Are you as frustrated as I am with this election cycle? In business we try to build relationships with our customers. In politics it seems the objective is to destroy your opponent. I'm struck by the difference.

Even in sports where winning is the true measure of performance, in all the interviews with the winning players and coaches I've watched after a game they compliment the performance of the other team and talk about how fortunate, or lucky, they were to win. That's being professional. It's also being practical - they never know what team they might be playing for down the road.

There's a big difference between politics and professional sports. The outcome of a sporting event is unlikely to affect my children, the environment or the rest of the world. Even though we elect "businessmen" to high office they still can't seem to use simple business tools to run the country. Why can't we examine the projected return on investment when we decide to spend tax dollars? Why don't we do cost-benefits analyses on all proposed legislation? Why can't we examine the facts instead of indulging the fears?

In business we need to do what's right for the business. That often requires painful decisions - raising prices, laying people off, reducing pay. But these are decisions that are usually made based on a plan for future profitability, return on investment. In business we can't afford to be reactionary, we try to do what is right because it is the right thing to do.

There's a saying in the stock market that when everyone is buying it's
probably time to sell. I think there's a similar phenomenon today in social networking. If everyone is doing it, it's likely we'll all start seeing diminishing returns. The savvy investor is the  one who is prepared for the next market move and the the savvy business owner is the one who invests his energy preparing for the next revolution. Relationships will always be built one person at a time. The tools will continue to evolve and become better, so seek out the ones that will have the biggest impact on the relationships you are building.