Wondering how to be memorable?
Who to focus your precious limited networking time on?
Ah, questions I’ve recently been asked (and asked before) and this quote pulled from the New York Business Journal sums up my attitude on these two queries rather perfectly:
“…People think a title is what matters and that’s how they decide who gets their time, but that’s social climbing and opportunistic — not great qualities in any person — and short-sighted if we’re speaking in the opportunistic sense. In other words, one day, the young intern you are ignoring — just so you can get “face-time” with the big boss — is going to be a big boss themselves. When that happens and you cross paths again, they will remember how you made them feel, so do not underestimate anyone or undervalue their worth no matter their title…” – Meriam Nazih Al-Rashid, Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP
So instead of wondering how and who in the old schmoozing, transactional, it’s all about ME way, think about:
- How you make everyone you come into contact with feel, every single day of the week.
- Focusing your networking efforts on values (i.e. empathy, trustworthiness, honesty, decency) not titles.
- Stepping into each networking opportunity with respect. Respect for someone’s time, for their experience, for their career connections….for the fact that they are willing to share any of these personal assets with you.
Yes, I’ve touched on these themes before, so if you need more, check out:
- That Four-Letter Word Again: Time
- Not Wasting Someone’s Time Is Just Networking Courtesy
- The Power Of Peer Networks
- It’s Not Networking, It’s Committing
Then at 02:20 in this #BYDN podcast “listener questions” episode I share “Why you need to lose the transactional “how can you help me” mindset in networking“.
