John Wilson’s A Saucy Entrepreneurial Winning about a Jamaican sauce maker who has hit the jackpot via Dragon’s Den leaves an interesting question hanging in the air:
…it’s unclear whether it was the investors involvement or simply from being on the TV show that made the difference though, bearing in mind that it’s possible that a Sainsbury’s plc buyer may simply have decided to trial it following the free publicity that the show generated for the product.
To me, this is about the quality of your connectedness. In other words, are you a great connector or a shrinking violet who keeps his/her nose to the grindstone? James Governor reprised this discussion a few days ago talking about Switchboard Operators:
I am not in AR or PR and definitely don’t want to be but i know about OPML, declarative living and tag gardening, and have a rolodex of influencers would make most PRs blush. Hits sometimes come out of my fingers.
I am an operator.
So am I and so are many of the people I have come to know over the last 2 years. At times it feels bizarre and counter-intuitive. But like James, I also see Marjolein Hoekstra as a connector. Thomas Otter is a connector. He and I have been talking about an idea that (hopefully) will see a community of super connectors emerge.
So when I read about the predicted demise of mid-range firms, I have to ask whether any of these have good connectors? But then Pam Rockall thinks:
…many clients simply want and need the compliance issues dealt with by you, despite what advice you think they need or want.
It all depends on your client relationship and the type of client they are.
No it doesn’t. It all depends on how good a connector you are and what kind of business you want to be in. Many now highly successful business people I’ve come to know are first rate connectors. They figured out that if you engage with smart people, usually people who are far smarter than you which in turn can help you become smarter. And on and on.
Technorati Tags: connectors, redmonk
