Along with China's economic dominance, a smattering of theories, buzzwords and some good insights are becoming well-known. One of these buzzwords is "Guanxi", which in English is often translated as "relationships" or "contacts." In a broad sense, this meaning is relatively accurate. however, what many have failed to understand is that at its core, Guanxi has an extremely emotional component. Many Americans, who are direct, practical and focused on economics, tend to overlook this.

A more comprehensive examination of Guanxi reveals a network of relationships characterized by mutual obligation, goodwill, and personal affection with emphasis on family and shared experiences. For example, university and military service are especially important areas for relationship building. Based on these shared experiences, Guanxi relationships often result in favors that are expected to be returned, but by no specific date. Sometimes indebtedness from such favors lasts for generations, and the Chinese will remember for a long time a favor that was given to them when it especially was needed.

As can be seen, building a network in China is about more than mutual back-scratching. A general feeling of goodwill and human connection is an absolute prerequisite for beginning any sort of economic exchange. How can outsiders gain access to this particularly different style of networking? When meeting people, Westerners tend to ask someone about their profession. The Chinese tend to ask where you are from and then may ask if you know somebody that they may know there. Such questions are intended to determine if there is perhaps a preexisting connection. Much goodwill can be generated if a close friend or relative of yours lived in the hometown of the person you are getting to know. However,  if you do not have such commonalities, simply showing interest in the background of your acquaintance can show you care and can help develop the relationship.

In summary, specific differences in networking styles can be seen below. Be sure to know before you go (or connect on LinkedIn)!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

At this point, many people have started using Google+, the new social network from google that is conveniently integrated to the toolbar we all see while we check our gmail. Google+ is remarkably similar to Facebook but there is one key difference: Google+ makes users group contacts into "circles"; i.e., it forces you to organize your contacts.

Facebook has this same functionality. However, unlike Google+, many people either don't use it or don't know it exists. So, this weekend, go through your Facebook contacts, create several categories, and assign everyone to at least one group. This will have the added benefit of giving you an idea of people you should reconnect with (perhaps by sending an article via www.pingpigeon.com), and remember connections and introductions you want to make. Once you've dug up some networking ideas, go and get back in touch with those people!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

(This is our semi-weekly 'weekend warrior' series on simple things you can do during the weekend to improve your network)

A great resource is meetup.com. Many readers here likely know about meetup.com but a quick intro just in case: Meetup is a site where individuals and groups can organize events (called "meetups") based on common interests or activities. Available meetups range from the very general from "Business Networking Meetups" to "Kayaking the LA River" on the Los Angeles, CA Meetup page. Go to the site this weekend and find a few that interest you, sign up, and plan to attend.

From the progress you've likely made in identifying which parts of your professional brand you want to improve, you're likely already aware of what kinds of meetups you'd benefit from. BUt remember, networking- even with professional goals in mind- is ultimately a personal activity. So, even activities completely unrelated to your line of work can be great, serendipitous opportunities to meet new clients, new hiring prospects, or future colleagues. So dust off your kayaking paddles!  

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

When my flight first landed in Santiago airport (later I heard that it’s equal to the size of Rhode Island), I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, clearly an outsider. Winter in Chile cannot really be called winter by Vermont standards, though. In the last two weeks, the coldest temperature barely went below 5 Celsius. One day I was even wearing a t-shirt on Alameda, Santiago’s main street, after a ferocious steak lunch.

I made a quick Santiago city tour last weekend with my Brazilian friend Erik; he works for one of the biggest entertainment corporations in Brazil.

We didn’t get the chance to try the infamous terremoto (cheap wine with a dollop of ice-cream) at La Piojera because it’s closed on Sunday. I should definitely make another trip to soak up this "earth-shaking" drink before leaving Santiago.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

This is not a post for job-searchers.

This is something that we should be doing all of the time, but unfortunately most people only update their resume under desperate or time-pressured circumstances: "The headhunter called with a great offer, gotta brush up the CV" "Well, just got laid off, probably need to do this fast since severance is gonna run out", etc. If we took the time to keep out resumes up to date, we would feel much more in control, with the side effect of automatically managing our professional lives better.

Step 1: Who is this for?
So, if you were to show this CV to someone else tomorrow after your work today, who would it be? Under what circumstances could you see yourself using this CV? Feel free to think a bit outside of the box and invent some creative scenarios and interview offers. The point is that you should have the audience for the resume in mind before you start editing the resume itself

Step 2: What have you done since?
Chances are that your last resume update was a while ago. This is understandable; on the professional front, we all have mountains of tasks and responsibilities. Make a list- go through old emails, project folders, calendars if you have to- of the major things you've accomplished since your last resumer update. There is a good chance that nothing from your present position is even on your CV since the last time you updated it may have been before your current job. After this brainstorm is done, feel free to add a few bullet points, but the exercise is not over until…

Step 3: As yourself what is missing
If you read this part, you can be sure that this post wasn't written with current job searchers in mind, though it is applicable to everyone. With Step 1 in mind, ask yourself, "What would the person looking at this CV want to see that is not written there yet?" If you what to make the move to divisional management, have you shown sufficient team-building skills? Do you have a deep enough exposure to strategy needed for this higher level? If not, then plan how to get that experience. Brainstorm and outline how you can get this experience in the next 6-12 months…The next step? Go out there and execute that plan!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Welcome to our first edition of "Weekend Warriors" plans for your network. We'll be presenting small tasks that can be done over the weekend to help you strengthen and build your network.

First, this weekend: Mapping your LinkedIn network.

First, go to inMaps: http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/ and authorize the application (uncheck the box if you don't want to tell your whole network about it). The application takes a few minutes to import your network and then returns the result.

The next step in the LinkedIn visualization itself if to label the parts of your visualized network, which are separated by colors. Hovering over part of this will give you a good idea of what the label is. For example, it was immediately apparent to me from hovering over the blue mass on my map that this group represented my colleagues and classmates from London Business School.

The last step is evaluation on your part. What are your networking goals for the medium term: new sales, repeat business, career changes? This map can help you in your strategy and tactics for these efforts. For example, if you are contemplating a career switch to sales from a more finance role, is your network too concentrated in your area of expertise? If you want to solidify your client relationships in your existing area, and you realize that you are a connection point between several important client groups, perhaps you can think of ways to add value and build on those relationships through introductions, information exchange or some other way.

Whatever your conclusion, it can't be denied that this network map is fun, and can also be a useful tool to help in thinking about your networking efforts. 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Well, don't feel too bad because I've experienced both sides of this: the annoyance of receiving one, and the pain of sending one out. When I've come across one of these emails, I always asked myself how this message could have avoided coming into existence, and this was partly my inspiration for starting PingPigeon.

So how do we avoid writing these emails (or for the brave ones, making those phone calls)? Its simple: just keep in touch. Proactively. With everyone.

That is easier said than done. But digging a little deeper reveals a simple truth: it does not matter how "big" or "wide" your network is; it does not matter if you are connected to thousands of people on LinkedIn and Facebook. What matters is your ability to maintain and strengthen those relationships over time. If you ask anyone with a great network- you can call them "connectors" or "rain makers" if you like- their secret is relatively simple: just keep in touch consistently and add value to your contacts' lives.

There are some obvious challenges with this though.  First of all, how do you find the time to write all those short emails? Second, how do you keep everyone in mind; how do you remember who you haven't been in touch with for a while and what you last talked about? And lastly, assuming you had all the time in the world and through pure mental genius you could keep everyone in mind, would you really always have something to talk about (instead of sending an annoying "just wanted to check in" email) that would add value to your contact?

Well, consultants and bankers can have underlings write them research papers which they can periodically blast out to clients as an excuse to stay in touch. Lawyers can set up RSS feeds in hopes of coming across news a potential or past client wants to read. The Harvard Business Review is probably supported by professionals desperate for sound bytes to send out to clients. Everyone has some small hack for partially solving this problem. But PingPigeon's goal is to solve it completely. Please stay tuned for more!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

The Startup Chile office is right in the middle of the city, near the presidential building, called La Moneda. We are in the same office building as the office of the Chilean first lady, the Chilean stock exchange, and CORFO- the Chilean development agency which is sponsoring Startup Chile. Here's a quick view:

The city itself is very livable and so far seems great for doing a startup. The bureaucracy is manageable: within five days, I had registered with the police, set up a bank account, got a phone, and found an apartment. I've been told there is virtually no corruption. And people are much harder workers than I expected: at late nights around 10PM, people in other office buildings can still be seen working.

More on Santiago to come later...

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

We are PingPigeon, and our goal is to help professionals around the world maintain and strengthen their relationships. Specifically, we are building a web, and later mobile, based application working on the LinkedIn and Facebook platforms. PingPigeon scans the internet for content and recommends to you articles your contacts will enjoy reading; you can then forward these with a personalized message. This blog is still a bit sparse and we aren't offering access to our product yet, but we encourage you to keep in touch with us.

Where is all of this happening, and where is PingPigeon right now? The short answer is: everywhere. The idea itself was developed over several months in 2010 in Tokyo and San Francisco, and work building out the company began in San Francisco in mid November. Recently PingPigeon received seed funding from the Startup Chile incubator (www.startupchile.org), and so Yoshi, the Founder/CEO, is currently based in Santiago. But we have developers, designers and interns working with us in Europe, North America, and South America, so we still are all over the world.

You can sign up for an early test version of our product at www.pingpigeon.com.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »