Back to Basics: Networking

Today's Baltimore Sun has a terrific blip about networking called Ties That Bind.  Citing Sue Bethanis of Mariposa Leadership Inc., three suggestions are offered which I'll elaborate on:

Get good at small talk.  Think in advance of a few questions that you could fire out at the person you are speaking with.  When things start to stall out, be comfortable with moving on.  Use geography, people in common, music, professional interests and anything else including the kitchen sink to build a bond with the person you are chatting with.  If this is someone that you want to follow up with, make a note to send an email within a day or so.  Better yet, write a hand-written note and actually put it in the mail.  Yes, people still use snail mail and it's quite effective with networking follow up.

Don't just be influential, be influence-able.  I learned early on in my education career that the following holds true, "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."  While it's perfectly normal to want to 'get somewhere' in a networking conversation, you should also ask a few questions and show genuine interest in the other person.  Don't settle for surface stuff, go deeper and show them that you care.

Balance your skills at advocating your position with your exquisite inquiry skills.  The best networkers do their homework and meet people on purpose.  As Keith Ferrazzi writes in Never Eat Alone, "the value of your networth is ultimately the depth of your network."  I will be attending a national conference this week in Baltimore and I've looked at the list of presenters in advance- who do I want to stumble into'?  Who is lunch-able?  What unique way can I follow up with the guy I just met twenty minutes ago who might get me a job in five years?

On a personal note, I work primarily with students and their parents.  It wasn't until I started looking at my job in terms of networking that the light bulb went off.  Now, when I'm in small talk or sending an email or chatting on the phone, I am in networking mode and instead of one light bulb, it's more like a lit Christmas tree of ideas, all firing in succession and leading to future success. 

Question: what can you to today to improve your networking skills?

Do Two Forgets Make a Remember?

Last night my wife and I were going for a drive- a great GTD moment ensued:

"Can you remind me next Monday at 6 o'clock about our appointment? "

"I'll remember if you write it down for me.  I don't have my Palm with me so I'll bet that we'll forget." 

"Well at least we'll both be forgetting at the same time!"

Do two forgets make a remember?  You know, do they cancel one another out so that we remember next Monday at 6 o'clock? 

One of the great things about GTD is the constant emphasis on capturing key information so that there are less open loops and more Monday appointments at 6 o'clock remembered.  With all of the talk about the Moleskine notebook, the many Palm devices that are available and plain old pen and paper, there are more ways to capture than ever before.

When we got to the supermarket, I asked the pharmacist for a scratch piece of paper and I scrolled in big, bold letters, "MONDAY, 6PM.  CARY APPOINTMENT."  The gal behind the desk probably thought I was nuts, but who cares?  Information captured, mission accomplished.

Quote for the Road

"Tell me, I forget, show me, I remember, Involve me, I understand."
Carl Orff

The Work of Holy Week: Friday | Jesus & GTD?

Part V in a 5-part series connecting daily work with spirituality

 

Good Friday: "How Jesus Would Have Practiced GTD"

As this week progressed I was looking forward to Friday, a day that for Christians, is called "good".  This unique paradox is a central tenet of the faith and it got me thinking: aren't many of the concepts of GTD somewhat paradoxical? 

Core principles like "mind like water" and "relaxed control" appear, on the outside to make no sense whatsoever but to those of us who dig GTD, they are cool and hip.  We get it. 

How would Jesus have practiced GTD?  More fundamentally, what would he have called it?  Maybe something like TPW (Treating People Well) or even HTBWC (How to Be  A World Changer). 

Some common GTD elements and how Jesus connected with them:

Collect: to prepare for his mission, Jesus spent 30 years in training , gathering all of the information and perspectives that would lead to fulfilling action for the three years subsequent.

Process: maybe a stretch here but I think it's safe to say that Jesus was a master at processing large quantities of information.  He knew the Old Testament well and was in touch with his "boss" on a regular basis.

Organize: while Jesus did not have an elaborate GTD list system that I know of, his travels around Nazareth indicate a plan and system of doing things.

Review: what could be better than the weekly trip to the Synagogue?  As a faithful Jew, Jesus would have spent every Saturday studying and learning from the best and brightest.  There he could close any open loops and prepare for the week ahead.  I guess you could say that Jesus gave new meaning to the adjective "religious" when it comes to practicing the weekly review.

Do: from the planning to the ultimate death and then subsequent actions of his followers, Jesus was a man of action.  Not since Moses in the Old Testament did history see a man so determined to get things done. 

Some other GTD puzzle pieces would have also been doable for Jesus such as:

Mind like water: Jesus spoke often of the avoidance of worrying and the ability to focus on what's really important in life.  I could have talked about walking on water but I'll keep it GTD focused!

The runway to 50,000 foot view: most people consider Jesus' amazing acts of healing or other significant life events but let's not forget that this was a carpenter we're talking about.  To be successful, and scholars think he was as a tradesman, he had to figure out with precision what each project required.  Even in his years of ministry, he was fully immersed in the day to day details of his family and friends.

I really liked Leo's post linking action with the perspective of a monk.  The bottom line: to effectively get things done over the long haul, one needs a spiritual foundation.   Today is Friday of Holy Week.

The Work of Holy Week: Holy Thursday

Part IV in a 5-part series connecting daily work with spirituality

Thursday: "The Servant in All of Us"

John C. Maxwell once said, "The first step to leadership is servanthood."  This simple admonition is often drowned out by many lower-level ambitions because very few of us aspire to be great servants.  We aim for the cash, the corner office, the more prestigious assignment and the chance to make a name for ourselves.  But servanthood, that's another matter.

I had the opportunity to volunteer for a year after my undergrad years and it taught me many things.  I was hardly a model servant but I had the chance to watch a true missionary, Keith Pohlmeier, as he led an after school program for Jersey City children.  Keith lived his service then and he lives it today with his beautiful family and in his work.  He surrenders his ego and puts his family first- a simple formula for service-filled success.

What Keith knew then, and what Christ still challenges us with today, is the concept of immersing ourselves in the needs of those around us.  It's easy to understand the Amazon jungle missionary who learns to love the villagers around him.  Not so easy to see our coworkers as our mission field but that's really where God wants us to invest our time.  Today is Thursday in Holy Week.

The Work of Holy Week: Wednesday / The Impact of Time

Part III in a 5-part series connecting daily work with spirituality

Wednesday: "My time
is at hand..."
All of us know someone who is over committed
and whose life is stretched too thin.  The physical signs are all too
clear: fatigue, lack of energy, poor diet, and health complications.
On a social level too, there are some red flags that immediately catch
our attention: they may be snippy, overly negative, and quick to
dismiss new ideas.  Whatever the outward "symptom", an overly taxed
life is not something to which many of us aspire and yet can easily
find ourselves dabbling in.

We dabble in just one more
committee.  We dabble in another activity for our kids.  We dabble in
another weekend event that's 20 minutes away.  It's only 20 minutes, we
tell ourselves...  At the end of the day, a little dabbling here and
there can add up to too much stress and not enough calm.

On the flip-side, a balanced life is rooted in knowing what we're all about and then sticking to it.  One of the great gifts of GTD
is that you can take a break from the day whenever you want to,
precisely because you have a clear sense of what still needs to get
done and how you're planning to do it.  In the summer months, I will go
off campus for lunch and just park my car under a tree in a nearby
parking lot.  I eat a sandwich and enjoy my book on tape.  It's amazing
how 30 minutes away from work leaves me fired up to go back to work.

In
today's Gospel, Jesus' sense of time leaves an impact on those with
whom he "works".  He knows that his earthly days are numbered and has a
clear vision of how he'd like to use those hours and minutes.  Do you
have a strong direction for your day?  Is your agenda laid out and
timed accordingly? 

As Holy Week rolls on, take the time to
write down the things you'll need to get done.  Refer back to your
lists and be sure to include any ongoing projects that need attention.
My guess is that you'll find that, like Jesus, others will take your
lead and improve their own sense of time management.  Today is Wednesday of Holy Week.