I’ve come to believe that connecting is one of the most important business – and life – skill sets you’ll ever learn. Why? Because, flat out, people do business with people they know and like. Careers – in every imaginable field – work the same.
The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.
You won’t build relationships unless you let your guard down.
Life is about work. Work is about life. And both are about people.
In business, we often say that your best customers are the customers you have now. In other words, your most successful sales leads come from the selling you’ve already done.
When we are truly passionate about something we are contagious.
People who instinctively establish a strong network of relationships have always created great businesses.
Start finding future clients before you have anything to sell them. Get to know these people as friends, not potential customers.
People do business with people they know and like.
Human ambitions are like Japanese carp; they grow proportional to the size of their environment. Our achievements grow according to the size of our dreams and the degree to which we are in touch with our mission.
I’ll sum up the key to success in one word: generosity.
Match your goals with the people who can make them happen and start building the relationships.
Business is a human enterprise, driven and determined by people.
Power, today, comes from sharing information, not withholding it.
You can’t get there alone. In fact, you can’t get very far at all.
Our careers aren’t paths so much as landscapes that are navigated. We’re free agents, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs – each with our own unique brand.
Ultimately, everyone has to ask himself or herself how they’re going to fail. We all do, you know, so let’s get that out of the way. The choice isn’t between success and failure; it’s between choosing risk and striving for greatness, or risking nothing and being certain of mediocrity.
The idea isn’t to find yourself another environment for tomorrow, but to be constantly creating the environment and community you want for yourself, no matter what may occur.
We have a tendency to romanticize independence. Most business literature still views autonomy as a virtue, as though communication, teamwork, and cooperation were lesser values.
At every stage of my career, I sought out the most influential people around me and asked for their help and guidance.
Bottom Line: It’s better to give before you receive. And never keep score. If your interactions are ruled by generosity, your rewards will follow suit.