Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business

Foreword—Business Is Personal

“Business is personal.” That’s one of the first things I learned as a freshly scrubbed college graduate with no real working experience. Develop relationships with people, both inside and outside of the company. To get work done, you also have to get to know the people you work with. Remember important details, but more than just the superficial facts of birthdays and spouse’s name—get to know them as people.

But I have a confession to make: I’m lousy at remembering these kinds of details. So I was an early user of “personal data assistants” (PDAs) and clicked my heels the first time I laid eyes on a CRM system.

But that is nothing compared to the transformation of what social networks have done for my business life. ...