From WilderWeber Leadership Group, a VT KnowledgeWorks member company:

Inform.    Provide high quality relevant information concerning the business environment and strategy to people at every level.

Involve.    Involve others in big issues.   Coach high potential managers to  lead.  Involve managers in the company’s strategic goals.

Structure.   Create and use teams.   Reduce differences between levels.  Support integration of middle managers to improve  coordination.

Reward.  Recognize success regularly, even small progress steps.

Create New Thinking.  Challenge old assumptions.  Provoke new conversations.  Create dialogue to deepen understanding.

Encourage.   Listen and support.   Understand obstacles.  Establish “can do” expectations. 

Accentuate Positive Potential.    Look for potential.  Emphasize strengths and talents.  Focus on high performers.

Focus on Solutions.     Focus employees on co-creating solutions to business challenges.

Think Long-Term.  Articulate Short-Term.    Articulate short-term and long-term goals and strategies.

Get Personal.   Increase the frequency and quality of times when employees can engage with leadership personally.

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WilderWeber Leadership Group is a business consulting firm dedicated to helping leaders build sustainable advantage by facilitating change initiatives that deliver competitive marketplace focus and amplify organizational effectiveness.

VT KnowledgeWorksencourages and enables creative entrepreneurship world-wide, through innovative curriculum, local business resource centers, and a global network of cooperating regions, all focused on three essential contributors to success: clear understanding of fundamental business principles; access to timely, relevant information; and meaningful personal and corporate relationships. It is a subsidiary of the Virginia Tech Foundation, funded through the continuing confidence and enthusiasm of its clients, sponsors and friends, both corporate and individual. Its world headquarters are located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.

VT KnowledgeWorks sponsors include Attaain, Inc., BB&T, The Branch Group, Handshake 2.0, Harris Office Furniture, Hodges, Jones & Mabry, P.C., Hutchison Law Group, LeClairRyan, New River Valley Intellectual Property Law, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and The Becher Agency (TBA).

A version of this post first appeared on Handshake 2.0.

SmartCollegeVisit is an award-winning college-search and travel planning resource that works with college and university admissions offices to provide efficient on-line and mobile products for college-bound students and their families.

Smart College Visit, Inc. also:

1. won the VT KnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurial Summit Award for Best Business Concept.
2. was featured in Valley Business FRONT.
3. is a woman-owned technology company.
4. publishes Where'd They Go To School - quirky lists of famous people and where they attended college.
5. is a mobile app publisher.
6. hosts a weekly chat on Twitter called #CampusChat.
7. was invited by President Obama's Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, to attend a Whitehouse Mashup: The Convening on Consumer Information in Higher Education in September, 2011.
8. is listed in the Top 100 Education Advice Blogs by College Scholarships.
9. is listed in The Top 50 College Info Web Sites by Parents Countdown to College.
10. is founded by someone whose last name means "cheese."
11. is a VT KnowledgeWorks member company!

Smart College Visit's products include the Smart College Visit Blog, College Mom Minute, Campus Chat, Mobile Campus Guides, Smart Visit Widget, and other informational and productivity tools.

Photo: Zane J. Queijo

VT KnowledgeWorks encourages and enables creative entrepreneurship world-wide, through innovative curriculum, local business resource centers, and a global network of cooperating regions, all focused on three essential contributors to success: clear understanding of fundamental business principles; access to timely, relevant information; and meaningful personal and corporate relationships. It is a subsidiary of the Virginia Tech Foundation, funded through the continuing confidence and enthusiasm of its clients, sponsors and friends, both corporate and individual. Its world headquarters are located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.

VT KnowledgeWorks sponsors include Attaain, Inc., BB&T, The Branch Group, Handshake 2.0, Harris Office Furniture, Hodges, Jones & Mabry, P.C., Hutchison Law Group, LeClairRyan, New River Valley Intellectual Property Law, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and The Becher Agency (TBA).

From Anne Giles Clelland, Handshake Media, Incorporated, a VT KnowledgeWorks member company.

In the early days of doing business in 2012, we're not asking as we did in 2009, "Have you Googled yourself?" but stating what savvy business people think to themselves after that first word-of-mouth (WOM) referral or that first handshake of introduction: "I will Google you."

A version of I Will Google You first appeared on Handshake 2.0.

In the physical world of business, "It's who you know" begins introductory handshakes that can lead to handshakes on deals.

In the online world of business, "It's still who you know" begins a knowledge-based consideration of a handshake. But how to get known? We founded Handshake 2.0 with "It's still who you know" as a tagline to assist good companies in sharing good information about their good companies to help them get known well.

We may need to change Handshake 2.0's tagline to this: "It's still who you know - and it's what they know."

If someone in my "It's who you know" network introduces me to you for that introductory handshake and the first impression was a good one, I will return to my office and Google you.

I will Google your name, your company's name, your name + your company's name, your company's name + your industry, etc.

Why am I using Google to get to "know" you? Two reasons.

1) I want to decrease business risk.

I want to see what's online about you to learn that you are who you say you are, that your company truly exists, and that what you say about yourself and what others say about you match my impression. The more due diligence-based trust I can place in you and your corporate practices, the less risk I take.

2) I want to increase competitive advantage.

I am finding Shoshana Zuboff's assertion in The Support Economy to be increasingly true: there are two economies, one in the physical world, one online, and my company needs to operate strategically in both. I Google you to learn that your company is operating competitively in its industry both online and off. I want to learn that doing business with your company would be good for my company.

When I find your company's site, I'm glad to see Twitter and Facebook icons, but I click or tap through to see how active you are in social media. I look for the quantity and quality of your activity. My company needs your company to be participating in "both economies." If you're not competitive in one whole economy, that makes doing business with you less advantageous than doing business with someone who is competitive in both.

Handshake 2.0 is an enterprise of Handshake Media, Incorporated and as Handshake Media's representative, I will be extending handshakes of greeting in both the physical and online worlds of business in 2012. I look forward to meeting you. I will return to my office later and Google you. If we're at a business luncheon and the meeting is boring, with my smartphone, I won't wait. Within minutes of meeting you, I'll be Googling you.

Photo: Dan Smith

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Handshake Media, Incorporated is a communications company specializing in public relations and mobile technologies to generate market awareness and market action for its businesses-to-business and business-to-consumer clients. Handshake Media creates both the method and the message to achieve meaningful engagement and conversation for corporations, organizations and enterprises seeking global reach for their products and services. Handshake Media, Incorporated is based in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA and is a member of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership. Handshake(R) mobile applications are produced and developed by Handshake Media, Incorporated.

VT KnowledgeWorks encourages and enables creative entrepreneurship world-wide, through innovative curriculum, local business resource centers, and a global network of cooperating regions, all focused on three essential contributors to success: clear understanding of fundamental business principles; access to timely, relevant information; and meaningful personal and corporate relationships. It is a subsidiary of the Virginia Tech Foundation, funded through the continuing confidence and enthusiasm of its clients, sponsors and friends, both corporate and individual. Its world headquarters are located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.

VT KnowledgeWorks sponsors include Attaain, Inc., BB&T, The Branch Group, Handshake 2.0, Harris Office Furniture, Hodges, Jones & Mabry, P.C., Hutchison Law Group, LeClairRyan, New River Valley Intellectual Property Law, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and The Becher Agency (TBA).

The Grand Prize Winner of the Virginia Tech Student Business Concept Competition will receive $10,000 in scholarships and qualifies for the 2012 VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Challenge, a week-long, expense-paid celebration of student entrepreneurship with a $25,000 grand prize.

Registration is $25 and due by midnight of February 10, 2012.

Apply to compete, read guidelines, note deadlines.

The Virginia Tech Student Business Concept Competition is a component of the Fourth Annual Entrepreneurship Challenge, custom-designed for prospective company founders, entrepreneurs launching or re-vamping a business, growing companies seeking expansion capital, and individuals interested in investing in early-stage companies.  The Entrepreneurship Challenge will be held on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at the Skelton Conference Center at The Inn at Virginia Tech.

The Entrepreneurship Challenge will feature two business concept competitions, the Virginia Tech Student Business Concept Competition and the Open Competition.  Registration for audience members will open soon.

Please see more about the Fourth Annual VT KnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurship Challenge.

Please see highlights of Entrepreneurship events on Inside VT KnowledgeWorks.

The Virginia Tech Student Business Concept Competition banner graphic is on display at Koofers, a member of the VT KnowledgeWorks Alumni.

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VT KnowledgeWorks encourages and enables creative entrepreneurship world-wide, through innovative curriculum, local business resource centers, and a global network of cooperating regions, all focused on three essential contributors to success: clear understanding of fundamental business principles; access to timely, relevant information; and meaningful personal and corporate relationships. It is a subsidiary of the Virginia Tech Foundation, funded through the continuing confidence and enthusiasm of its clients, sponsors and friends, both corporate and individual. Its world headquarters is in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.

VT KnowledgeWorks sponsors include Attaain, Inc., BB&T, The Branch Group, Handshake 2.0, Harris Office Furniture, Hodges, Jones & Mabry, P.C., Hutchison Law Group, LeClairRyan, New River Valley Intellectual Property Law, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and The Becher Agency (TBA).