Networking Insight

Soak Up Business Information to Expand Your Conversation Depth

When talking with others in the business world, it is important that you have good information to share. You want to make sure that you have enough depth to talk about a variety of topics.

Therefore, it is very important that you keep up with current events and trends. So, spend time watching the news and reading magazines, books, blogs, etc.  Much of what you soak up can be within your industry as long as you don’t neglect general business information.

For me, I keep up by reading the news online, skimming blogs, and reading business books and magazines. My blog has been a wonderful tool for me to find out about new business books. Because I review books on my blog, publishers now send me new books to read and review. I am learning about a lot of different topics such as how the business world is trying to improve our educational system, how smart companies are going green, and how to pick winning stocks. 

In most business circles, you want to come across as an intellectual, especially if you are around many executives. Reading is a wonderful tool that provides you with a lot of good content to draw upon. Also, chances are that some of the people who you meet will have read the same items. As a result, you will immediately have something in common to talk about.

So, become an information hound and soak up as much as you can. It will pay off in the long run.

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2007-08 Growth Trends for Social Networking Sites

Marvist Consulting has conducted a study about social networking trends during the June 07 to June 08 period. Below are some highlights:

• Worldwide users of social networking sites increased by 25%
• MySpace.com continues as market leader with 72% of market share
• Facebook.com users increased by 153%
• Age group of 18-25 years is active participant in social networking
• Women visit more social networking sites than men

Because of the enormous growth of social networking over the last year, some of these trends may have shifted. To read more details from this study, go to Growth Trends of Social Networking Sites in 2007-08.

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Do You Participate in Social Notworking?

The Urban Dictionary recently published the below definitions for "social notworking".

1. Social Notworking  

The practice of spending time unproductively on social-networking websites, especially when one should be working.

Joe - Hey, Mark is constantly updating his Facebook status, does he not have any work to do?

John - His company obviously doesnt realise how much Social Notworking he is doing!

2.  Social Notworking 

When you spend all days at your job on social networking sites such as facebook,myspace and twitter.

Amanda spent day in the office social notworking instead of helping patients.

3.  Social Notworking 

The act of using a social networking site while at work.

Don't bother me right now. I'm busy doing some social notworking.

Are you guilty of this act?

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Book Review: Green to Gold by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage was written by Daniel Etsy who is a leading corporate environmental strategist and Andrew Winston who is an advisor to some of the world’s leading companies on how to profit from environmental thinking. The book discusses how companies need to be thinking “green”, otherwise, they are missing the boat with customers, future profitability, and the environment.

Daniel is the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University and Director of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale. Also, he has authored or edited nine other books. Andrew is a highly respected speaker who talks about the business benefits of going green.  In addition, he has done corporate strategy work at Boston Consulting and held management positions at Time Warner and MTV.

The book is broken up into the following parts:

Part I: Preparing for a New World
Part 2: Strategies for Building Eco-Advantage
Part 3: What WaveRiders Do
Part 4: Putting It All Together

Let’s face it that in today’s world if you aren’t thinking about the environment with everything that you do then you are behind. In order to sustain your business for the long term, you need to be thinking of ways to improve. If you don’t, then your customers and employees will go elsewhere.  We all need to be more accountable to each other and realize that our actions can affect the environment both positively or negatively.

The authors of Green to Gold do an excellent job explaining how smart companies have changed their strategies to innovate, create more value, and stay competitive when they focus on reducing their carbon footprint.  As a result, employees, customers, suppliers, etc. feel better about their affiliations with organizations.

The book shares numerous examples from well-known companies about how they either messed up or changed their strategies to excel them in their industries. It is amazing to read some of the results from companies that we all know.

It doesn’t matter how small or large a firm you run or work for because everyone is affected. Read Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage to add some additional motivation, learn some new strategies, and to understand why the green movement is here to stay.

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Do What You Say You Will Do

It is amazing to me how many people that I meet who tell me they will follow-up with me about something and they never do. In fact, I meet more people who don’t follow-up than who do. This is a real problem that needs to be addressed.

Your words and actions are everything in networking. Building trust and credibility takes time.  However, this won’t happen if you don’t come through. Your reputation is all you have so why would you do anything to tarnish it?

We are all busy and get overwhelmed but don’t over promise if you can’t deliver. Part of your business routine should be connecting, building, and helping others. The more you do these things the more it will be second nature.

Start small and don’t promise everything to everyone. Be smart about who you help. Follow-up and follow through needs to be done fairly quickly since it is still fresh in peoples’ minds. When you meet someone for the first time at a networking event, make sure to follow-up in the next day or two.  You want people to remember you.

Same thought should be for any promises such as an introduction, article, or information that you will share. Don’t think that because you don’t come through that people will forget about your promises. That is not true. In fact, others may think negatively of you. Don’t let this happen because people talk. Business circles are small so it may get around. At the same time, you may come across some of these people again and may need their help or try to do business with them. Your chances are diminished because of the way you treated them in the past.

Do what you way you will do and then you will be alright. Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

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Reminder - E.Factor Entrepreneur Panel - 4/14

As a reminder, the below event is happening in Chicago in about 2 weeks. Readers of my blog can get 25% off by using the discount code: CHIEIE79

Title: The Value of Emotional Intelligence for Entrepreneurs
Host: E.Factor
Date: April 14, 2009
Time: 6-9pm
Location: Mid-America Club, Aon Center, 200 E. Randolph, 80th Floor, Chicago
Cost: Free for premium members, $40 for basic members and guests (if you sign up as a Knowledge Member, you can attend all events for free)
More Information / RSVP: http://www.efactor.com/p/events/id=79

Emotional intelligence is the key attribute that separates great leaders from good leaders in our global and dynamic workforce. Discover how the power of emotions influence nearly everything you do, from your individual performance to your ability to impact others.

Keynote Speaker:
- Izzy Justice, CEO, EQmentor

Chicago Entrepreneur Panel:
- Troy Henikoff, CEO, OneWed.com
- Rick Mazursky, Principal, The Executives Profit
- Julia Stamberger, President, GoPicnic

Panel Moderator:
- John Dallas, CEO, Hillview Partners Network

For more information and to register, go to http://www.efactor.com/p/events/id=79.