From the LinkedIn® Best Practices Booklet by David Nour

How can I keep people in my network from seeing who my connections are?

By default, LinkedIn users can see and browse the connections of the people in their network. To hide your connections from the people in your network:

• Click the “Account & Settings” link at the top of the page; as a security measure, you may be asked for your user id & password again

• Under “Settings,” find “Privacy Settings” and click “Connections Browse.” 

• Under “Connections Browse,” select “No.”

• Click “Update Information” at the bottom of the page.

Assuming Microsoft is successful in its $44 billion dollar acquisition of Yahoo beyond anti-trust concerns in Washington blocking the deal, a fundamental looming question is one of the apparent cultural divide between the two organizations.

Microsoft’s culture is somewhat internally nurtured, extremely confident and passionately (often to a fault) focused on Windows. Microsoft teams have consistently shown a preference to play in the market based on their own set of rules and although smaller acquisitions have been absorbed without much fanfare in the past, the Yahoo bid is no small feat!

Yahoo has a drastically unique culture, partly due to it’s origins in Silicon Valley, but also largely due to its much younger workforce, their highly decentralized and considerably more collaborative mindset, and approach to market challenges and opportunities. Yahoo leaders approach the file & rank as a peer not the boss; it’s a culture of trust vs. command and control; they aim to be inspirational vs. simply powerful; collaborative vs. directive; in many of their efforts, the behind the scenes asset vs. front & center in the spotlight; ambiguity and connectivity often ruling over order and organizing. As Rod Beckstrom in his book, The Starfish and The Spider highlights, Yahoo is an example of a highly decentralized organism. Merge that blindly with a traditional command and control model which characterizes Microsoft and you’re surely headed for Flight Risk™ of your most valuable talent!

What do you think?

From Alan Weiss’ Balancing Act®

It’s slightly after 8 am, and I’m coasting down to New York on the Acela, hugging Long Island sound for most of the trip. This is a 60-degree day in early January, so the fog encroaches like a silent strangler bent on mayhem.

The first class car is filled. Two attendants work the car, effortlessly serving breakfast to people who boarded at both Boston and Providence. Meals are served and cleared efficiently amidst passenger conversations, cell phone calls, computers, PDAs, newspapers, and the usual detritus of a three-hour commute.

I’ve taken this train all the way to Washington and back, since I stay off airplanes if I possibly can. The service has ranged from surly in an empty car, to this morning’s wonderful service in a full car. The difference isn’t in the passengers, the nature of the service, or the time of day.

It’s in the pride of the crew.

I bought my newspapers this morning in the Providence station, something I often dread because of the horrible personality of the woman who works there in the morning. Thus, I was shocked this morning by a hearty “Good morning!” and an offer to help me from a new woman, who evidently believed that you make the best of any job.

My newspaper experience was suddenly wonderful. (I told her this. “Oh, thank you!” she blushed.)

Part of victimhood is believing (or merely claiming) that the job, the boss, the environment, the government, the regulations, and/or “they” are preventing you from doing well. The antithesis of victimhood is the belief that you can improve your own job and lot despite interference and influence of others. We control more than we think.

I think this individual pride, and its ability to transform work and relationships, is a crucial consideration in terms of who we hire, who we become friendly with, and with whom we decide to surround ourselves. If we hang out with people who hate the work, hate the customers, hate life, and feel constantly oppressed, we’ll find ourselves subsumed in that quagmire.

But if we surround ourselves with people who merely believe that they have the power and responsibility to do the best they can, so will we.

It’s customary to tip the first class attendants, though not all people do. When I proffered a generous gratuity upon disembarking, one of the attendants said, “Why thank you, sir!” I said, “No, thank you!”

© 2008 Alan Weiss. Balancing Act® is a monthly electronic newsletter discussing the blending of life, work, and relationships, based on the popular Balancing Act workshops and writing of Alan Weiss, Ph.D.  For further information: balancingact@summitconsulting.com.

Interesting read in today’s Booz | Allen Strategy+ Business by Nicholas G. Carr: Boston, Mass., January 31, 2008 — Although Google’s rapid growth has caused many to view it as a model of business success, executives may want to think twice before leaping aboard the Google bandwagon. As a consistently innovative and profitable company, Google’s accomplishments (and failures) deserve close study, but beware trying to emulate the company’s success. Unless your company makes money by selling advertising attached to digital goods, you may not be able to learn much from Google’s example, at least not at a strategic level. 

Read more here…