nuance intelligence

LinkedIn rolled out a new feature recently (but not to everyone at the same time – the US, India, Australia and New Zealand got it first) called Endorsements, a one-click method of identifying what skills your contacts possess. It’s an easy-to-use function that might end up being worthwhile, and I’m inclined to play with it a bit and see if it adds some value to my LI experience.

A few thoughts:

- An Endorsement isn’t nearly as powerful as a Recommendation. It requires virtually no effort to endorse someone; I’d put a much lower value on it as an assessment tool.

- I don’t think the etiquette is exactly clear yet but it seems less likely to inspire responsiveness than Recommendations, again, due to its ease of use.

- The single biggest problem with Endorsements, to date, is the annoying popup that LinkedIn is using to drive people to the tool. By asking you to ‘endorse’ a bunch of people without requiring that you look at their entire list of self-identified skills, LI is adding a lot of randomness to the Endorsements that are getting made.

Done right, I think Endorsements could be a useful sorting screen when assessing a new contact (or a potential new hire) to see what peers think someone’s best skills are…but right now the randomness of the tool encourages people to select what’s in front of them instead of what they think the person is really best at. So, not perfect yet, but an intriguing idea that could be worthwhile eventually.

If you are involved with higher education, or e-commerce, you have probably heard of the latest-greatest innovation in learning, the MOOC, or massively online open course. MOOCs are free distance-learning, web-based classes that are open to anyone who chooses to enroll. Stanford University pioneered the concept and a couple of Stanford professors teamed up to found Coursera, a for-profit company that manages MOOC offerings from a number of august institutions, including Stanford, the University of Virginia, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and others. Yes, okay, higher education is obviously late to the party in terms of finally figuring out online+education=more people getting educated, but…they got there eventually. [NOTE: I've gotten a couple of messages since this blog was published from people who pointed out that MIT and the University of Manitoba are probably more deserving of the 'MOOC pioneers' label. If you want a longer discussion of the origins and complexities of MOOCs, read this excellent paper on the subject by a fellow at Korean Open National University.]

I signed up for Introduction to Mathematical Thinking, taught by Stanford’s Keith Devlin, who has more credentials than I can shake a stick at including buckets of awards and lots of published books and articles. There were plenty of other classes that might have been a more natural fit for a businesswoman with a liberal arts degree, but I’m a glutton for learning. And it seems to me that one of the benefits of this great educational experiment must be the opportunity to learn something outside of your comfort zone, from a pre-eminent expert in the subject, without any risk to your academic record. Sort of like taking a pass-fail course as an undergrad, only without the giant tuition payment (without direct contact with the professor, or your TA, of course, but, hey, it’s FREE.)

However, this approach can come with collateral damage to your ego. Did I mention that I am not so great at math? I never took high school calculus and I think I spent most of algebra trying to figure out how to get the hot guy that sat across from me to notice me. So I was, shall we say, a little behind the eight-ball coming into the class.

I’m having a blast. Yes, I failed the first online test, but I really am absorbing a lot of information – set theory! the use of logical combinators! – and I expect that I’ll make it through the final exam.

But now let me do something I actually do well, which is analyze the social/business aspect of MOOCs. How could you make money off MOOCs? Here are a few places to start:

1) Sell stuff. Some of Coursera’s offerings come with handy links to buy a textbook related to the class. So some of the usual suspects (Amazon, authors of textbooks) will make money there.

2) Data. I don’t know how Coursera is tracking our data, but with over 50,000 of us signed up for just this one class, that’s a lot of name/email/etc captures, and I’m sure the Stanford smarties can find a way to aggregate and monetize it.

3) Advertise. There are myriad opportunities for advertising in the spaces around the course itself, as well as the communities that are springing up to manage the needs of students in a virtual environment. I’m enjoying the ad-free look that Coursera currently sports, but I’m not expecting it to last.

4) Online domains. I really like StudyRoom, a virtual space where I connect with other students and some TAs (who are volunteers) and ask questions about the assignments. Virtual worlds could help students in many different learning environments, not just MOOCs – the challenge is going to be building the right communities, even when you don’t have 50,000 people enrolled in a course.

So, how are the universities – the content providers – going to make their buck? They’ve got plenty of options. I think the real issue is going to be moving their bureaucracies. Prevailing model: offering education for a carefully selected group of paying customers (students) who want a very exclusive product. New MOOC model: making money from a system that offers education to any customer (student) who wants it, and monetizing the infrastructure that gets built around the system.

MOOCs also have a direct impact on the brands of the universities who choose to offer them, and I’d say it’s 100% positive impact thus far. There’s the social service aspect – offering education to all comers. And the perception that a university taking part in the MOOC experiment has to have some cutting-edge thinkers. Good stuff. It will be interesting to see if Coursera eventually accepts MOOC offering from less-than-august institutions, or if it sticks to A-list schools. If they do, they’ll have competition…if not, they risk devaluing their brand. [NOTE: Since I wrote this blog, Coursera has begun offering some courses from not-A-list schools.]

For my part, I’m loving the experience. I realize I’m a rat running through a higher-ed maze, but it’s a nice maze, and they’re giving me great rewards for pushing the buttons.

LinkedIn is so absurdly useful. It doesn’t have the addictive quality of Twitter or the mindless fun of Facebook, but it’s a great business tool. You can use LinkedIn to find a new job, develop professional skills, or learn about new resources for your work. So, you’ve gotten your act together to the point where you’ve got a profile and some connections, right?

No? If not, that’s where you should start. LinkedIn will guide you smoothly and quickly through profile setup and finding your first few connections.

Now what?

1) Connect to more people. The biggest networks are not always the strongest, but you should connect with anyone you know at least slightly, and with whom you have a decent level of professional comfort. You can do this by checking out the People You May Know box (upper right-hand corner of your home page) or by looking through your current connections and linking with people they’re connected to, who you know, too.

2) Look at Groups, and join a few. This is a good way to see what people in your profession/industry are talking about, and can be a good way to grow your network. It’s okay to join a bunch of groups and leave those that don’t meet your needs. Try some out and see where the interesting conversations are happening.

3) Read your News. LinkedIn offers a newsfeed, similar to Facebook’s, except that instead of scrolling through baby pictures uploaded by your high school friends, you’ll see which of your connections got promoted, who’s moved to a new organization, and who’s recently posted to their blog…things you can bring up the next time you run into them at a networking event or a meeting.

4) Check out jobs. Yes, even if you’re not job-hunting. Reading listings of jobs that LinkedIn thinks you’d be interested in (and their algorithms seem to do pretty well picking jobs for you, as long as you’ve filled out your profile adequately) will give you insight into the job market, and into what skills are considered essential skills for your function by other employers.

5) Write a recommendation or two. Everyone likes to see other people writing nice things about their work, and if you offer a couple of unsolicited recommendations for colleagues whose work you respect, you might get a couple written for you, too.

Getting the most out of LinkedIn is not just a matter of posting your resume and accepting ‘link’ requests. If you’re using LinkedIn as part of a networking or business development strategy (whether it’s a personal strategy or one to support your business), you need Groups.

There are a multitude of public relations, corporate communications and internal communications groups. Not all are equal – some have plenty of activity, good discussions, are managed actively and well and offer insight into the profession as well as good job leads and contacts. Others – not so much.

Start with LinkedIn “Groups You May Like” to see what LI’s algorithms pull up for you. This list will also provide a gauge for how active the groups are and who’s in those groups.

Any ‘best groups’ list is subjective and reflects the interests of the blogger, but for what it’s worth, here are 5 groups that I’ve found worthwhile.

1. Internal Communication – Lots of good discussions, and some retainer recruiters are using this group. Large UK membership and it is managed well.

2. Corporate Comms Executive Network – Members are mostly from the UK and North America, the level of discussion seems to be pretty good, and quality jobs are listed fairly frequently.

3. CommScrum – Geared toward high-level internal communications strategy and the discussions are great. Lots of members from the UK and many senior-level members.

4. Corporate Communication – A very large and active group; this is the one to join if you’re looking for a communications or PR job in India, as India-based recruiters post jobs frequently here.

5. Public Relations and Communications Professionals – Another very large and active group – more noise and commercial posts seem to get past the moderators than in some of the other groups but still a good one due to the diverse membership and for job prospecting.

Happy to team up with Ian Harris and Twilo to talk about do’s and don’ts of setting up internal social networks. Here are five mistakes you should – and can – avoid making.

connect everyone...

This was the year that social entrepreneurship crossed into the IT geek consciousness of South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi), with the advent of Good Capitalist party (info, report). Good Capitalist, attended by nearly 2000 people, by some reports, was created by social media / social entrepreneur crossover star-child Martin Montero, aka the ubiquitous @montero in the #socent world on Twitter.  The party was celebrated with gusto by the social entrepreneurship community, heralding their acceptance by “the cool kids.”

Triple Pundit reported on a different angle of this intersection at SXSWi, and called it the “Big Green Disconnect” between tech and sustainability communities, saying “the few green related panels were under attended and often rudimentary,” suggesting that each community is talking a different language.  Our friend and advisor Bill Shutkin had a similar, less politic rant over dinner a few weeks back, along the lines of “do we really need another Twitter app while our energy and financial systems are in crisis?.” Both comparisons were predated by Silicon Valley tech guru Tim O’Reilly’s call in 2008 to “work on something that matters,” where he beat a drum of “create more value than you extract.”

So, now the meme has been released, and some cool kids in technology (largely a comfortable-if-not-affluent crowd from a global perspective) think social entrepreneurship is the next big thing.  Mostly, this is good.  Right? Continue reading

Our great friends, the inspiring change agents at the Unreasonable Institute have been doing some excellent interviews with social entrepreneurs and impact investors on the SoCap blog ever since the event ended last August.

During what any humble, reflexively sarcastic entrepreneur would think of as a week with no other good interview candidates, we got an email from Teju Ravilochan, co-founder of Unreasonable, asking if we’d be game for the experience.

The results turn out pretty well, it seems (you might need to turn the volume up, or else the onboard speakers on this aging computer are loosing their umpf).

Would love your feedback.

With the advent of the new Denver section, word came around (big tip o’ the hat to @BrettGreene) that HuffPo needed bloggers on the local scene.  Now, a couple weeks later, I’m a published HuffPo blogger.  I’ll be focusing on what I focus on in general — sustainable enterprise, impact investing and transformative IT, with a deeper recognition of all that’s happening in the Front Range of Colorado.

First post is about the GSSE at CSU, an awesome program that I strongly endorse.  If you’d be so kind, please head over and write a quick comment, to raise the profile of the sustainable enterprise in Colorado on their radar.

Our friends and collaborators Peter van Geldern and David Marks have re-launched their Shades of Green Network (SGN) this week.  SGN is a network of advisors and investors who are focusing on building green businesses in the New York metro area.  Their network has professionals of all disciplines (accountants, lawyers, grant writers, marketers and more), and engagement begins with a gap analysis that helps early-stage entrepreneurs figure out their next steps on the path to a sustainable enterprise.  Once a business is ready, SGN has an investor network with venture capitalists, angel investors and other forms of private equity. Continue reading

Welcome to our report of what happened at the inaugural Sustainable Business Models Collective meetup in Boulder. Here’s what we set out to do:

PURPOSE
The purpose of this meetup is to provide a place to discuss the specifics of funding, creating and running a sustainable social enterprise. This emerging sector, which spans the for-profit and non-profit worlds, is still taking shape, and there is no silver bullet solution for people who want to create socially- and environmentally-impactful organizations that can thrive for generations. So we need to create the framework in which we operate.

Continue reading