A couple of weeks ago Thom Singer called me just to chat. He noticed I blogged about him and so he picked up the phone to say thanks. That was really it.
That’s what friends do.
That’s what people who nurture relationships do.
During the call he told me about a call he made to someone else… someone he hadn’t talked to for a couple of years. The person wondered what Thom really wanted. Was it a multi-level? Did he need money, or a contact, or a job?
No, none of that. Thom was just calling to catch up. That was it.
That should be okay, but we have become such a suspicous people that it wasn’t really okay. Sad, huh?
After our call I noticed his post titled Here Are Four Trends In Networking That Could Hurt Your Career. Go read it. The first three seem to be pink elephants… stuff that most networking people don’t talk about. They seem to be busy talking about all the stuff to do, while the introverts and networking skeptics are thinking about the things Thom lists.
Here they are – I agree 100% with Thom. Please, please go read his post, and become a better networker!
1. Too much online focus. YES… WAY TOO MUCH. Use online to get to face-to-face, and use face-to-face to begin to nurture a real, long-term professional relationship!!
2. Protecting time. I’m guilty of this… I call it time management, but Thom is finding people who are overly protective of their time… are you missing opportunities because you say “no” too much?
3. Wanting it too fast. Yes! We live in a microwave society and we want it all now (or in 30 seconds). This stuff takes time… maybe even years! Start now and be patient.
4. Not networking at all. There are many reasons for this – what’s yours? My biggest hangup was that I didn’t understand what networking really was.
Read his post here.
