Networks – what’s it all about?

My LinkedIn profile shows that I am “connected” to 46 other people. These 46 can connect me with around another 3,600 people, and through them I can connect with 599,400 others (i.e. with 2 introductions). This is a potentially incredibly valuable network – even the 3,000 who are only one introduction away. Some people in my network are connected directly with over 500 others, so the size of their wider networks must be immensely huge!

And yet I don’t know what to do to mobilise this potential! Through LinkedIn I have made a good connection with one other person that I did not already know – Reut Schwartz-Hebron (you can find a link to her KindExcellence blog on the left). I hope that Reut and I will be collaborating on a couple of writing projects together. But what about the other 599,999 people? We all have such incredible networks, if only we can find ways of really connecting with each other. Ideas welcome!

I wrote my last exam this morning for my MSc studies in Public Policy and Management through London University. These studies have been a good, if solitary, learning experience for me, and have given me deep insights into public management theories. Part of the value of the programme has been its comparative nature, and I have had the opportunity to read case studies from all over the world. A particular focus of the programme has been on theories of New Public Management, and an exploration of the tensions between rational, linear processes and more chaotic, ‘garbage can’ processes that need more flexible, iterative thinking. The importance of learning processes for public agencies has also been highlighted.

It appears that our new cabinet is receiving some luke-warm and tentative support, which is good news. Barbara Hogan is the new Minister of Health and her appointment has been widely applauded. It is good news that she has now said that she is making HIV and AIDS her top priority (and what an indictment that this is finally happening only late in 2008).