What are the best ways to build professional relationships when you're new to Problem Solving?

In my initial days, I joined finance forums and workshops. I tackled a real-time challenge at a seminar and met a mentor. This showed me that the right community fast-tracks learning and networking.

When I was in college my father told me "Be an active listener, and it will help you network with ease". In the beginning I thought how can only listening to people help you network. But when I gave it a try, I learnt that active listening combined with curiosity & open mindedness to learn new things can help you gain entry to circles you thought were impossible to get into. With these skills, I have been able to network with C- level execs, university professors, people from various backgrounds and helped my clients solve their problems & utilize the full potential of our products as well as being able to communicate with people with limited knowledge of a common language.

In my experience, the first most thing is to listen to the people. Most people do this mistake that they talk what they want to talk rather than listening to what other person wants to say. The more first hand info with different perspective you get the better your understanding becomes. Now try to connect all views with the most common factor(s) which leads you to the root cause of the problem. The quickest way is to break the complexity in its simplistic form and your will now understand the next step

I recognize the value of curiosity and open-mindedness for building professional relationships. When I approach a new problem, my initial instinct is to dissect it. That's where curiosity kicks in. I've learned to never tackle it alone, especially when new to the organization. Open-mindedness has been a bit of an icebreaker for me. By genuinely being interested in others' viewpoints, I'm building relationships. When you show you value another person's opinion, you're not only getting different perspectives on a problem, but you're also building a professional relationship. Being curious gets you the answers, but being open-minded gets you the allies. Don't just aim to solve the problem. Aim to engage with it in a way that involves others.

Your leadership team should be made up of individuals who have a proven success with problem solving. Leaders should be so passionate about this skill that they are constantly teaching this to your team through example and participation. If you put a premium and priority on strong, optimistic and persistent problem solvers - your ROI will sky rocket. From the creation of products and systems, to the manner in which you curate and support your corporate culture - problem solvers will bring efficiency to the totality of your business that will translate to revenue in a multitude of ways.

Bringing your authentic self to navigating business using honest, humor and respectful dialog will always be a great way to open the door to a variety of ways to enhance the corporate culture. Proficient problem solvers are individuals who approach issues with a curious and non judgmental eye. They do not elevate the problem by triggering those assigned to the resolution. Problem solvers know the value to sticking to the issue and not giving it more emotion or energy than necessary. Introducing the gravity of the issue while maintaining a calm demeanor allows for clear minds to prevail. Adding levity lessens the 'fight or flight' response allowing for the ideas to flow and finding the best, overall approach towards the solution.

Do your homework. I am very willing to mentor people looking to break into my field. I will take on regular meetings where the person seeking guidance tries the agreed upon actions to see if they work/fit, and brings me back lessons learned for incorporation into future efforts. I meet only once with people who show up clearly waiting for me to tell them what search strings they need to become a Cybersecurity Expert (TM). I am neither Bard nor ChatGPT. Don't embarrass yourself by coming unprepared when someone is willing and excited to help you.