Recently, a friend and client of mine, Cathy, traveled to Virginia Beach to participate in a St. Patrick’s Day marathon. The following Monday, she returned to her workplace and found an e-mail from me waiting for her–asking about her trip and the marathon. “You must have a great memory – I can’t even remember what [...]

On Friday, I received a handwritten note from Molly. She was our company’s first client, and she’s also become a good friend. Her company is located in rural Georgia, close to the Alabama state-line. Sometimes our conversations are about work, while other times, we’re swapping notes on places to visit or restaurants to try. We’ve [...]

Yesterday, I discussed how people who work in virtual environments may develop social network “doughnuts.” They have more contacts outside of their home city than within it. Today, I hosted a professional roundtable event for twelve people from six global companies. The participants live across the United States. They’d never met each other before, and [...]

If you live and work within the virtual workplace, you run the risk of creating the doughnut. A doughnut occurs when your national or global professional network exceeds the strength of your local network. Few people plan to create the doughnut. However, if you’re a consultant, it’s easy for your network to develop this way. [...]