In the last post I mentioned Dina Mehta’s blog. It’s well worth checking out, especially this post on why/how blogs are good for/in the business world:

"My husband who's a die-hard 'company man', a Senior Executive in a Multinational firm, who 'not-so-quietly' has been observing my preoccupation with blogging, surprised me. He's the kind of guy that wants to see 'immediate action' - a return on investment - a firm contract for instance, as a result of the time i spend networking online and blogging. The more 'intangibles' like learning, growing from connecting with people and minds across the world, accelerating knowledge and change as a result, don't make that much sense to him - its the way he's been conditioned by management school and the workplace.

I shared with him some of the exchanges i've been having with many people across the world - connections made through our respective blogs. I also showed him a few blogs by people employed by large companies - let him have control over the mouse - it was really fascinating to observe how he got more and more absorbed in reading, clicking on links, reading some more ....

At the end of this little session, i asked him three questions:

- would he feel more comfortable now, having read his blog, approaching this person as a potential client, for business?

- would he feel more comfortable interacting with his own colleagues - not just those working with him directly - but peers across offices countrywide and globally - if they had such blog-like spaces?

- can he see how such connections - either with a potential client or with a set of colleagues - can indeed help accelerate growth?

And his answer to all three, with a bit of wonder, was an unequivocal YES!"