I spend a great deal of time at a command prompt on my Windows system. I recently found a a nice little Windows XP PowerToy that allows you to right click on a folder within windows explorer and then click a menu item to open a command prompt with the directory set to the folder you right-clicked on. How did I live without this for so many years?
Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx and download the "Open Command Window Here" power toy. (I actually did it by hacking the registry, but avoiding regedit is good practice).
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Linked In Recommendations
To what extent do you think your Linked In recommendations of others, and others' recommendations of you reflects on you?
An old colleague requests a recommendation - you kind of know him/her, but not well. Or maybe you know him/her, but don't respect his/her work. Do you recommend? An incompetent ex-colleague offers a well-articulated recommendation for you. Do you accept?
NO !
Don't do it.
Maintain a high bar for your recommendations so that they mean something. Turn down requests for recommendations for anyone who you wouldn't hire yourself - into your own department, or, better, into your own company. I think the latter is a pretty good rule of thumb.
Don't accept recommendations from people who you would not recommend yourself. The volume of recommendations is not important; it's the quality - both from how well they are articulated and from the standards of the source of the recommendation.
I was thinking at one point of asking someone for a recommendation. This person has a title that would have made for an impressive recommendation. Then I saw that she recommended a person for whom I did not have high regard. I decided against asking. Why? My recommendation would have been devalued by the other recommendation. Granted - not many others would have known or understood... but... I would have known. And others' may have learned.
I want to be recommended only by people for whom I have the highest regard and who I would have no hesitation recommending.
And I want to be recommended by folks who have recommended others who have achieved a high bar of performance.
And I insist on only recommending those who I feel I can honestly promote - based on my interactions and experience.
You too, should maintain high standards in your approach to recommendations.
An old colleague requests a recommendation - you kind of know him/her, but not well. Or maybe you know him/her, but don't respect his/her work. Do you recommend? An incompetent ex-colleague offers a well-articulated recommendation for you. Do you accept?
NO !
Don't do it.
Maintain a high bar for your recommendations so that they mean something. Turn down requests for recommendations for anyone who you wouldn't hire yourself - into your own department, or, better, into your own company. I think the latter is a pretty good rule of thumb.
Don't accept recommendations from people who you would not recommend yourself. The volume of recommendations is not important; it's the quality - both from how well they are articulated and from the standards of the source of the recommendation.
I was thinking at one point of asking someone for a recommendation. This person has a title that would have made for an impressive recommendation. Then I saw that she recommended a person for whom I did not have high regard. I decided against asking. Why? My recommendation would have been devalued by the other recommendation. Granted - not many others would have known or understood... but... I would have known. And others' may have learned.
I want to be recommended only by people for whom I have the highest regard and who I would have no hesitation recommending.
And I want to be recommended by folks who have recommended others who have achieved a high bar of performance.
And I insist on only recommending those who I feel I can honestly promote - based on my interactions and experience.
You too, should maintain high standards in your approach to recommendations.
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