only way to start living in our dream house depends on factors such as, having good credit, making a large down payment, and going through a landlord, but all that is history now with the introductions of the rent to own home facility. Now as a buyer you can lease the home of your choice for a few years before taking the big leap and finally buying the piece of real estate.

Both buyers and sellers alike can benefit from a rent to own transaction. Nowadays it is really hard to find a buyer who has all the factors running in his or her favor, such as having good credit, or the ability to make a large down payment, but the rent to own home makes it easier for people with fewer resources to get a chance to buy their dream homes.

Buyers these days prefer to go for the rent to own homes because of certain added advantages provided by this kind of a transaction. Firstly, this type of a transaction helps the buyer get a good first hand experience regarding the house, because you know the price of the house only when you start living in it. Minor problems that are not visible from the outside, for example leaking pipelines, paint falling off etc. become more imminent when it prospective buyers start living n the house.

Secondly, for the first time real estate investor it is always a good idea not to buy a property with cash through an outright sale, rather it will be a good idea to lease it first and then buy it.

Thirdly, people who have bad credit can buy their dream homes by this process as they can repair their credits during the lease period and build up equity. Besides getting a rent to own home is almost the same as leasing to own a car where the buyer leases the car to find out more about the car and whether it meets his requirements or not, and finally he buys the car if it meets the standards.

For the sellers the rent to own home facility brings in more customers than the outright sales. There are many homeowners who have listed their properties but there is a significant lack of prospective buyers in the cash buying market, most of the investors nowadays prefer to buy houses through their rent to own homes.

Most of the sellers can benefit from the fact that most of the times the deal does not go through and they might end up with the entire rent amount to their discretion as the rent credit is considered non refundable. Besides this lease to own home feature allows the sellers to derive the benefits of the houses a bit more before actually selling it off to someone else.

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Want to make money investing in real estate? Get immediate access to real world strategies, tactics and tips for successful – and profitable – real estate investing – not outdated ideas from the 80s! Click here -> http://www.RealEstateRant.net

Popularity: 8% [?]