Facebook

Due to popular demand, the group has now established a presence on Facebook. To join, please click the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31164608521

LinkedIn

If you haven't already joined the LinkedIn group, please click the link below:

http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1854/26F1E9174DD2

A number of members have asked questions about how we can leverage this membership to expand the power of our networks. To better address these questions, let me clarify what LinkedIn will and will not do:

LinkedIn will allow us to:   

-          View current LifeAfterLeo members.  Just click the "Members" tab within the group to see the current members. If you know people who would like to be in the group, but haven't joined, please send them the following link:  http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1854/26F1E9174DD2

-          Search within the group. Under the "Members" tab, we can now search LifeAfterLeo members using keywords.

-     Be contacted by other members of the group.  PLEASE NOTE: If you want other LifeAfterLeo members to be able to contact you, be sure to go the "Settings" tab within the group and check the box that says: "Member Messages:  Allow members of this groups to send me messages via LinkedIn."

-     Post topics for discussion.   At the moment, this is the best way to post questions and reach the group with non-promotional messages. Click the "Discussions" tab to see the current threads. If you prefer, you can turn the discussions off in your control panel.

-     View daily or weekly digests of new discussion topics.  LinkedIn will be turning digests on for all current group members and prompting them to set to  their own preference.

LinkedIn will NOT:

-          Allow anyone within the group to use the LinkedIn site to contact to the entire group.

-           Include the CONNECTIONS of LifeAfterLeo members in the search function.

Since this may be confusing, let me explain. Let’s say that I do a search to find current employees of XYZ Company. Let’s imagine that Steve, a member of LifeAfterLeo, is one or two degrees away from a person at XYZ Company. The shared membership in LifeAfterLeo is not enough to make his connection show up in my search for a contact at XYZ. In order for Steve’s contact to appear in the search results, Steve and I have to be connected directly.  

While I obviously can’t speak for the whole group, I see this as a huge missed opportunity. One of the main potential advantages of coming together as a group is to exponentially increase the power of our networks. That won’t happen if our networks remain unconnected.  As I see it, members of the group can have their networks linked without obligating people to make an introduction they aren’t comfortable making.  At this point, I am in discussions with LinkedIn to see if we can change this policy and improve the networking power of the group. In the meantime, I welcome any and all points-of-view on this subject.  Feel free to send comments and suggestions on this or any LifeAfterLeo-related topic. I am happy to do whatever I can to make this an even better tool for all of us.

What You Can Do To Improve The Power Of LinkedIn and LifeAfterLeo

-          Invite other Leo alums (and current employees) to join the group. Feel free to pass my email address (rob@careercraftsman.com) to other Leo alums in your network and I’ll make sure they are approved for the group. Here is the link you can send them for the group:

http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1854/26F1E9174DD2

 -          Invite members of LifeAfterLeo to be part of your regular LinkedIn network.  

 One way we can better leverage the strength of the Burnett network is to connect via our personal networks. If that is of interest, send LifeAfterLeo members an invite. I would be happy to include you in my personal network as well. Feel free to send me an invite if you would like to connect.