Dear Norman, I just saw your post and wanted to relate to how LinkedIn works. A number of months ago, I was having a dialog with a colleague about the program. I stated that it was a lot like high School, ie that it is done via smoke and mirrors. At the time, I was rated 287th in my field. I made a bet of one dollar that I could increase my status considerably within 9 days. So, by connecting with everyone and anyone and creating dialogs, commenting on what they had written and asking questions I became somewhat of the overzealous popular kid in high school. I became more popular by gaining popularity. I even offered resume help to new college graduates whose resumes were clearly in need of unconditional assistance. I started, as well, to write articles about whatever was living in my head rent free and received In mails when others found them interesting. In 9 days, I managed to change my professional rank from 287th all the way to #1. It was an interesting experiment and after I won my dollar bet, I discontinued my efforts of over achievement. I tell people that I gained popularity by frankly pretending to be popular and yet, internally remained the same being the same professional but my appearance to others was changed. I don't know if this helps you, but it was an interesting experience, giving me anecdotal evidence about how some people appear either more or less successful than they actually are. Best, Kurt Niziak