Dinfos Trained Killers now up to 300

Somehow, I missed the fact that the DINFOS Trained Killers has now reached 300 members this week in our LinkedIn tribe. In the six months I started this group, I have found two to three old colleagues and connected with a lot of people I never would have met. I have to thank Kevin Koym, the founder of the Enterprise Tribe, for showing me six months ago the value of using online colloboration tools.

For me, the number 300 is signfiicant as it represents the number of Spartans who battled the Persians. If you have ever worked in military public affairs, you can appreciate the fact that it seems like we're a small bunch of warriors fighting a lot of issues. Start with all the experts who think your job is easy, and then add the fact that you often have to do the job without the technology and personality resources. That's why reaching 300 members is significant.

But, I won't rest on our laurels. We still have to engage other former and current PAOs to share techniques and tactics to do our job. And of course, we still have to enroll some of the more famed DTK alums like Al Gore and Dan Quayle into the group.

A FAQ on the value of hosting the Dinfos Trained Killers tribe

When I first started the group, the DINFOS Trained Killers nearly six months ago, I never thought it would grow as quickly as it did. However, today, the group has 279 qualified members with eight joining in the past week. When I mention that I am a manager of the DTKs to those people who don't get the value of using LinkedIn, I often hear negative responses to them getting a profile or creating a group.

So I thought I would use this blog as a forum for discussing why LinkedIn is worth a few minutes of their time. So, here is my first attempt at a FAQ for LinkedIn on the value of hosting the DINFOS Trained Killers.

1) If I join a group, my rivals will see all of my contacts.

No. By joining a group, you can share comments or email people, but for a rival to see your contacts, you have to allow them to link directly to you.

2) It's a waste of time. I'll never find a contact that is worth my time.

Thanks to this group, I reconnected with my former boss and colleague, Mike Kelly, the military marketing manager at USAA. Having Mike back into my circle of friends allows me to reconnect with him as needed.

3) My friend belongs to a group that gets a lot of spam from other members. What is different about your group?

First, we qualify every member. We have had those "bot" types who join every group under the sun. And, when I or Mike Kelly, my alternate DTK tribe manager, get a request from those folks, we send a nice note to them saying that they had to attend the Defense Information School to join our group.

4) Is it true that Dan Quayle and Al Gore could qualify for the DTKs?

Yes. Still awaiting for both of them to send requests to join our group. I suspect that since Vice President Gore invented the Internet that he is too busy with other groups to join ours or hasn't heard about us yet. As for Vice President Quayle, I am not sure what his reason would be for not joining the DTKs.