U.S., SOUTHWEST: The Heart of Networking Lives in the Heart Link Network

By Kathleen Ronald

Southwest Bureau Chief (Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California)

This month, I’m excited to introduce you to a wonderful new group for women that I discovered through my friend Ms. Sally Kraus. Sally is the area coordinator for a truly welcoming organization called Heart Link.

I met Sally through a friend of mine a few years back, when I first arrived in Los Angeles. I love the power of networking, and enjoy seeing how things unfold in relationships that are first realized from networking events.

I had become frustrated with networking organizations here in LA, and I was feeling disconnected because the last three that I had come to love had all dissolved. I was yearning for a community I could call home, when I was able to attend my first meeting at Sally’s house earlier this month. The unique goal and aspect of this small home-based network, in Sally's words, is that "Heart Link is building a community of support for each other. Because the group changes each month, there is variety and people are always meeting new people from different industries and walks of life."

As you know, I always love to hear the story of how folks get involved in different groups. When I talked to Sally, my first question was, "How did you get introduced to Heart Link?" Sally's reply: "Accidentally!" Sally went on to tell me how she met Carolyn Ziel of Essential Selling, at an EWomen meeting at which I was speaking, and they quickly connected and became fast friends. Carolyn became an Area Coordinator and invited Sally to a Heart Link meeting in her home in June of 2008. Because the meeting is in her home, as Carolyn says, "we are able to create a warm and intimate setting while still being professional." Sally loved it. After that first meeting, she was hooked.

The aspects Sally initially loved about Heart Link are the same values that I found so wonderful about the group. Sally loved that it was cozy and in the home, informal, with no membership dues, with a casual tone yet still maintaining business energy, and that everybody got 3 minutes to share with the group about their products and services. So, after that first visit, she too became an Area Coordinator. As a long time business & marketing coach for the artist community, Sally had visited many different groups but never felt a connection until Heart Link. Sally says, "I love this organization and have two meetings people can attend in the 90036 area code here in LA. I do a dinner meeting on Thursday and a breakfast meeting on Saturday in the 1^st week of the month."

I have to echo Sally’s feelings after I attended my first meeting. They really encourage folks to keep the meetings small and since they are home based, each home has a different dynamic and ability to host certain number of attendees. I felt the heart of Heart Link when I arrived. Sally had prepared an amazing dinner and although she said the meeting was the smallest she had ever had, it was perfect for me. I arrived with only ONE intention…I just wanted to get out and be with other businesswomen. It was very casual, easy flowing and we each got our time as well, since we were so small. I really like the model they use. It gave us all a chance to really get to know each other at a deeper level with the small group.

To my surprise, I walked out with some great leads, a couple of potential coaching clients, an offer to be highlighted in Carolyn’s ezine as an Entrepreneur of the month as well as I’ll be a guest on her tele-class series down the road too!

I also won one of the raffle prizes from Heather, one of the attendees, who makes customized candles and works on many of the Hollywood sets doing all their candles. It was great fun! Even she found some opportunities there: the candle goddess will be taking my year long space-clearing boot camp ~ WOW! Now that is what I call a return on your investment!

The cost to attend a meeting is only $20, and if you bring a friend, which is fondly known as ‘coming linked’ in the Heart Link community, it costs only $30 for the two of you. There are no annual dues.
The group was founded by the legendary Dawn Billings- a renowned author, speaker and networking expert, who was selected as one of the top 80 women’s leaders by Oprah’s magazine and The White House Project! An extraordinary visionary, Dawn noticed that there were some core values she believed should be present in any group, which were lacking in many that she saw. So, she launched Heart Link, which had 140 locations in 27 states in the first 160 days.

So, if you are looking for a local group within your zip code to call home, this might be the group for you. Unlike other groups which offer, and charge for, a confusing array of services that you will probably never take advantage of, Heart Link keeps it simple. Their benefits are basic, but have certainly met my networking needs.

· Home based meeting each month
· You can attend meetings in any city that there are Area Coordinators
· You can market to the Area Coordinators listed on the website with your products and services if you wish
· Comfortable, welcoming small communities with a far-reaching spectrum of connections
· You get an Excel sheet of all the attendee’s data- trust me, this is a big help
· Grow your business, your friendships, and beyond

Since there are no fees to join, you can attend a meeting near you. In the LA area you can find a meeting in Studio City, West Hills or Santa Clarita. In addition, there are two locations in Torrance, with one coming soon to West Hollywood.

If you are interested in becoming an Area Coordinator you can contact Sally Kraus at 323-937-8866 or email her at sally@enterprisingartists.com
www.enterprisingartists.com
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U.S., SOUTHWEST: The Heart of Networking Lives in the Heart Link Network

BEYOND NETWORKING: BEING: Travel at the Velocity of a Fast Paced World: Flowing at the Speed of Change

Beyond Networking: Being with Ron Sukenick

Ron's section is sponsored by SmallBizAmerica.com

Speed is a driving force. When we’re meeting individuals, we are meeting them one at a time and the opportunity to quickly move into a relationship posture is now! Focusing time and attention then is a quickening fueled by possibility, alignment, precision, and clarity as we move forward—at the speed of change.

Here are straight-forward tips to move you more quickly into the flow of a fast paced world:

Let people know what you’re doing. They may need your services, or be able to help you, or know someone else who may be interested in what you are offering.

Look closely at how you build your relationships now. Challenge your thinking on what you do, and most importantly how you do it.

Measure the time between first meeting someone to when you send out a “nice to meet you” letter. What is your success when you follow up within 24 hours? What is your success when you follow up within three months?

Talk to others about how they do what they do. This helps you better understand who they are and what is important to them.

Develop a broad-base of partnership relationships. We are referring here to our clients, our suppliers, our associates, and our employees.

Don’t burn bridges. Prior business relationships will fuel you toward future business opportunities. Avoid negative story telling about prior relationships. Use previous challenges as “learning” opportunities. In talking about these learning curves, share how you personally learned from those experiences. You will have more credibility and will demonstrate how learning occurs through experience and in relationship.

Preparation encounters opportunity. Using your “whole” self, the fundamental core of NetBeing, be ready to join in when an opportunity that speaks to you presents itself.

Be, or NetBe, wherever you are. Whether you are in France, New Mexico, or New Zealand, you have opportunities to make connections and develop relationships.

Look for multiple ways to market and speak about your business. This information can be found through a marketing firm, industry magazines, or by asking others in your position.

Keep infusing your business initiatives with new energy. Get others excited about what you are doing. Know when to bring in additional help and or marketing.

Building urgency into relationships is proactive. Being proactive creates excitement and enthusiasm. And with excitement and enthusiasm comes greater success and opportunities with others.

What action steps will you take? Add these steps to your calendar right now.

Ron Sukenick is the Chief Relationship Officer and founder of the Relationship Strategies Institute, a training and Relationship development company that provides innovative, effective and relevant programs and systems for corporations, organizations, and associations. To learn more about the value of Relationship Development, visit his Web site at http://www.ronsukenick.com/. You can reach Ron by phone at: 317-216-8210, or by email: rs@ronsukenick.com

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BEYOND NETWORKING: BEING: Travel at the Velocity of a Fast Paced World: Flowing at the Speed of Change

POWER THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: Unlikely Connections, Part 4

Power Thought of the Week with Patricia Parham, Ph.D.

Authenticity

Connect around excellence rather than expertise. How do you build excellence into your products and services? Find those most different from yours and ask three people how they do the same? Thank them for sharing their strategies and share yours -- only if asked. See how their answers are similar and different. Later, contact each one and share what you learned from them, individually, and in general. Your thoughtfulness and sharing how you made sense of the new information shows earnestness and authenticity and is a basis for unlikely connections.
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POWER THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: Unlikely Connections, Part 4

VIEW FROM THE C-SUITE: Leadership and Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

View from the C-Suite with Joyce Grillo

We often hear people say, “Joe must be high in EQ.” Or, “ Mary’s low in EQ.”

But what do we really know about emotional intelligence (EQ)? Why is it important to a leader’s effectiveness and can it be learned? This article is the first in a series of articles that will explore these questions as well as the connection between EQ and leadership. We will begin by focusing on one of the core components of EQ – self-awareness.

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

EQ is the social equivalent of IQ. According to Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence and Working with Emotional Intelligence, there are five components of EQ. The first three components of EQ are all about managing oneself. The last two are about managing relationships with others.

Self-Awareness – the ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their effect on others.

Self-Regulation – the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods.

Motivation – a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status.

Empathy – the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people.

Social Skill - the proficiency in being persuasive and managing relationships and building networks.

What Is The Connection Between Leadership and EQ?

In my work as a leadership consultant and coach to executives for the last 20 years, I have seen first hand how EQ has played a critical role in what makes some successful and others derail. As you go up the corporate ladder, your technical skills – what you were initially hired for – become less important and your EQ becomes more important. This poses a challenge for those leaders who rely only on their “smarts” to get to the C-suite.

Why do technical skills become less important over time? In order to be truly effective a leader must know who they are and how to stay calm in a crisis. Their agenda is not personal and because they are self-aware they understand what makes people tick and use that to inspire and motivate people to change. All of these are components of EQ.

In one study conducted by Goleman of highly effective leaders, intellect, cognitive skills and IQ were rated important but emotional intelligence proved to be twice as important for jobs at all levels. We know that effective leaders usually vary their style to fit the situation at hand. There is, however, one thing effective leaders have in common and that is that they all have a high degree of emotional intelligence.

Developing Self-Awareness

There is a reason that self-awareness is the first component of emotional intelligence. As Socrates said thousand of years ago, “know thyself.” Unless you first understand who you are or what I refer to as one’s “default style” it is difficult to understand others and score highly on the other four components of emotional intelligence.

Self-aware leaders are confident because self knowledge acts as an anchor to how they relate to the outside world. They are centered and honest with themselves being neither cynical nor unrealistic. Further, they know and accept their strengths, weaknesses, needs, drives, values and emotions. They know how their feelings affect them and others. For example, one leader I coached realized that the colleague he had the most difficulty relating to displayed behaviors similar to those of his father with whom he had a strained relationship. Knowing this enabled him to understand the impact this person had on his emotions and he was able to objectively step back and neutralize his frustration.

Can You Recognize EQ in Yourself?

The challenge for many is how can you recognize it in yourself? It’s difficult to measure your own EQ. There are ways of finding out where you are on the EQ scale. The least effective is through a self-assessment alone for obvious reasons. Over the years, I have been amazed at the number of people in mid-life who were lacking in self-awareness and the impact their behaviors had on others.

The most effective way is by combining a self-assessment and a 360-degree evaluation process where you get feedback on various components of EQ from your boss, colleagues and direct reports. When this is done and debriefed by someone independent such as a leadership coach, it assures a higher level of accuracy, which helps you develop in those areas where you are weak. If the company you work for does not offer 360 evaluations, then select some colleagues and friends who know you well and ask them to rate you on the components of EQ.

Can EQ Be Learned?

The goods news is EQ can be learned. Scientific and psychological and developmental research suggests that some people are born with certain amounts of EQ and that nurture also plays a role. What we do know is that it can be learned but not in a one day training program.

First you need to be aware of your behaviors and the impact you have on others and then be motivated to change. It is then that you are ready to begin breaking old behavioral habits and replacing them with new ones. This process of doing and reflecting takes time. Malcomb Gladwell in his new book, Outliers, makes the case that it takes 10,000 hours to reach a level of mastery at something. Trying these new behaviors at the outset may not be the most comfortable so you need to hang in there and not give up. It is only in experimentation and repetition that lasing behavioral change occurs.

It is important to keep in mind that building one’s EQ is not an event but a process that occurs over time. Although it may be painful, discovering how you rate on EQ is important if you want to be a good leader. I have also seen many situations where getting fired for a lack of EQ is a “wake-up” call for many to go on a journey of self-discovery. Don’t wait for that to happen. Given the right amount of motivation and the skills to change, most leaders can learn the emotional intelligence capabilities necessary to be successful.

Stay tuned for next month’s article on Leadership and Self-Regulation.

For more information contact me at joyce@grilloleadership.com.

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VIEW FROM THE C-SUITE: Leadership and Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

JETNETTING: The First Impression Factor, Part VIII

JetNetting with Heshie Segal

In Part VII of The First Impression Factor, you had the opportunity to assess your ability to make that all important positive first impression. How did you do? Have you recognized and implemented change in any area? If so, you will have surely seen some differences in “who you are being”. If not, and you are dubious about how to address specific challenges, you will, in the next part of this series, be given hints on making the most of each of the action items from the prior assessment. While it may take some practice, you will hone those skills until your actions become second nature.

In the next articles, we will focus on the part of the communication section dealing with the smile and eye contact. For a complete outline of all the communication skills, refer back to The First Impression Factor, Part VII. You will notice several of these categories being combined in future articles.

Before you even say a word, you already communicate with your body language . . . a smile, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and your posture. It’s all non-verbal, and to the surprise of some, it speaks louder than your words.

The Smile

The smile has its own universal language. It is the most powerful non-verbal tool we possess. It costs us nothing and it could cost us everything. It conveys a myriad of emotions without our uttering a word. It cheers the discouraged. It fosters good will in business. It makes us wealthy when we give or receive it and makes us impoverished when we withhold it or do not bestow it.

Smiling is a powerful cue that conveys warmth and friendliness. As a communication tool, it tells people you feel secure and have high self-esteem. If you smile frequently, you will be perceived as more likeable, warm, approachable, confident and non-threatening. True smiles are the result of something or someone pleasing you. They say, “I like it or I like you.” Because smiles are infectious, they make people feel good and that tends to make them be more receptive to listening to you.

If the smile is inappropriate, continuous or if it is used simply to please someone else, it will certainly appear as just that...insincere, you will not be taken seriously and will lose credibility. Avoid compulsive smiling. It is overkill and negative. Smirk and you take the risk of being perceived as sarcastic and negative.

True smiles are not usually very prolonged. In fact, the Long Smile might frequently be faked or forced. It can be distracting and invariably arouse a negative feeling . . . unless of course the situation is one that makes you genuinely happy.

How and when you smile has meaning:

Our smiles come in many sizes, shapes, widths, and with and without teeth showing, each used for a reason.

1. The Simple Smile shows no teeth. It is used in passing another person or simply when you think of something pleasant; like smiling to yourself. When it is forced, it tends to indicate insincerity.

2. The Upper Smile exposes the upper teeth. This smile is often used when greeting someone. Eye contact normally accompanies this type of smile.

3. With the Broad Smile, both upper and lower teeth are visible. This smile is an indication of genuine interplay of good humor, jest, and belly laughter. No eye contact needs to accompany this laugh.

4. Oblong Smiles, where the lips are drawn back fully, have no depth and are usually a forced indication of politeness.

5. The Lip-In Smile is similar to the upper smile. In this case, the lower lip is pulled in between the teeth. It sometimes signals a feeling of subordination.

Your smile may be so big, so genuine, so loud when you laugh, there may not even be a need to make eye contact. And still remember, you must return to the eye contact because it is here that the real connection begins.

In Part IX, we will focus on that connection...the eye contact that can establish the trust and deepens rapport.

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JETNETTING: The First Impression Factor, Part VIII

HOLISTICALLY SPEAKING: Does the Economy Have You Stressed?

Holistically Speaking with Meira Findel

As talk of falling housing prices, rising consumer debt and declining retail sales bring up worries about the nation’s economic health, more Americans feel additional stress and anxiety about their financial future.

Money is often on the minds of most Americans. In fact, money and work are two of the top sources of stress for almost 75 percent of Americans, according to the American Psychological Association’s 2007 Stress in America survey. Add to the mix headlines declaring a looming economic recession, and many begin to fear how they can handle any further financial crunch.

While there are definite signs that the economy is changing, these shifts can be very positive and empowering, if you choose them to be. You have the power to change your experience, eliminate stress and claim your health in all areas of your life.

What happens to us on a collective level is, in some part, also happening inside of us individually. If you believe that your thinking, feeling and mindset create your reality and the economy is very much a part of your reality, then, by logical deduction, you are also a part of contributing to the consciousness of the current economic situation.

Think about this for a minute. Inside of your body are millions of cells. Your total health and wellness depends on the optimal function and alignment of each cell. If a large enough number of your cells aren’t doing what they are supposed to then you will experience some kind of shift in your well-being.

Our role in the collective reality is much like the role of each individual cell within your body. We collectively project a reality that we are all experiencing, to some degree.

Physical well-being and health are the body’s way of expressing abundance. We are hardwired to be healthy. If our bodies are metaphors for our greater collective experience then we have to also understand that economic health is also natural and part of our “hard-wiring”. We are created to be happy, healthy and financially abundant.

The current economic situation is simply a symptom that a large enough percentage of our collective consciousness is not behaving in a way that is “healthy”.

There are a lot of reasons, on a consciousness level, why we are seemingly experiencing an economic downturn. See if any of these beliefs are impacting your personal financial “health” in any way:

1. I can’t make good money doing the work I love.

2. I have to work hard to make money and I don’t know how I can work any harder.

3. I don’t know how to make money following my dreams.

4. I’m not good with money.

5. There isn’t enough money and only the rich and greedy get to keep the bulk of it.

6. Making money isn’t spiritual.

7. I’m afraid of money. I don’t even want to open my bills when they come because I’m worried there won’t be enough.

8. People won’t really pay me what I want to make. I just have to accept whatever I can get.

These are just examples of some beliefs and thought forms that may be contributing to your own personal lack of financial health. Of course, our personal beliefs contribute to the consciousness of the whole.

The good news is that you have a choice and the power to change your experience.

According to Megatrends 2010, we are entering a new type of economy called “Conscious Capitalism”. The current economic shifts and stresses are creating contrast to help us clarify what we truly want to be experiencing in our reality.

The lack of integrity that has led to the current economic situation is a call for us all to “clean up” our act. We are being called forth to create a reality that is deeply integrity-based. By integrity, I mean aligned with our True Selves and our True Heart’s Desires.

Any time we step away from who we really are and compromise, we step out of integrity. Imagine a liver cell trying to get a job as a heart cell. It just doesn’t work, does it? And it certainly does not contribute to the well-being of the body.

If our natural state as humans and Divine Children is abundance in all of its expressions, then any time we step away from that abundance, especially in consciousness, we are taking away from the health of the whole. Now is the time to remember that abundance is your birthright and you can and must align your life with the abundant well-being that is yours to create, if you choose.

You can do this by simply keeping yourself focused on opportunities and solutions and operating from a place of knowingness that every perceived crisis is always accompanied by new possibilities.

This economic situation can be quickly and powerfully shifted in a positive direction if we all individually contribute to the consciousness of unlimited and natural abundance.

We must change our thinking and, equally as important, we must take conscious action to support each other in creating a new economic reality. There is plenty of business and money to go around for all of us.

We must work together in community to support each other and each other’s businesses. When we collaberate and create conscious business partnerships, we not only win personally but we create alliances that allow us to better serve our clients and create a new economic community. We can no longer fight for business in the old competitive ways.

Competition is by nature, of course stressful, but also a symptom of a consciousness that implies there isn’t enough to go around.

There is plenty to go around. In fact, if we took all the resources already available on the planet, there is enough for each and every human on the planet right now to be a millionaire. (Read the works of Buckminster Fuller.)

We stand on the brink of a powerful new era. Outdated business models are crumbling. Authentic soul-based businesses are emerging as powerful players in the economy. We are ready to truly work together and support each other in new ways that can change the face of the planet in a positive way forever.

Staying focused on these powerful new possibilities and keeping your awareness open for new opportunities and possibilities is not only exciting, it also has a positive impact on your physical health. An open and calm mind and body can easily find solutions.

To your abundant well-being and your overall health!

Want to learn practical ways to change your reality? To download your free chapter of Karen Curry’s new book, “Inside The Body Of God, 13 Strategies for Thriving in the New World,” please visit http://www.insidethebodyofgod.com.

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HOLISTICALLY SPEAKING: Does the Economy Have You Stressed?

CANADA: The Straight Goods on Networking from Mike Hughes

By Kensel Tracy

Canadian Bureau Chief

As a blog writer, you always have your eyes and ears open for interesting networking stories that you can share. One such story comes from the Ottawa Networking Group on LinkedIn where Mike Hughes “Canada’s Official Networking Guru” hangs his hat. I first saw Mike’s networking handle when going through the members of the network to see if I could find a few friends of mine. I contacted Mike to see if he would be interested in giving me a story on who he was and how he became “Canada’s Networking Guru”. The rest was left up to Mike.

After a few emails back and forth about getting together for the story I got bogged down in making a living and then December rolled around, and Mike and I still had not been in contact. Then out of the blue, an email arrives with an important comment on an area that I should consider in regards to a new business concept I was launching in Ottawa and whose name was signed to that email; Mike Hughes “Canada’s Networking Guru”

Mike’s been in the networking game for the past 15 years. He got his impressive title from a newspaper article that ran a story on him and a writer that was so impressed with Mike, his programs and his approach to networking that he called him “Canada’s Networking Guru” and it stuck. He now uses this name to identify everything he does in the area of networking. It only takes a few minutes in conversation with Mike and you know you are talking with a special individual. His rapid delivery of who he is and why he got involved in networking convinces you early in the discussion that he is the real deal. He tells you about his impressive background as Past Chairman of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, his life as a professional speaker at international conferences and his view that “networking is a skill you develop” and “not something you do’ and you are engaged immediately. His social capital is worth receiving and it’s sprinkled with valuable information from the get-go.

“Networking” says Mike “is a business skill that most of us should learn and don’t”. Without catching a breath, he continues “networking should be a corporate required competency that everyone should learn whether they are in management, sales or owning a business” Now Mike’s on a roll. “Networking is about building a relationship on steroids, it’s not about selling yourself or your business but focusing in on building a solid relationship with others and you have about three minutes of conversation to build a meaningful relationship with others so you need to get it right from the start.”

He then goes on to tell me more about his “Networking for Results System” which includes some 40 hours of audio and written work and his ½ day and full day training sessions. Mike says that networking is all about context, communicating effectively and contributing to others. Mike is also a man in demand. He has been training businesses people, associations, government departments, and members of Chambers of Commerce across Canada and has spoken to groups all over North America on his “Networking for Results System’. Mike has me all fired up and I want to learn more. I hope you do too. This column is just the start. To get more information and valuable networking tips from Mike Hughes “Canada’s Networking Guru” check out his website at www.networkingforresults.com.


Kensel Tracy is the Marketing Coach and is a Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. (www.corporatecoachworkz.com) in Chelsea, Quebec. He is also launching Business over Breakfast Clubs (BoB Clubs)in North America.(www.bobclubs.com) If you have an interesting story on networking in Canada contact Kensel at kenselt@sympatico.ca
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CANADA: The Straight Goods on Networking from Mike Hughes

CONNECTING IS NOT ENOUGH: The Need for a Strategic Approach to Networking

Connecting is Not Enough with Andy Lopata

It is something that we all swear by......but too many of us swear at.

It is something that we all recognise……but too many of us fail to understand.

It is something that offers us so much potential…...which too few of us manage to realise.

Some years ago, when I was the Managing Director of Business Referral Exchange, a national business network, one of our members, a bank manager, gave up his membership after a year.

“It’s been a complete waste of time”, he confided to his fellow group members. “I’ve only had six switchers from the group.” (A ‘switcher’ is a banking term in the UK for someone moving their account from a competitor to your bank.)

When this story reached me, I started asking contacts in banking what they felt a reasonable return would be from a year’s membership of one of our groups. I asked other business managers in the same bank. I asked business managers in other banks. I asked senior management figures in banking as well. They all shared the same view.

A reasonable return on investment for membership of such a group would be three switchers in a year. That figure would justify membership.

That’s right….three. Half of the figure the resigning member had achieved. He felt that his membership had been a “waste of time”, despite doubling what many agreed was a reasonable return of his investment. Why was this the case?

The answer would appear to be quite simple. The bank manager had not worked out what his return on investment should be. Quite simply, he didn’t know what success would look like.

This is all too common a problem. From talks across the UK at networking groups and events I have recognised two important factors that will prevent many businesses getting the most from their networking.

1 – Most people attend networking events or sign up to online networks because they are invited to do so.

2 – Most people join networks because they like the ‘buzz’, see a lot of activity or see other people winning business.

Neither of these are sound business sense. Neither suggests a purpose to membership, and that’s a major problem. Joining networks based on invitations and buzz does not lead to the right behaviour within the network. So many people go through the motions, with no thought to the outcome.

At a recent networking event I was talking to a slightly inebriated young lady who worked for a charity. She was there with a couple of colleagues and they were having a good time.

There’s nothing wrong with that of course; other than the fact that this was a networking event which offered them a tremendous opportunity to make some valuable connections.

“We don’t want to network!” she told me. “We’re from a homeless charity. What have we got to offer?”

Reading between the lines, I would think that her boss had sent the team along in the hope that they would spread the word of the charity and discover opportunities for partnerships and collaboration. But had that been communicated clearly to the team? The failure to communicate clear objectives allowed the team to push their own fears and self-doubts to the front of their minds, and gave them an excuse to focus on the abundance of drink rather than the abundance of conversation.

“You must go and network” is a common cry. The only problem is that it’s rarely followed by the question, “Why?”. People network blind, participating because others tell them that it’s a good thing to do, losing faith because they don’t know why they are there.

This is why so many people in business look down their noses at networking. Their experiences haven’t been positive. They picture small business owners desperately trying to sell to each other, the trepidation of walking into a room full of strangers, the frustration of not finding customers, This lack of understanding leaves people writing networking off, rather than looking at how they can make it work for themselves.

Over the coming months, this is a perception I want to try to change. My challenge is to encourage you to look at networking from different angles. My goal is to encourage you to set your goals from networking, know what you want to achieve, develop a strategy and measure the results.

The more focused we all are in our networking, the more we stand to benefit. Going to events with purpose, participating online with clarity and contributing to groups with vision will benefit all of us.

Looking at the wider picture can make a massive difference to our businesses as well. I want to move our understanding of networking away from a sales-based activity focused on events and specific websites and towards recognition of the benefits of collaboration, learning, peer support and knowledge sharing with connections from all backgrounds.

Networking is not just an activity for small business owners. It is an essential tool for leading politicians, the captains of industry, individuals within large firms and people looking for a new job.

As a business tool it needs to be considered and applied thoughtfully; allied to business goals with clear outcomes.

What I hope to demonstrate through this column is that networking is not just a numbers game. It’s not just about being at the event or what you do when you are there but why you are there in the first place.

Connecting is not enough. With the right approach, networking can be the most valuable tool your business possesses.


Andy Lopata's newsletter archive
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CONNECTING IS NOT ENOUGH: The Need for a Strategic Approach to Networking

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Hollywood Marketing

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

There's no business like show business. And there's no other place in the world that's better at what they do than Hollywood. They make billions in one weekend. During the Great Depression the movie industry was one of the only businesses that didn't have any decline in sales. Millions of people regularly pay one hour's wages to sit silently in the dark for two hours, then they get their friends to go back with them to sit in the dark again. They make you laugh. They make you cry. They know how to make an impact and control your response.

How? Because Hollywood knows how to tell a good story (most of the time at least). We humans are hard-wired to respond to stories. Stories stand out, and they force a reaction in us, no matter what our background, culture, experience, or bias is. The way to get into a person's mind and heart is through a great story.

Do you want to make an impact? Are you trying to create a specific reaction to your product or service that you offer? Do you have trouble getting noticed, getting interest, and getting results? What you need is a great story. If Hollywood can do it, so can you.

All marketing and branding is communication, and all communication is a type of story. You just have to tell the right story and you can get people interested in anything, even sitting in the dark for two hours. So how do you become a master story crafter? How do you convert your plethora of information into a streamlined story optimized for the strongest impact? How do you communicate this story to your audience -- especially when they are not a captivated audience and you only have a few seconds to get their attention? How do you tell a story through static advertisements?

Of course you can hire a professional who is trained to do just that, and doing so is recommended. But you can get started by getting a "Hollywood mindset" and start thinking of your own material in terms of stories. The big-time Hollywood producers have always spouted rules and anecdotes like: "Show me, don't tell me." and "If the scene's about what the scene's about, you're dead." and "If you need to use exposition, you better hide it in action." and on and on. They have drawn on millennia of story-crafters to nail down strong story principles that work. These very same principles can be applied to your own message to make the results much stronger.

So start looking at your message as a story and ask yourself how to best tell it. Can you convey an idea through an image better than with a wordy description? Can you create a feeling that people will resonate with and build it into your story? Does your pitch/ad/website/article have a beginning middle and end? The next time you go to the movies, pay attention to the audience and see what gets a reaction and what the filmmakers did to get it, then try applying the same principle to your material and see what kind of reaction you get.

"If it tells, it sells."


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Written by Jeff Schomay
Inspire Your Buyer - Branding and Marketing
Optimize Your Impact. Get Better Results.
www.Inspire-Your-Buyer.com
Jeff Schomay is an expert brander and marketer and a professional film writer and director.

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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Hollywood Marketing

UK: The RoI of Networking in the UK

By Dave Clarke
UK Bureau Chief

Over the last couple of months the question of RoI - return on investment - has cropped up more often in conversations within our Network and in other networking groups that I belong to. I guess that is inevitable given the blanket coverage of the Economic Climate on every News Channel you turn to and with the BBC reporting today that the UK economy is officially in recession. Andy Lopata discusses the cost of networking in the latest edition of his excellent newsletter, Connecting is Not Enough;

"When you consider any networking group, ask yourself what the cost of membership is. I don't just mean the published cost, what is it really going to cost you?

You need to include the price of regular meetings and travel. What's the opportunity cost? In other words, what would you be doing with the time and budget otherwise? And what's the cost of all of those additional meetings with fellow members. Anyone for coffee?

If you know the real cost of your networking you can work out what return on investment you need to justify your membership. That's the start of making your networking work for you."

I am fully in favor on focusing on what you want from your networking and then planning your activity accordingly. The most proactive networkers here in the UK are experiencing no downturn at all and are proving that organized networking is an essential activity for developing their business.

To help you budget for networking in the UK here are a few comparisons for groups where the primary activity is business networking;

BNI and similar groups are about £500 for the first year membership and about the same amount again for the breakfast meetings so about £1000 per year. Add to that the travel and other costs especially 121s and you might easily double that.

4networking's passport membership comes out at about the same as does NRG-networks membership with the networking lunches.

In the last survey we did of NRG members the average return after the first year was over £10000 of business for that investment. Of course the real investment is the time you put into developing the relationships.

All things considered joining a Networking Group is a pretty smart investment. What other marketing gives you a return of between 5 & 10 to 1?

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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UK: The RoI of Networking in the UK

TEAMWORK - CREATING TEAMS THAT WORK: A Committee Is Not Necessarily a Team

Teamwork - Creating Teams That Work with Douglas Castle

Dear Readers:

A committee is not necessarily a team; axiomatically, a team is not necessarily a committee. The misperception on the part of many people regarding these two very different creatures (which bear a superficial resemblance to each other because they are each groups of people assembled for a particular purpose or to accomplish a specified mission) is largely responsible for their hesitancy about being involved in teamwork. To use a simple comparison, the functional difference between a team and a committee is at least as great as the difference between a brainstorming session and a military field operation... or perhaps (and more memorably) these two types of groups are not unlike chocolate mousse and freshly-churned organic fertilizer: they look quite similar, but taste rather different.

People are often resistant to the notion of teams because they tend to look at them as if they were committees. It would do us some good to understand the distinctions which characterize the two.

COMMITTEES

• are groups which are generally organized for the purposes of discussing, debating or evaluating an issue;


• are groups which permit a great deal of open, ideological discussion about broad possibilities;


• are groups in which the participants are each engaged in trying to pursuade the others about something, often amidst a great deal of heated argument, speechmaking, stalling, bullying and, on rare occasion, an actual duel fought with pistols [it has just been brought to my attention that this is now illegal in some states, but hurling epithets is not only permitted, but is considered fashionable];


• are groups in which the members tend to pull against each other, instead of pulling for each other -- the participants are each acting as self-advocates, and as independent entities;


• are groups which engage in a very cumbersome, fatiguing process in order to produce an idea, or several suggestions -- the only time that the participants act harmoniously is when they decide to call the matter at issue to a vote.

Most notably, the end-product of the committee process is, at best, a decision, and not an action. Very often organizational boards i.e., of directors, trustees, governors, advisors, ministers) are committees instead of teams. When time, money and lives are not at issue, committees make for fun sport, with lively debate, an exchange of ideas, and some decisions. A committee resembles a circle, with all forces pointed toward the center, while a team resembles an arrow, pointed in a specific direction and targeting a location or objective outside of the group itself.

TEAMS

• are groups of people who are assembled to achieve an identified objective, solve a particular problem, or to create a tangible product through their combined and cooperative efforts;


• are groups wherein each individual plays a contributory and complementary part in a calculated process, along a defined path, and with a shared vision of what, specifically is to be achieved -- each individual has a specific responsibility and accountability to the group, not unlike each cell in one living organism. Individual objectives are either in accord with the team's objectives, or they are subordinated to the team's objectives while the team is accomplishing its work;


• are groups of people organized around a leader or a facilitator, and unlike a committee, where the titular chairperson might be merely a moderator with a working knowledge of Roberts' Rules of Order, this leader or facilitator is ultimately responsible to coordinate the efforts of each of the members to attain the specified objective;


• are generally action-oriented, and once launched, have very little time for extensive debate, argument or "theorizing";


• are groups of people who are dependent upon each other to achieve an objective that is greater than any one individual team member could achieve individually.

In a recent conversation with Mark Sturgell, CBC, the president of Performance Development Network (http://www.pdncoach.com ), we discussed the "default setting" to which most members in poorly-organized or poorly-run teams tend to revert: "This d---ed team isn't working because of interpersonal issues."

Mark, who is an expert at "fixing" malfunctioning teams sees this as a misdiagnosis. If a team isn't functioning, the problems are not generally of an interpersonal nature, but of a structural, business nature. Mark cites numerous examples where, on private interview, 1) teammates did not even agree on the team's mission, or did not understand the nature of the mission at all; 2) teammates did not have clearly-defined responsibilities, or an understanding of their role in terms of its relevance to the whole team effort; and 3) teammates were not communicating with one another as effectively or as frequently as necessary.

Knowing the difference between a team and a committee, and conducting your activities or leading the group's activities accordingly, is a key analytical skill that every entrepreneur and networker must cultivate. There are two completely different behavioral codes -- and they must never be confused. Too many improperly-constructed or poorly-managed teams degrade into committees, and too many committees turn into personal free-for-alls.

Teams can be enormously productive entities, provided that they are viewed and operated as businesses instead of as sporting events.

-- Douglas Castle, THE CASTLE CONSULTANCY

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TEAMWORK - CREATING TEAMS THAT WORK: A Committee Is Not Necessarily a Team