Business Networking is More Than “Contact Management”

Business or Career Networking is Based on Relationships Trust and Influence My definition of networking is:  “leveraging trust and influence.” It takes a long time to make an old friend! Trust and influence are cultivated over time and are based on experience with the friend’s past performance. Sometimes difficult challenges help you find out who your real friends are! […]

Discuss: How is the Social Media Tsunami Affecting Relationships?

For better or for worse, I believe that social media have impacted our world as much as the telephone or the electric light.  In particular the ubiquitous phenomenon of “sharing” our lives online must be affecting human relationships in many ways. What are Your Thoughts? Please Comment… (Notice that I use Comment Luv to link […]

Video Conferencing Tips for Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

Video Conferencing is the Solution for Communication — Both Verbal and Nonverbal Communication technology has come a long way since the Pony Express and the Telegraph (Western Union : no offense). Telephones and Mobile Phones have added the vocal component and now “Video Conferencing” includes the visual component, which is perhaps the most important part […]

Social Capital, Trust and Influence

You have heard people say, “It’s who you know, not what you know, that counts.” Of course, what you know does count, too. But I think that what counts the most is how the people you know feel about you! Knowing them is not enough. Do they LIKE you? Do they TRUST you? Do they RESPECT you?

When you need a friend, “social capital” beats all other investments. There is nothing so valuable as a true friend who “has your back” and is there for you in time of need. This level of trust is a sense of confidence that someone will consistently behave in ways that will support our well-being. Good intentions by themselves are insufficient.

Are You Wasting Your Time Making Contacts?

Contacts, Connections, Relationships — ROI Is it possible to have too many contacts? Maybe so! I find myself spending a LOT of time adding “friends,” “followers,” and “connections,” and I am proud of the number I have. I assume that there is potential for value from contacts. Maybe they are assets? The problem is that […]

Engage and Interact to Build Relationships Online

Relationships online are formed by engaging in conversations and interacting. Commenting on another person’s posts or status updates is just as important as posting your own content.

Old fashioned push advertising or brochure-like web sites are impotent. Paying (investing) attention to what others are saying (writing) online is the beginning of a relationship. It is more effective to be interested than to be interesting!

Just Showing Up

80 to 90 % is Just Showing Up Woody Allen has been quoted as saying that 80 to 90 % of success is due to “just showing up.” Apparently this quote is controversial, as I found out when I searched for it. Some people think that “just showing up” is not to be applauded. They […]

Opportunity Cost

Opportunity Cost Choosing one path has kept us from another. The difference is called “Opportunity Cost.”  As we reflect on our past, we may say, “Gee, I’m glad I did!” or “Gee, I wish I had…”  John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, “For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are those “It might have been”.  Choices […]

Components of Multimedia and Usage of Multimedia

Multimedia Usage and Non-Verbal Communication Components of multimedia include a broad spectrum of channels and devices. Usage of multimedia spans an even more diverse explosion of applications. As a professional networker, I am most interested in the usage of multimedia for connecting with new friends and nurturing relationships with existing friends and followers. Especially on […]

Social Networking Online and Offline

Social Networking Social networking has been around for centuries.  Synergy and empowering relationships are the essential ingredients of civilization. The internet is an efficient channel of communication for human beings who would like to interact for mutual benefit. I’ve been a fan of social networking for decades, and I was delighted when social media arrived […]

Social Relationships are Based on Emotion

Emotional Decisions Relationships are always between human beings, and humans have always been emotional creatures. We make decisions emotionally and then justify them rationally. Whatever the media or communication channels, we, the people, are attracted to those we know, like and trust. Online or offline, we don’t care how much you know — until we […]

Online Networking, Network Marketing, Win-Win Relationships

One of the best things about true network marketing, online or offline, is the win-win relationships. To quote Zig Zigler, “Help enough other people get what they want, and you will get what you want.” Sales and internet marketing, as opposed to networking, have the potential to be win-lose games. The seller wins, whether or […]

The Social Network

The social network online is only part of the real global social network, which includes human society as a whole. The old email chat acronym, IRL (In Real Life), no longer makes sense, if it ever did. Most of what constitutes human life, such as emotions, reasoning, needs, wants, and commerce, exist online and offline, and often overlap both. […]

We Are All Branding, All The Time!

Branding is usually associated with commercial brands for products or services. But personal branding, whether online or offline, is a matter of reputation. As you interact with others, they may come to know, like, and trust you. They are open to buying what you have to offer. They may even believe in the value you […]

Social Media Strategy

Begin with the end in mind. As a leadership consultant I have always asked “WHY” before “WHAT.”  Intention helps focus efforts in the direction of desired results. Craig Galati wrote about social media strategy in the Las Vegas Sun: Social media is important, but it must fit into a marketing strategy. Social media is a […]

Social Networking may Lead to Love

Online Relationships Love begins with contact, online or offline. I have several personal friends who met strangers online, developed relationships, and have been happily married for a decade or more to persons they met online. One happy couple met playing cards online. Those relationships are worth a thousand other Facebook Friends. The key is that […]

Networking is More than Contact “Management”

My definition of networking is:  “leveraging trust and influence.” It takes a long time to make an old friend! Trust and influence are cultivated over time and are based on experience with the friend’s past performance. Sometimes difficult challenges help you find out who your real friends are! If all we did at a live […]

Social Media compared to the Sub-Prime Bubble

Umair Haque wrote a provocative post in his Harvard Business Review Blog.  I have quoted it below to start a conversation about how close or deep our online relationships  really are, and how we can improve on them. Here is what Umair says: I’d like to advance a hypothesis: Despite all the excitement surrounding  social media, the […]