Leveraging Trust and Making New Connections

Between 1993 and 1998 I worked at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).  In that time I met many wonderful people associated with "the firm."  One of the things that impressed me was the hiring practice used by the firm.  They always found top-quality people, most of whom were very trustworthy and had a terrific work ethic.  (Of course everyone is human and we have to learn to trust everyone we work with and this firm got us off to a good start.)

In fact, many of the consultants at Andersen Consulting/Accenture ended up marrying each other.  The "joke" was that HR (human resources) had already qualified the people and now they just had to fall in love.  The other "truth" was that, as an Andersen Consulting/Accenture employee, both partners realized how much work and how many working hours were involved on the job.  They had some shared experience to relate to.

Part of the time when I was working at Andersen Consulting Education (ACE) in St. Charles, IL (where Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen and Andersen Worldwide had their corporate training center--now called the Q-Center), I had a chance to work with many multinational consultants in the USA, in Europe, in Australia, and in Asia.  I valued those contacts, though I have lost track of them in the years since I left the firm and went on to other consulting.

Now I need some trustworthy contacts in Europe and Asia.  It occured to me that a very good place to start was with the LinkedIn alumni groups associated with Andersen Consulting/Accenture.  What worked for the people getting married may work for me in terms of finding people I can work with on new ideas for Europe, the USA, and Asia.

I've posted a discussion starter in one of the alumni groups, so now I get to see who may be interested in at least discussing what I am looking for.