The Daily Networker

Plotting a short break away from Networker Island is always a bit of fun.  Surfing the waves of the web world is not without its perils however, and so a small number of sites have proved remarkably helpful at this adventurous time.

For a bit of fun, try popping ‘Madrid’ into Google. 310 million solutions present themselves.  Excellent.  You could start with the Wikipedia page on Spain’s capital city.  Or maybe Spain’s official tourism website would be the right place to begin? Or you could begin somewhere else completely.  For a well structured jumping-in point for web searches, have a look at Mahalo, the human-powered search engine.  Here’s their page on Madrid. All of a sudden, the skies begin to clear…

Next stop, flights and hotels, so forgive me if I’m telling you about three places you use all of the time.  Skyscanner is a handy comparison site for multiple airlines, and LateRooms is a bit of a goldmine for last minute bargains.  For hand-picked, characterful hotels, you could do a lot worse than rummage around on Splendia. 

22 millon people have used TripAdvisor this week, and it’s hard to deny that it’s a great place for checking that the hotel you’re about to book hasn’t been panned by the past thirty reviewers.  As it turns out, the very best advice I received came from much closer to home.  The site which yielded the best advice of all?  Facebook.  One ’status update’ (that small little box which you fill in to say what you’re doing) was enough to fill a couple of notebook pages of top tips.  No sooner was I ‘looking for great places to go and things to do in Madrid’, than helpful suggestions were landing in my inbox.  One list of a dozen amazing recommendations was from a good friend, Gilly, who I’d forgotten had lived in Madrid for 2 years.  Another terrific compiliation came from a recent colleague, Yuri, for whom it is her home city. 

So next time you’re plotting an escape, and as you gaze down your list of 310 million solutions and your tips from 22 million fellow travellers; just imagine;  the answers may be closer than you think.

Followers of made up statistics will recall that most accidents take place in the home.  It is arguably not surprising then, that this is where author Dave Freeman met his sad and untimely end this week, in Venice, California.  

Untimely, because Dave was just 47.  Especially sad because he was the co-author of 100 Things to Do before you Die. 

Introducing the book, he wrote;

“This life is a short journey.  How can you make sure you fill it with the most fun and that you visit all the coolest places on earth before you pack those bags for the very last time?”

Dave Freeman had managed to tick off 50 of his list of 100, and inspired thousands to do the same. 

“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do which is inconsolable.”  Sydney J Harris

Some months ago, I received a mysterious invitation, the origins of which I have yet to fully understand.  At the stroke of seven in the evening, I was to arrive outside a Tesco supermarket, close to the river in London.  There, I would be greeted and given my further instructions.

On time, and with a sense of trepidation, I arrived by taxi, in a mist of drizzle.  True to the invitation’s word, by the shop door stood a short young lady.  She carried a sign, on which was written a two digit number.  As I approached her, she gave me a quick nod, before turning on her heels and disappearing up a narrow alleyway, to the right hand side of the building.  I paused for a moment, then followed her, and within minutes we had come to a halt outside what seemed to be a large apartment building.  Once through the doors, my silent guide summoned a lift, and we stepped inside together as she pushed the button which would lead us to the top floor.  Except that, no sooner had the button been pressed, than she stepped from the lift and was gone.  I took a deep breath and waited for the doors to open.

What greeted me on the top floor was a stunning sight to behold.  The most gorgeous penthouse apartment I have ever seen, with breathtaking views spanning a moonlit London.  Glancing to my right, out and over the river, I had almost failed to notice a butler, dressed in black and white, holding a tray of champagne glasses.

Who I met and what was discussed that night I cannot share.  Amongst their number were, without doubt, some of the most interesting and influential people I have met this year.  At the end of the evening, our low-profile host bid us farewell and gave us each a single, golden key.  That key unlocks the door to the venue of the next gathering.  Where and when that will be remains a complete mystery… 

In the meantime, I have been having a think about international organisations worth exploring;

InterNations is the Global Community for Expatriates and Global Minds

Eurocircle is the European Networking Community

Sandbox is a yearly conference for talents under 30 from all over the world

A Small World is a private online community, which is designed for those who already have strong connections with one another.

Renaissance Weekend is a private, invitation only retreat for leaders in business and finance, government, the media, religion, science, technology and the arts.

The Bilderberg Group is an unofficial annual invitation only conference of around 130 guests, most of whom are persons of influence in the fields of business, media and politics.

Finally, I am excited to read that the British American Project, of which I am a fellow, makes it onto this list of ‘low profile institutions which need to be studied in more depth’.  Verrry Interrresting…

Over on the Telegraph’s excellent business blog, Richard Tyler writes about restaurant tips and tipping. Which reminds me that I’ve got a couple of useful tips for London-based waiters and waitresses today which I’m eager to pass on.

One of the best things about escaping the capital is that you can almost guarantee that the standard of service in restaurants will improve. If you’re unfortunate enough to dine out here on a regular basis, you’ll have noticed that almost every single eatery (and I struggle to think of exceptions) has this one thing in common. Miserable, inattentive, sloppy, unintuitive, rubbish rubbish RUBBISH service. Pop down to Brighton, the New Forest, Dorset or anywhere outside the M25 for that matter and things start to improve remarkably quickly.  Service is more relaxed and relaxing, it’s friendlier.  It’s just a lot better.   And I’m not just talking about the smarter places, I’m talking about the simple Italian restaurants or seaside cafes.  Well why is this? Is it that  London servers, and the central London ones in particular, ’get what they’re given’? In the face of grumpy, busy Londoners, they feel they ought to fight fire with fire? You tell me, and in the mean time, the jury is out on a single London restaurant, with the exception of Adam Street (and Jenny in particular) where this is not the case.

I remember some techniques from Disney’s service excellence training programme (which I went through over ten years ago) which may come in handy.  Some are simple things like acknowledging a guest even if you’re not ready to serve them, saying you’ll be with them as soon as possible.  This one is particularly handy for pub and bar staff, yet almost never gets used.  Others tips are more advanced.  For example, a table server should identify the ‘lead buyer’ as quickly as possible. In other words the person who they think will be paying the bill.  Then, they should position themselves opposite that person, and NOT next to them as most servers do.  Standing next to them forces them to strain their neck and puts them in a lower status position relative to the server.  Once the lead buyer has been identified, the waiter or waitress must identify their ‘hidden sales assistant’.  This could be a father-in-law, a daughter or a girlfriend.  Interesting menu items can then be sold to the hidden sales assistant, followed by quick cross checking with the lead buyer to unlock permisison.  In this way, a whole table can be moved from a one course to a two or even three course meal easily.  This means bigger sales, which lead to bigger tips (on the basis that many people add a standard amount) and more enjoyable meals all round. 

One final technique for selling specific dishes is the ‘Hook, Line and Sinker’, taught to me my the legendary Bob Brown in Florida.  This consists of a simple introduction (for example, ‘If you’re looking for a really light starter, I can recommend the Summer Salad), followed by the ‘line’, which details, briefly, the ingredients and preferably how it is made if it’s a main course.  Finally, the ’sinker’ must be used, which is a brief personal endrorsement (for example ‘it’s delicious’ or ‘I love it’).  Past great ’sinkers’ have even been known to consist of nothing more than a noise (’mm’mmmm’). 

It will not have escaped your notice that ‘lead buyers’, ‘hidden sales assistant’s and ‘hook line and sinkers’ exist everywhere in business too.  Please do let me know if one works for you this year, and especially if the deal-closing moment turns out to be a loud and hearty smack of the lips. 

Over on TechCrunch UK, the excellent Mike Butcher is wondering whether he has stumbled upon the ultimate location for a TechHub for the UK;  Goole.  With the addition of just one letter (in this case, G), this Yorkshire town could be transformed forever. 

But Mike; why stop with Goole, when there are other towns we could rebrand in our quest to fly the digital flag across Britain?

Acle in Herefordshire would become Oracle.

Eype in Dorset would transform into Skype

In a personal branding triumph, Much Birch in Herefordshire in would be reinvented as M Birch

Spey Bay in Scotland might trigger a bidding war as it morphed into EBay

And to thank them for kick-starting this movement, the town of Trunch in Norfolk would henceforth be known, as Techcrunch.

I’ve found myself walking into bookshops quite a bit recently.  This is almost certainly connected with the Blackberry confession of the previous post.  Rather than sharing the very latest finds, I’ve wandered over to the Daily Networker Library to pick out five books which I’ve returned to again and again;

The 4-Hour Workweek (Escape 9-5, live anywhere and join the new rich) by Timothy Ferriss

Rich Dad Poor Dad (What the rich teach their kids – that you can learn too) by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Getting Things Done (How to achieve stress-free productivity) by David Allen

The E-Myth Revisited (Why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it) by Michael E. Gerber

Billion Dollar Game (How three men risked it all and changed the face of television) by Peter Bazalgette

What are your favourite business books?

For Oscar Wilde it was temptation.  For me, it’s Pringles.  One of the few truly irresistible things in the kitchen, it’s a little too often that I’m tossing another empty tube towards the bin.  Or should that be the recycle bin?  Have they joined the Green revolution?  I would imagine that it’s conundrums like this which the Pringles Helpline exists to solve.  If only they were open beyond five of an evening, I’d have the answer for you right now.  I wonder if anyone ever calls that number in an unstoppable face-stuffing panic, having eaten too many crisps.  It really wouldn’t surprise me. 

Recycling was on my mind this week after listening to that rather infuriating song which combines Sweet Home Alabama with that seventies number, Werewolves of London.  Kid Rock’s remix raced to the top of the charts this summer as he sang about being ‘caught somewhere between a boy and a man’.  I’m not sure of the identity of the two gentlemen in question, nor am I sure of how one divvies up the royalty payments in a smash-hit-mashup.  What I do know is that these ‘mashups’ are all the rage in cyberspace at the moment.  The combination of two sets of data to form a slightly more interesting sum of the parts is even getting the government excited this month, with the results of their ShowUsABetter way competition.  From crime maps to plotting the location of your nearest school, technologists all over the UK are imagining how public information could be used more interestingly, with their favourite cooking ingredient often being the trusty Google Maps.   

I’ve even got Google Maps on my Blackberry these days.  Sadly this was of no use whatsoever when the darned thing was pinched out of my hand in nearby Clapham several months ago.  Before you cast your faith in human nature into the Pringle Dustbin, you’ll be pleased to hear that the device was returned safely just three days later, thanks to the fact that I’d cunningly filled out the owner information, complete with my email address.   Let this be the lesson, reader, rather than deciding to avoid sunny south London after dusk.   My saviour, the takeaway shop owner, is to be congratulated and thanked, for returning my beloved possession quicker than you could say AbraKebabra.   

My bolder Blackberry confession is that there is one little function which I have yet to re-enable on my latest handset, sent to me two weeks ago.  That function is none other than email.  Yes, technically, I can still go online to read my messages (once you WAP, it turns out you can, just, stop), however the constant drip-drip-dripping of messages has, for now, been turned off.    And let me tell you, just between us, it’s been amazing.  More creativity, more spontaneity, more enjoyment of the simple pleasures of time to myself during the day.  I’ve not yet decided on whether the tap will stay off for good.  But I thoroughly recommend a Blackberry holiday at the very least.  Go on, treat yourself.

Confessions are not what tend to make a business networking site like Linkedin tick along.  In common with its younger, more casually dressed relative Facebook, members register in their own name.  Which makes me wonder; where is all of the anonymous venting, ranting and plotting taking place?  Be it the off-the-record advice or the job-hating cathartic diatribe, is there a FacelessBook waiting in the wings?  One which will echo to the sounds of credit-crunched execs letting off steam?  At the very least, I think that a hotline should be created.  Perhaps it could run from five in the evening until nine in the morning.  I know just the people to run it. 

Imagine my concern when two consecutive ‘tweets’ from the Telegraph News Twitter account today read;

Donkey rides disappear from Margate beach after 120 years

and…

6-foot boa constrictor on the loose in Kent

Thankfully it turns out that the two stories are in no way connected. 

Many years ago, London’s networking queen Carole Stone used to produce Any Questions for the BBC.  Unsurprisingly, this fuelled the creation of one of the UK’s largest and most influential address books.  Nick Pisani, who previously edited Question Time will find his wealth of high level contacts more than handy in his new role at Intelligence Squared.  This week, another excellent BBC producer, Newsnight’s Peter Barron announced that he is leaving to join Google, as head of communications and PR for the UK and Ireland.

At Google, Peter will work with Rachel Whetstone, newly appointed Global Director of Communications, who will be based in Silicon Valley. Rachel is married to Steve Hilton, who went from co-founding Good Business to working as head of strategy for David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party.  His equivalent at Number 10 is Stephen Carter, who previously ran Brunswick Group, and OFCOM before that. 

All of this makes me wonder; who is going to produce our flagship TV programmes in the future?  And I think you can guess where I’m going with this one.  Alistair Campbell, your country needs you.