I’m possibly one of the most fortunate guys in the Social Business space. I’ve had the benefits of being a practitioner in a very successful social evolution at Alcatel-Lucent and on top of that, be part of the 2.0 Adoption Council since its inception, but that all changed for me this past February where I was presented with a fantastic opportunity to come and work for Yammer.
There was however an unexpected side effect that I was totally unprepared for. I was booted out of these 2 thriving communities that became very much a part of my life. Imagine being shut out from engaging with friends and colleagues in the very topics that you are so passionate about. Of course there is still Twitter, but I will say being limited to 140 characters does present its challenges when trying to figure out where to take social business next. This is especially true since I also was a Jive customer and have made many friends there. It seems that there’s this unspoken rule that you really don’t socialize with other vendors in an open forum.
I am also fortunate to have this great new community of young, energetic and enthusiastic colleagues at Yammer who keep my on my toes, but to be fair, I’m not quite ready to close the book on my network and start over. Enter the Community Back Channel (#cmtybc) on The Brainyard (Information Week). Thanks to a bunch of (now) friends and fellow practitioners who realized that even though things are changing rapidly that we wanted a place where our relationships could transcend our employers and or areas that we decide to explore.
What I love is the Mission of the #cmtybc:
Advance the art and practice of community building by gathering active and engaged people together in a vibrant, trusting, no-sales-zone where we can learn from each other and from the experience of participating in a model community of our own.
The mission continues, but I believe that this very precisely sums up where I see HUGE value. The focus is on advancing social business. Since a lot of my focus in the social business is around behaviors and what’s next, I now have a group of people that I can talk to, shake out my thoughts, share my experience and seek advice. Having known many of the folks here, what I love most is that we want to help each other. This is not just amongst each other, I see it time and time again, helping new folks who are passionate about it get up to speed, or sort through some business challenge. This is what makes me proud to be part of this community.
Are you a practitioner looking for a group of people who want to change the way companies do business? If so, then I encourage you to check out the Community Backchannel.
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