Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Speaking at BayFuBai Event Sunday on Open Networking
I'm a member of a networking group called BayFuBai, composed mostly of Chinese and Chinese American professionals in the Silicon Valley area. I've been invited to speak at this Sunday afternoon's meeting.
The title of my talk is: "How being an open networker can help you in your career".
Here's a brief description of the talk:
What does it mean to be an open networker? What are some of its advantages and disadvantages? What is the theory of weak links and how will it help you in your career? If you decide to try out being an open networker, what are some concrete ways to do so? In this workshop, Josh will share some thoughts on why it may be advantageous to be an open networker. He will also provider specific suggestions on how to try out being an open networker for career advancement.
Here are the event details:
Date & Time: Sunday, 10/18/09, 3:30 PM PST
Location: Google Building 46 (Near Huff Ave and Charleston Ave in Mountain View)
If you're in the Bay Area and are interested in attending, please come by!
-Josh
Labels: BayFuBai, Networking, Speaking
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Start Twittering!
I was inspired by Tim Chang's talk to create a Twitter account and start twittering. So, here's my Twitter account. Please follow me on Twitter!
If you don't have a Twitter account yet, I highly recommend it. You can read about so many things, including the latest news on what's going on in Iran.
Stay connected with people you meet at conferences
A long time ago, I met Tim Chang at an Entertainment and Media conference. Tim is a venture capitalist at Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). My usual habit is to invite the folks that I meet to keep in touch by connecting on LinkedIn. Tim graciously accepted my invitation.
A few months ago, Tim pinged me to see if I was attending a conference that he was speaking at. Although I wasn't planning to attend the conference, I used that opportunity to invite Tim to speak to the Asian American Google Network (AAGN).
Tim spoke to AAGN members from all over the country last week, and it was a smashing success! Tim's basic message to the predominantly Asian American audience was that we should continue to network with people in Asia Pacific, and leverage our unique cultural backgrounds and experiences. Right now in China, there are a lot of opportunities for "returnees".
The main point of this post is to encourage you to stay connected with people you meet at conferences. They can be super helpful in the future for your career development or networking.
Networking with fellow B-School students
It's been almost a year since I posted to this blog!! My excuse was the birth of our second child, Aidan. Well, that's not much of an excuse.
Today I met Michael Ross, who is a student at my alma mater, UCLA Anderson School of Management. Michael is a summer MBA intern with Google, in the group I was in previously, AdWords. Here is Michael's very impressive background on LinkedIn.
One of the first things Michael said was, "I saw your blog, but it's been a while since you posted something!"
OK, that motivated me to post something to this blog. Hopefully, I'll post to this blog a bit more frequently.
-Josh
Monday, June 23, 2008
TradeVibes, Great for Doing Company Research
I received the email below from Nancy Wu, Product Marketing Manager at TradeVibes to checkout / join their site on June 17th, which I did. The next day, I invited my team at Google and some of my other colleagues, because I think TradeVibes is great for doing company research, especially on private Internet companies. I also really like the feature where users can vote whether they are bullish or bearish on a company's future.
Today, I received an email from Nancy that I've won their Invite Giveaway contest, a Wii a Week! Here's their blog about the contest, and my winning the 2nd week's prize.
So, I encourage everyone to join TradeVibes (its' free) and then invite your friends. I think it's a great tool.
-Josh
___________
Nancy Wu has invited you to join TradeVibes
You should check out TradeVibes. It's a great site to learn about new startups and follow industry trends.
For Startup Enthusiasts: TradeVibes is a great way to discover cool new startups, read up on startup related news and discussions, share your opinions, and find out which startups are hot.
For Aspiring Entrepreneurs: TradeVibes is the place to follow industry trends, find startup ideas, and share and discuss your ideas and opinions.
For Entrepreneurs: TradeVibes is an excellent tool to promote your startup, research competitors, and find out what the community thinks about your company.
For Job Seekers: TradeVibes is a terrific way to find out more about prospective employers and the latest industry happenings.
For Investors: TradeVibes is a great way to hear about hot new startups, do in-depth research, and hear what the community is saying.
Have a great week,
~ Nancy
Dear Joshua Li,
Today, I received an email from Nancy that I've won their Invite Giveaway contest, a Wii a Week! Here's their blog about the contest, and my winning the 2nd week's prize.
So, I encourage everyone to join TradeVibes (its' free) and then invite your friends. I think it's a great tool.
-Josh
___________
Nancy Wu has invited you to join TradeVibes
You should check out TradeVibes. It's a great site to learn about new startups and follow industry trends.
For Startup Enthusiasts: TradeVibes is a great way to discover cool new startups, read up on startup related news and discussions, share your opinions, and find out which startups are hot.
For Aspiring Entrepreneurs: TradeVibes is the place to follow industry trends, find startup ideas, and share and discuss your ideas and opinions.
For Entrepreneurs: TradeVibes is an excellent tool to promote your startup, research competitors, and find out what the community thinks about your company.
For Job Seekers: TradeVibes is a terrific way to find out more about prospective employers and the latest industry happenings.
For Investors: TradeVibes is a great way to hear about hot new startups, do in-depth research, and hear what the community is saying.
Have a great week,
~ Nancy
Dear Joshua Li,
You have been invited by Nancy Wu to participate in the TradeVibes beta.
TradeVibes is the first structured wiki for startup company information. As a member, you'll have access to detailed information about startups in our database. TradeVibes is also the best way to discover hot new startups and follow industry news and trends. TradeVibes members can also add companies to their watch lists and get notified when major events and news occur.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
AAGN Speaker: Alina Cho
In addition to being the Founder and Chair of the Asian American Google Network (AAGN), I'm also the Co-Chair of the AAGN Speaker Series committee. Our first AAGN speaker is Alina Cho, a CNN correspondent. Khee Lee from the Google New York office is the organizer of this event.
Here are some event details:
When: Tuesday, June 24, 10 - 11 am PST (1 PM EST)
Where: Held in NY Tech Talk. Mountain View VC location is: MTV-CL5-1-Adal
Who: All AAGN members and Googlers.
Speaker: Alina Cho, a CNN correspondent will be speaking.
Here's Alina Cho's bio.
Contact Khee Lee (New York office) for more details.
Here are some event details:
When: Tuesday, June 24, 10 - 11 am PST (1 PM EST)
Where: Held in NY Tech Talk. Mountain View VC location is: MTV-CL5-1-Adal
Who: All AAGN members and Googlers.
Speaker: Alina Cho, a CNN correspondent will be speaking.
Here's Alina Cho's bio.
Contact Khee Lee (New York office) for more details.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Introducing the Asian American Google Network (AAGN)
In the Fall of 2007, I started the Asian American Google Network (AAGN) in order to better network with other Asian American professionals at Google. Recently, I wrote out our mission statement and updated this in my LinkedIn profile:
"Our main goals are to support Google employee retention and advancement, educate Googlers concerning Asian American culture and perform community outreach. We do this by enabling professional development, networking, mentorship, community service and knowledge sharing."
AAGN has committees in several offices in North America, as well as committees in these functional areas: Mentorship, Speaker Series, Educational / Cultural, Social Events, Community Service and Communications.
I invite all active Google employees to join AAGN. You can learn more about AAGN through this intranet wiki page: http://go/aagn
Checkout/join the AAGN networking groups on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Please feel free to invite other Google employees to join AAGN. Thanks!
-Josh Li
Chair, Asian American Google Network
"Our main goals are to support Google employee retention and advancement, educate Googlers concerning Asian American culture and perform community outreach. We do this by enabling professional development, networking, mentorship, community service and knowledge sharing."
AAGN has committees in several offices in North America, as well as committees in these functional areas: Mentorship, Speaker Series, Educational / Cultural, Social Events, Community Service and Communications.
I invite all active Google employees to join AAGN. You can learn more about AAGN through this intranet wiki page: http://go/aagn
Checkout/join the AAGN networking groups on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Please feel free to invite other Google employees to join AAGN. Thanks!
-Josh Li
Chair, Asian American Google Network
Friday, March 07, 2008
Networking at Media Summit in NYC next week (3/12-13)?
Are you interested in networking at Media Summit in NYC next week?
I will be attending the Media Summit in New York City on 3/12 or 3/13. If you're interested in networking during one of the breaks (even if you're not attending the conference), then please let me know. I'll also be attending the "Content Discovery: Charting New Courses for Broadband Video Dinner" on 3/12.
Here's the event's website:
http://www.digitalhollywood.com/MediaSummit.html
Location: McGraw-Hill Building, 49th St. & 6th Ave., New York City
Breaks are:
1) 10:15 - 10:45 AM
2) 12 - 12:30 PM
3) 1:45 - 2:15 PM
4) 6 - 6:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/12
I look forward to seeing you at this event!
-Josh Li
I will be attending the Media Summit in New York City on 3/12 or 3/13. If you're interested in networking during one of the breaks (even if you're not attending the conference), then please let me know. I'll also be attending the "Content Discovery: Charting New Courses for Broadband Video Dinner" on 3/12.
Here's the event's website:
http://www.digitalhollywood
Location: McGraw-Hill Building, 49th St. & 6th Ave., New York City
Breaks are:
1) 10:15 - 10:45 AM
2) 12 - 12:30 PM
3) 1:45 - 2:15 PM
4) 6 - 6:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/12
I look forward to seeing you at this event!
-Josh Li
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Networking While On a Business Trip
Wow, I can't believe it's almost been a year since my last post! Some of you may know that I've relocated from the New York / Connecticut area to Silicon Valley last April. I'm working at Google, where I'm the Head of the Entertainment & Media vertical for AdWords, within the Online Sales and Operations group.
Last week, I traveled down to Los Angeles to interview first year students at my alma mater, the UCLA Anderson School of Management for MBA internships at Google.
As Keith Ferrazzi recommends in his book, "Never Eat Alone", I took the advantage of the business trip to reconnect with many friends and acquaintances. Prior to my trip, I emailed many friends based in LA, to see if they wanted to meet up for dinner. Seven of us ended up having a good sushi dinner at Hide Sushi, on Sawtelle Blvd. It was a diverse group, consisting of my friends from Boston Chinese Evangelical Church, Harvard College, NAAAP and Avery Dennison. I had not seen most of these friends for many years.
I also met up with one of my mentors from UCLA Anderson, Bruce Rognlien for breakfast. Bruce was the leader of program within the Entrepreneur Association at UCLA Anderson called "TEC On-Campus", which is now "Vistage On-Campus". This was my absolutely favorite extra-curricular activity while in B-School. Bruce was a retired entrepreneur and former CEO of Associated Travel.
Every month, our whole TEC group (15 of us students plus Bruce) spent a Friday together. Bruce would make appointments for us to visit a prominent entrepreneur or business leader based in the LA area. The entrepreneur would speak to us in the morning very candidly about his or her career successes and failures, and then have lunch with us. In the afternoon, Bruce led us through various career development discussions, or gave us time on the agenda to pitch our ideas for building a start-up to our peers and receive honest feedback. During the quarter, Bruce also met with us one-to-one for personal career and life counseling. Needless to say, I've really looked forward to our monthly TEC meetings and treasured all of Bruce's advice. To this day, I've never found a networking group quite like it. So, it was great to catch up with Bruce at breakfast last week.
That's part of the reason I wanted to share this with everyone. Most of us will go on occasional business trips. It's very easy to literally "Eat Alone", or with colleagues that you see frequently. However, I would recommend following Keith Ferrazzi's advice and plan to reconnect with old friends and acquaintances (or even invite some new people to meet up).
Another recommendation is that if you're a successful entrepreneur, I would highly recommend joining Vistage, since the Vistage On-Campus groups are modeled after the normal Vistage groups.
Happy networking!
-Josh Li
By the way, I've run out of LinkedIn invites to connect, but am an open networker on LinkedIn. Feel free to invite me to connect to you on LinkedIn and I'll accept.
Last week, I traveled down to Los Angeles to interview first year students at my alma mater, the UCLA Anderson School of Management for MBA internships at Google.
As Keith Ferrazzi recommends in his book, "Never Eat Alone", I took the advantage of the business trip to reconnect with many friends and acquaintances. Prior to my trip, I emailed many friends based in LA, to see if they wanted to meet up for dinner. Seven of us ended up having a good sushi dinner at Hide Sushi, on Sawtelle Blvd. It was a diverse group, consisting of my friends from Boston Chinese Evangelical Church, Harvard College, NAAAP and Avery Dennison. I had not seen most of these friends for many years.
I also met up with one of my mentors from UCLA Anderson, Bruce Rognlien for breakfast. Bruce was the leader of program within the Entrepreneur Association at UCLA Anderson called "TEC On-Campus", which is now "Vistage On-Campus". This was my absolutely favorite extra-curricular activity while in B-School. Bruce was a retired entrepreneur and former CEO of Associated Travel.
Every month, our whole TEC group (15 of us students plus Bruce) spent a Friday together. Bruce would make appointments for us to visit a prominent entrepreneur or business leader based in the LA area. The entrepreneur would speak to us in the morning very candidly about his or her career successes and failures, and then have lunch with us. In the afternoon, Bruce led us through various career development discussions, or gave us time on the agenda to pitch our ideas for building a start-up to our peers and receive honest feedback. During the quarter, Bruce also met with us one-to-one for personal career and life counseling. Needless to say, I've really looked forward to our monthly TEC meetings and treasured all of Bruce's advice. To this day, I've never found a networking group quite like it. So, it was great to catch up with Bruce at breakfast last week.
That's part of the reason I wanted to share this with everyone. Most of us will go on occasional business trips. It's very easy to literally "Eat Alone", or with colleagues that you see frequently. However, I would recommend following Keith Ferrazzi's advice and plan to reconnect with old friends and acquaintances (or even invite some new people to meet up).
Another recommendation is that if you're a successful entrepreneur, I would highly recommend joining Vistage, since the Vistage On-Campus groups are modeled after the normal Vistage groups.
Happy networking!
-Josh Li
By the way, I've run out of LinkedIn invites to connect, but am an open networker on LinkedIn. Feel free to invite me to connect to you on LinkedIn and I'll accept.
