Social networks are like grease - in some cases, gasoline - for our personal business networking machines. If you aren't plugged in, you will be out-done by better-connected, hyper-networked colleagues and competitors.

Building new connections is a critical part of building a new economy. The American education system, as flawed as it is, is great for the creative class because of the way it mixes up networks.

Business culture operates differently in different cities around the world. But I don't think it's possible to design one system that incorporates all social norms for networking. Human beings are just too diverse.

The things that make us safest from others make us least from ourselves.

Along with planes, running water, electricity, and motorized transportation, the internet is now a fundamental fact of modern life.

LinkedIn is very good for browsing relationships and hooking into your contacts' networks. It re-connected me with high-level execs I hadn't talked to for some time, who then helped me close various deals.

There's nothing native about young people's engagement with technology.