The Power in a Link: Open Doors, Close Deals, and Change the Way You Do Business Using LinkedIn

Book Description Publication Date: 

December 27, 2011 Make your LinkedIn account work for you and your business LinkedIn is not just another social media tool. It's the world's largest professional online network, with over 120 million users in over two hundred countries. The Power in a Link shows you how to employ this remarkable yet misunderstood resource to execute networking strategies and processes for your business, secure deals, and use (not abuse) your existing relationships. 

Author David Gowel, the man the Boston Globe has called the "LinkedIn Jedi," delivers the understanding necessary to map networks, stimulate word of mouth, and leverage unparalleled business intelligence to close deals. Arguing that LinkedIn is not social media at all, but instead belongs in a category all of its own, the book cuts through the noise in the crowded social media world with practical applications and explains why all professionals should embrace it in order to achieve success faster through relationships. 

This book: 

• Advises readers how to spur effective network growth by projecting the right message online 
• Demonstrates how to build and enhance readers' online presence 
• Shows readers how to seek targeted introductions to the connections that matter most 
• Explains why LinkedIn has been misunderstood and therefore misused by many users as well as how to correct past LinkedIn mistakes 

Partly conceptual, partly autobiographical, and partly technical, The Power in a Link includes success stories from Gowel and other professionals that demonstrate the effectiveness of his techniques. 

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Make your LinkedIn account work for you and your businessLinkedIn is not just another social media tool. It's the world's largest professional online network, with over 120 million users in more than two hundred countries. The Power in a Link shows you how to employ this remarkable yet misunderstood resource to map networks, stimulate word of mouth, and leverage unparalleled business intelligence to close deals.

"I travel the globe teaching entrepreneurs and often let them know it's foolish not to actively use LinkedIn. This productivity tool is invaluable, but I probably still wouldn't be using it anywhere near the level I am today if Dave didn't ask for a warm introduction to me so he could show me the light."

—BILL AULET, Managing Director and Senior Lecturer, MIT Entrepreneurship Center

"Dave Gowel has shown me that when used properly, LinkedIn allows professionals todisplace hope with decisive action."

—ROGER STAUBACH, NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback and Executive Chariman, Americas, Jones Lang LaSalle

"Building reputation and generating word of mouth doesn't happen by accident. Dave's book provides a fresh, strategic approach to our most basic professional activities."

—JEFFREY BUSSGANG, General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners, and author of Mastering the VC Game

"V=n(n-1). Metcalfe's Law has seen iterations and 'improvements,' but the basic point still holds: the value of a network is an exponential function of the number of nodes. Most people argue over things like the relative strength of connections, V=n(log n), or the added value of groups, V=2n. They're all missing the real story, Gowel's Corollary: the value of a network is only as valuable as how you use it: V=U[n(n-1)]. As Dave teaches us, page by page, anything times zero is zero!"

—GREGG FAIRBROTHERS, Adjunct Professor of Business Administration, Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, author of From Idea to Success

About the Author

• Visit Amazon's Dave Gowel Page

Biography

DAVID GOWEL is the CEO of RockTech, a software company that allows professionals to quickly adopt new technologies, with offices in Cambridge and New York City. He cofounded the marketing firm Clearly Creative, where his successes earned him the title of "LinkedIn Jedi" in the Boston Globe. David taught at MIT as an assistant professor of military leadership after serving in Iraq as an Army Ranger and combat platoon leader. He is currently a board member of the East End House Community Center and a founding member of the Kendall Square Association in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dave Gowel started his career in the U.S. Army as a cadet at West Point. He became an Army Ranger, served as a Platoon Leader in Iraq, and punctuated his military career by teaching leadership as an Assistant Professor within MIT's ROTC program. It was there that his duties included acting as the Harvard liaison, which coincided with Facebook's explosive growth. Having seen the social revolution first hand while teaching his Cambridge students, Dave realized there was a need in the business world for better education on the topic. Dave left MIT in 2008 to lead the company he co-founded with his wife in 2007, Clearly Creative, which consulted on the integration of new social technologies into traditional marketing, PR, sales and communications programs. While leading Clearly Creative, Dave earned the title of LinkedIn Jedi in the Boston Globe and was warmly introduced to Mark Rockefeller, with whom Dave co-founded RockTech. With offices in Cambridge and New York City, Dave now leads this software company to more effectively scale the technology training he formerly delivered in a more consultative fashion.

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