Leadership Networks – six degrees of connection
Jinfo Blog

16th July 2007

By Tim Buckley Owen

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Did you know that the liberal Bill Clinton is linked to the neoconservative Donald Rumsfeld in around a dozen different ways? Or that environmental champion Al Gore has shared board connections with both Google and Apple? Or that, despite their famously special relationship, Tony Blair doesn’t feature in any links with George W Bush? Just a few minutes trawling through Leadership Networks can reveal these and many more fascinating facts about the connections between the leaders of the most powerful nation on earth. Billed as a ‘new, interactive networking database of who knows whom in the leadership of the United States’, it’s currently in beta test mode. Published by the long established Leadership Directories Inc, Leadership Networks represents the outcome of a project to ‘see if we can turn around a 30-year old print business into an electronic venture, while maintaining our current customer base and producing something good in the meantime’, according to its Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Adam Bernacki. Although this is a great source of topics for bar room conversation, it has a serious purpose. Lobbying is taken to a fine art in Washington DC, and having the right connections can make all the difference between, for example, success or failure in a crucial joint venture. So Leadership Networks shows links between key decision makers through board memberships, educational background, career history and family ties. Different relationship strengths are indicated visually in this graphically rich database, making it easy to determine how closely two people are related. Coming soon is a My Networks feature, allowing active and wannabe lobbyists to tag people they already know, and use that group as a starting point for reaching others. It will also allow users to comment on existing relationships and influence the strength of the connections shown. Powerful algorithms calculate the degrees of separation and relationship strengths, showing the strongest paths between individuals. Because of its editorial parentage, the product is strongly focused on Capitol Hill at the moment – but the algorithms could presumably be applied to other networks in other countries, given the market potential. Whether you’re interested in US political lobbying or not, this is one to keep an eye on. Enterprise access costs $7,500 for a year, including credits to download 10,000 records – further information available at http://www.leadershipdirectories.com/.

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