No Friends For You

The point is, corporate firewalls are there to keep baddies out. No malware, no spyware, no viruses or trojans or whatever else.

But they also do a pretty good job of keeping people IN, too:

• No sharing of information
• Don’t meet people in your industry or get to know anybody
• Stop trying to be friends. Work, work, work!

End of the day, I believe the companies that allow their employees to share and LIVE more freely — and build in mechanisms that enable people to engage external resources on completing internal projects (asking for advice doesn’t require legal to review a 9-page contract… does it?) will get more done, faster and more efficiently.

And, if you cringe at the thought of your employees saying “hi” to a friend once in a while… maybe your management skills needs some tuning… not your network!