Assignment 20A - Growing Your Social Capital

1.     Domain Expert

a.     The first person I talked to was Clay Ramsdell. He is the CEO of Digital Archive Technology.

b.     Ramsdell falls under the domain expert category as his company converts documents into online archives and that is exactly what I want to happen to the books at Libray West so he is the perfect person to ask about the process.

c.     I called the company through the phone number on their website.

d.     Ramsdell did me the favor of allowing me to interview him during his busy day. I don’t think he expects anything in return except a possible reference for his company even though he is out in California.

e.     I think that this relationship is extremely beneficial as it provides a doorway to a crucial part of my plan for the library.

 2.     Market Expert

a.     The second person I talked to was Judith Russell the Dean of University Libraries.

b.     Russell falls under the expert category because she is fully involved in the libraries here at UF.

c.     I made a phone call to the phone number listed on the website.

d.     Russell did me a favor by letting me interview her and she expects that I turn in a quality assignment in return

e.     I think that this relationship is huge because I had direct contact with the person in charge of the library that I want to change.

     

3.     Important Supplier

a.     Todd Johnson grew up in Florida and went to college at FSU. He has worked through various different furniture companies throughout his career.

b.     Todd falls under the important supplier category. He doesn’t directly work with libraries, but he works in the furniture industry so he provides valuable insight for the logistics of replacing all the bookshelves with tables and chairs.

c.     Todd is an old family friend so I asked my dad for his phone number and called him.

d.     He did me the favor of allowing me to pitch my idea to him and provide feedback for it. He didn’t have any return expectations as he has been a longtime family friend and was more than happy to help out.

e.     This relationship will help me exploit an opportunity as it provides a wealth of knowledge for an area that I am not experienced in.

This experienced helped me realize how important networking really is. Having contact with these different people provides valuable resources and insight in areas that I am not too knowledgeable in. This differed from my past networking experiences as this was all driven by one goal and I had to go out and find specific people instead of me just meeting people randomly.