I once answered this on this blog when I answered the question “Why Do So Many People Keep Their Connections Private?”, but since it has been awhile, and since this question was asked from a different perspective, I think it is important to revisit the topic.
First of all, in order to even potentially be able to see anyone’s connections, you first have to be directly connected to that person. I realize that in other platforms like Facebook the option exists to show everyone your friends, whether or not they are connected with you. Remember, LinkedIn is different in that it is a social network platform for professionals, so the idea is that no one is exposing anything without a little mutual trust (i.e. connecting) to begin a relationship.
Furthermore, assuming that you are connected AND if they have allowed you to see their connections you should be able to click the number of connections they have in their Summary and then see them all. You should know that a lot of people, including myself, do not openly display our contacts in our profile to our connections. There are many reasons for this, but if you are in sales or a competitive industry where you don’t want others to see your contacts, it is in your best interest to not show anyone. Since LinkedIn is for professionals, so you can see why a lot of people to decide to do this.
Another reason why people don’t display their connections is because in LinkedIn you don’t need to. If you are searching for someone that you are not connected to but I am, I will be displayed as the person connecting and then you can contact me if you’d like to be introduced. Also, people don’t want to be looked at as merely walking Rolodexes 😉 But there are many people who think that you should be open with your contacts and there is no reason to hide them. So as you can see, there is no one right answer here.
If you are interested in deciding whether or not you want your connections to view your contacts, you can access this setting by going to “Account & Settings” and then choosing “Connections Browse” in “Privacy Settings”.
LinkedIn Expert Advice & Insight through Your Questions - A LinkedIn Blog that Goes Beyond the "Official" Explanations 
Hey Neal, Interesting post. I’ll admit to being a bit miffed when I find a new connection is not sharing their contacts, but I understand that there are reasons for it. Particularly in your case and others where you have so many, or are in a sales-type job where you don’t want people poaching, I can see some logic in it. However, your point that it isn’t necessary doesn’t completely hold water, because I’ve gotten some good connections simply by scanning a new contact’s connections, seeing someone who looked like I had something in common with and then asking for an introduction. Sometimes you don’t know what you are looking for until you find it 🙂
By: Louise on April 2, 2009
at 9:44 pm
Hey Louise,
Good to see you here after all of that Tweeting 😉 Yes, I hear you and know of others that have done what you did, i.e. connected with someone and then looked through their connections to find good people to further connect with. And I realize that this is an innocent thing with no harm intended. Like I said, there is no right answer, and I truly respect both sides. That being said, and to clarify what I always mention to everyone in light of your comment, if you let me know the types of people that you’d like to be introduced to I’d be more than happy to dig through my contacts and give you some ideas 😉
– Neal
By: Neal Schaffer on April 2, 2009
at 9:51 pm
Interesting- I didn’t know this was something we could change, but if I’ve accepted a connection with someone I’m not sure why I would want to hide my other contacts from them. That’s one of the main ways I find contacts- by going through my friend’s contact lists to look for people I know.
BTW, this site would be a lot more readable if you didn’t use such a tiny font- size 2 is much better for body text.
By: Chris on April 4, 2009
at 9:18 am
Hey Chris,
I understand that that is a potential value of not hiding your connections. But what if your friend is in a competitive industry? I guess the question comes down to is LinkedIn demographically different seeing that it is for “professionals” and therefore should this demand different rules for managing “connections” seeing that they are “professional” ones. Once again there is no one answer for this, but I hope when you see people who do it differently than you do that you do not hold it against them.
Now as for the font size, thanks for the comment. I will check into how I do this 😉
Cheers,
Neal
By: Neal Schaffer on April 6, 2009
at 10:42 am
[…] in this blog last year. And I commented on this as well in a more recent blog post concerning how you contact your new connection’s direct contacts. I would like to add one more reason to my previous blog posts as to why you may want to hide […]
By: Should a LinkedIn LION Display Their Connections? « LinkedIn Expert Advice & Insight through Your Questions – A LinkedIn Blog that Goes Beyond the "Official" Explanations on July 1, 2009
at 10:13 am