Sound Advice: 50 Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice

One of the topics that continues to come up during our WPO Chicago chapter sessions is social media. Some of the questions are: What is it? Why do I need it? Who uses it? How do I develop a strategy around it?

All great questions and oftentimes unanswerable because the platform is still so very new.

One individual I have been following for a long time is Chris Brogan. He writes an amazing blog that extensively covers how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value. You don't want to miss it.

And this post, 50 Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice, is one of my all-time favorites. It serves as a primer to getting your arms around social media.

Sound Advice: How To Minimize Risks of Hiring Outside Stars

How many times have you heard people say, "I only want star players on my team!" Well that's called talent and whether in good times or bad, companies compete for the best, the brightest and the hardest-working stars who outshine the merely competent.

But hiring top talent is not without risk.

Read more here at MIT Sloan Management Review about how to minimize the risks of hiring outside stars. You'll also learn that there are some positions for which talent can be imported and others that are better filled from within.

Need more? Access these accompanying articles online:

Rethinking the "War for Talent"

Making People Decisions in the New Global Environment

Getting the Right People at the Top

And let us know what you are doing at your company to nurture and keep people at the top.

Sound Advice: A Time To Lead

Great quote from Seth Godin:

Everyone isn’t going to be a leader. But everyone isn’t going to be successful, either.

Success is now the domain of people who lead. That doesn’t mean they’re in charge, it doesn’t mean they are the CEO, it merely means that for a group, even a small group, they show the way, they spread ideas, they make change. Those people are the only successful people we’ve got.

More here on where the quote came from.

Are you a leader? Let us know why. We want to share the good news with others who can benefit.

Sound Advice: 1,000 Tips To A Brighter Future

Chad Moutray, Chief Economist & Director of Economic Research at the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy poses the following question through Linked In:

What measures should small businesses take to weather this economic downturn?

The responses -- more than 1,000! -- are worth reading here.

News of Interest: To Blog, Or Not to Blog?

According to Technorati's amazing report, State of the Blogosphere 2008, you better blog! It's a global phenomenon.

If you have a blog, tell us about it. If you don't, let us know when you plan to launch!