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As a professional you will have a greater ability to shape what your career looks like and do things you care about over time. Individual professionals in smaller and smaller groups are going to be able to produce great results, and people will be able to take on anything they want and are passionate about. There’s something about that connection that I know I touch when I work on a social platform.Īs someone with an eclectic background–and who works at the biggest professional networking site in the world–how do you think that people with eclectic backgrounds should present themselves when looking for new opportunities?Īt LinkedIn, we believe that the age of the individual professional is upon us. Martin Esslin, who was a drama professor at Stanford, described theater as “the erotic art.” By erotic, he meant that, unlike TV or film, in theater you feel the presence of another human in front of you.
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There’s also something else about building social software that connects to theater. In technology, you have to be humble and recognize that you don’t have all the answers, to be willing to change direction if you’re wrong. Real theater people are humbled before the art. Also, there’s a sense of humility that’s true for both. It’s the same attitude in theater–every show is different, and whatever happens we’re up for it. It’s saying we can get stuff done and being willing to believe that we can win. Being an entrepreneur is an attitude, not a set of skills or capabilities. That said, theater is a business that is about attitude more than anything else–and being an entrepreneur is exactly that. You are always looking to do something that has as little in common as possible with what’s gone before. High-tech businesses are completely different–we waste half our time here.
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It’s a bunch of work, but there’s no mystery how to do anything. One of the things that really typifies theater is that it’s an incredibly efficient business–every nook and cranny of how shows get done has been worked out years ago. I like to say that the worlds of Internet startups and theater have absolutely nothing in common.
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Soon after that, we got together in founding LinkedIn.Īre there any skills or ways of thinking from your theater days that are useful in your current job? We talked about philosophy, citizenship, and ways to make a difference in the world. He had done a bunch of work in technology, but he also has a master’s degree in philosophy from Oxford. We talked a little about business, but mostly about things we had a common interest in. He said, “You should talk to Allen.” Reid and I got together and had an epic four-hour discussion over Thai food in Mountain View. Reid had asked him to be a chief of staff guy, but told him he was also looking for someone creative and asked if he knew anyone. I met Reid through a mutual friend who had been in the Stanford theater program and had gone into tech.