Interesting recent article in Forbes – Social Media for the Enterprise: A CEO’s Best Friend. The post by Tom Kelly, CEO of Moxie Software. Kelly advises companies everywhere to invest in enterprise social software.
Kelly recounts a project to rename his company. He used social software to get everyone involved in the process, drawing ideas from the accounting and marketing staffs alike.
“As CEO, that’s what I most appreciate about enterprise social software: The way it bridges the gap between what’s personal and what’s business.”
Um, is that a good thing?
I like having a gap between my personal and my professional life. I find it helps keep both lives from running amuck. And crossing back and forth across that bridge too often can make you seem truly unprofessional.
Many stories have surfaced of real-life, offline consequences for employees who brag about goofing off or bad-mouthing their company online. And even though we are aware of the risks we sometimes will go ahead and post a joke that our college buddies would really enjoy, without thinking about what our boss would think when she sees it in her facebook feed.
Likewise, if you don’t shut the door on ‘professional you’ at some point during the day, your family and friends will view you as a work-obsessed nutter.
From experience, I can tell you that the questionable decisions that guide a facebook feed, will find their way onto even an internal social media feed. So, today’s advice: Forget about the bridge and remind yourself about that gap between personal and professional you and remind yourself what its for and why its good.
