LinkedIn, finally paying off, 200 contacts achieved

Lately I have been doing a lot of networking. I have to say, Linked In is a great tool. Here is my public profile if you want to research me, or link to me...

If you aren't using Linked In professionally, then you should. At first, it took some effort to get it going. More and more people began using it, and it has reached critical mass. For instance, I was looking for people with Sharepoint experience. Voila! I searched and found that there are several people out there, only 2 degrees away, that know people I am linked to. I reached out to them... we will see how that goes.

It's a great tool and, IMO, is just now becoming very valuable.

Oh, and as the title of this post says, I just reached 200 contacts...

The Driver, by Alexander Roy

Another book review... this time, it's a fun book... not intended for professional growth or learning... the book is The Driver, by Alexander Roy.

At first, I had reservations about the book... I opened it on a plane to Chicago and started reading anyway. After 30 minutes, I was enthralled and had to keep reading until I finished it, which was on the plane back the next day.

This is a story of pure determination. Alex, or Polizei, as his friends and admirers call him, is a rally champion. He is willing to sacrifice everything for his dream. He is thorough in his planning and doesn't always play by rules... well for that matter, he never plays by the rules.

He has a web site setup called gumball144, which has all kinds of video clips, pictures and other media for you to enjoy. I would recommend reading the book first...

All I can say is that this book was most excellent and I have to thank my good friend, Michael Stuart, for recommending it to me. I am inspired to go do something like this, now.

Here are a few things I learned from the book (yes, I was still learning things even though it was a fun book :)):

• Determination is very powerful
• I should widen my scope of reading and not only focus on work-related books
• I need to enjoy life a little bit more
• We are all capable of amazing things, like driving non-stop for 32 hours

Oh, and if you are really interested, he has a movie coming out soon. It looks interesting...