It's All About Who You Know!

The Importance of Networking with Other Leaders.

PART 1

Networking means different things to different people. According to Webster’s Dictionary networking is “The developing of contacts or exchanging of information with others in an informal network, as to further a career.” I asked my daughter, Missy, What is networking? Missy said, “It’s like making friends”. (I like both definitions.)

Networking is the intersection between work and friendship. For the purpose of this article I am defining networking as “Building friendships with like-minded people where you can help each other fulfill your goals.”

“It’s all about who you know.” I first heard this statement from a pastor’s wife. She was commenting on how (in her opinion) her denomination was too political. The inference was that people were promoted to positions of leadership, not based on their character or abilities, but simply on whom their friends were.

Admittedly this does happen on occasion, however if you receive a promotion simply based on friendship, and don’t have the necessary abilities, you won’t have that job for very long. On the other hand if you don’t have any relationships, you may not ever get a shot at job that you really want. It doesn’t matter how good you are at something if nobody knows about it.

The truth is that “who you know” is a key part of what makes life work. My best friends are people I work with at my church, or have met at a conference somewhere around the country. These are people that I genuinely care about. I want to see them succeed and they want to see me succeed.

Networking is like breathing. It’s not the only thing that matters, but if you don’t do it, you won’t last very long.

Take a moment and think about the various jobs that you have had. Ask yourself: How did I get this job? My guess is that there is good chance that either you knew the people that hired you, or that your boss knew a good friend of yours that recommended you.

What are your thoughts on networking?

How do you get started with networking? Well, come back in a couple of days and I will tell you!