New York, 21st September 2008
Networking is used and recognized for its values in many aspects of business these days. With all the lay-offs, certainly recently in the in the financial industry, people will unfortunately come to the conclusion that they did not spend time to network until it was too late.
As we said in our book “the N Factor”, you should start networking as early as possible in life, when it is still easy to connect. Especially people working for major corporations, will often believe that they have a fabulous network. However – it is very easy to be introduced to, or connect to others when you have the name of a big corporation behind you. It becomes a totally different story if you are no longer part of that corporate and a mere individual. Those contacts you had when part of the organization often don’t stand for much when you are on your own. And needless to say, it is when you are on your own that you need them all the more..
These days there are many networking events. The question should always be however, if it is the right event. When you are at a network event – look around you and ask yourself “how many of these people do I know already?”, if the answer is “more then 50%”, you are not at a Network event but at a social gathering.
And then another one – did you check out before you went to this particular event what the audience will be? If it is an event for retailers and you are in the financial industry, there probably isn’t much of a fit. Do your homework first, sit down and consciously decide what it is you want to achieve, before you even go.
This past Friday I read an interesting article in The New York Times about the financial crisis that is rocking the US and spreading its circles to other parts of the world.
The NY Times reported on the CEO of Morgan Stanley, John.J.Mack, who is in talks with the CEO of Wachovia, Robert.K.Steel. And they are both apparently also jointly talking to the CEO of
China Investment Corporation, Xi-Qing Gao. Guess what they all have in common……..? Duke University. They simply were at school together.
Now, who said you should start early with your networking??
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