My dad once shared a quotation with me, “The world is run by people who attend meetings.” I liked it so well that I wrote one of my business school essays on the basis of that concept. When I got to Sprint, I often recalled the quotation to find solace given that my days were overrun with more meetings than two people could handle!
There are days when we all feel that way, irrespective of the company that we are at, the commitments that we have made. The truth is, however, I have a theory… Nobody is really busier than anybody else. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Simply, we each just choose to spend those 24 hours differently.
So, how can we apply that to networking?
- As I said yesterday, don’t be a no person… be a yes person.
- When someone asks you for a meeting, offer yourself unselfishly.
- Take the meeting.
- There is no bad meeting. You just never know what you will take away from even a chance encounter.
- Quid Pro Quo – you’ll get something out of it, too.
- If you don’t have time for the meeting, take a call instead. I have been on both sides of this equation multiple times and have found value in the phone calls, too. A lot can get done by phone on the commute to work, to my next meeting, on my way to pick up my son from school, etc.
You never know what will come of a networking interaction. I guarantee you that you will take as much away from every interaction that you commit to as the other party. Whether you take the meeting or ask for the meeting, whichever side of the table you are sitting on, be a master networker. We’ll talk about that more tomorrow.