Before You Make That Next Hire...

Rather than recycle the same shopworn execs, companies sometimes hire outside their industry. For instance, Effective Networking, a Boston-based consulting firm that specializes in business partnerships and social networking, recently hired former Filene's Department Store chairman and CEO Jerry Socol, who will serve as one of Effective's advisers. Along with Socol, the company's advisers include Ilene Lang, the founding CEO of AltaVista Internet Software and a former Lotus exec, and Jennifer Potter-Brotman, former president and CEO of Forum, sales management and leadership development consultant.