[…] An exciting, and unanticipated, benefit of blogging has been the new friendships that have been created (unanticipated but very cool). My friendship with Chad started just after he launched his company, Posima. I’ve enjoyed having a front-row seat as Chad has gone through the ups and downs of starting a business. I asked Chad for his take on “what I’ve learned after working for a few years” and I found a lot of truth in what he shared (it may also be a valuable lesson for my study on influence). Three years out of college I’ve sold computers for Dell, worked in the grueling Texas sun doing excavation then spent the last 16 months developing my site management web application. Some people say, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Or, “It’s not personal, it’s business.” I like both of these sayings, but they are not always 100% accurate. The best advice I can give to anyone is “Be Likable.” […]

I too read the Esquire article with great interest. In fact I think there are three, now one on perceived obligation, one on using someones first name and a third on eye contact. I am looking for some more ideas to try on my own. A google serach to try to find some more yielded zero but perhaps I am using the wrong key words. If you have a list of these little experiments with descriptions or keywords that would help me find them, it would be very much appreciated. I tried an interesting one recently where I waved to people on the street while driving by or waved to them when I was walking the they were driving by. The results were very similar… most people did wave back and the exchange ended with a strange “do I know that guy”? look. Its been fun. No redeeming purpose or influence gained just a fun exercise to see what happens when you do something socially acceptable out of context. Thank you for your help. James