Ravenweb Blog

I received the following email from a fellow business professional in my area. He was following up on my having introduced him to another individual in my network who I thought would be able to help him explore career opportunities. His brief note sums up why I connect people and the benefits of a large, extended network. Personally, it was gratifying to observe two interesting people in my network come together and help each other out. Note that I have omitted personally identifying details out of respect for both people. ## Hi Frank, Last we spoke, I was looking at COMPANY ... I wanted to let you know I'm starting a new role Monday where I'll be running the DEPARTMENT. I'm super excited and grateful to have a second chance at working in economic development in CITY.  I also wanted to send you a huge thanks as your introduction to PERSON led to several other introductions which ultimately triggered the consulting work I've been doing for COMPANY for ...

In July, I will be presenting at the 2014 IBM Digital Experience Conference, an event focused on the latest technologies, best practices, and the business benefits of delivering great digital experiences. Below is the description for my session: Session:  BUS-S20 Date/Time:   Monday, July 21, 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Successfully Enabling Enterprise Content Management, Cloud, Mobile, and Social Business at Superior Group Superior Group focuses on the agile delivery of people, process and project outsourcing solutions. Our session will detail how this organization accelerated its content management and social business needs by implementing a combination of content management, cloud, mobile, and collaboration solutions. Attend this session and you will have an opportunity to learn from Frank Gullo, Director of Digital and Mobile Strategy at Superior Group and IBM Social Business Insights blog contributor, on how a mid-sized organization transformed its digital ...

We talk of Father's Day, and think of one-on-one time with Dad, fishing and catch, and gifts of ties and tools. I appreciate gifts like these as much as anyone, but what I value most are the non-tangible gifts and life lessons that my daughter gives as a matter of course, that are part of the big girl she has become. Below are some of the many Father's Day "gifts" I have received over the years, and my thank yous to my daughter. Thank you for helping me learn to put someone else's well being and interests above my own. Thank you for reminding me of the importance of patience, especially when it's taking a long time to leave for work because a certain little person is taking her time getting ready and putting on her shoes. Thank you for your laughter, silliness, and our crazy, kicking games. Thank you for your willingness to try new things. Thank you for your curiosity and endless questions of why and how things work. Thank you for your creativity a...

I recently volunteered at the 2014 NY Special Olympics, during the volleyball matches on Saturday, July 7. The games were intense and fun to watch, and the athletes were more than impressive. I also enjoyed spending time with two of my fellow volunteer firefighters. Reflecting on the day, I think what stayed with me the most is the fact that even if you struggle in some area and are not great at something, you can excel at something else. You can be excellent. Like how these special Olympians dominated at volleyball.

I recently started a discussion about social business in a LinkedIn Group, and thought it was worthwhile to reproduce here. Do you mean social business or social business? I've noticed an increase in the divergent usage of 'social business' recently. Among my peers who work in social collaboration technologies, there's an emphasis to define social business (quoting Charlene Li and Brian Solis) as "The deep integration of social media and social methodologies into the organization to drive business impact." However, many other business professionals -- particularly those involved in social entrepreneurship -- define social business (summarizing the Wikipedia entry for 'social business') as a business or organization created to address a social problem. It will be interesting to see how the different definitions evolve and if there will be any conflation. I would love to hear opinions from this group. Link to Discussion on LinkedIn