Be more human - in business and in networking
Stefan Thomas
Professional Speaker for Business Events and Conferences | Keynote Speaker | Conference Speaker | Leadership & Communication Skills Trainer | Bestselling Author
Are we connected on Facebook? If not, I'm publishing a lot of my advice and thoughts over there and would love to be connected with you. You'll find me right here - https://www.facebook.com/stefanthomasdotbiz
Everyone knows that people buy people and yet, online as well as in networking groups, so many people become this altered 'professional' version of themselves.
It is REALLY hard to shake off years of corporate feedback and not being completely free to be ourselves, but if people do buy people - why are you being a business person instead of just a person?
When you strip off the layers, and be you, the right people warm to you. They might not even be people who you actually thought would like you, but by not being you, you're not giving people the opportunity to decide whether they like you in the first place.
This comes from someone who spent 20+ years of my adult life being the 'professional' version of me before realising that a) that was really exhausting as I was acting all the time I was visible or in public and b) people were liking me for the wrong version of me, not the version of me which is actually me.
I know I'm more out there than most. I recently said to my very good friend and advisor Tony Leake that I should really take the logical and sensible approach to a particular question I was facing and Tony responded "you're a 50+ year old man with a mohawk who talks openly about your bowel condition - are you absolutely sure you want to be logical now?". But even if you're not comfortable being as open as me, you can still be a little bit more human, and then a little bit more tomorrow too.
Be more human. You'll enjoy it and there's every chance you'll win more business too.
I hope you're having a great networking week,
Principal Mortgage and Insurance at Carol Smith Mortgage Services
6 天前I genuinely couldn't agree more. People like people and want to work with people who are not robotic. To be human have likes, dislikes or issues makes us more relatable.
Director of People Development
6 天前Great post Stefan Thomas and so true, since my mid 30's I realised how important it is to just be yourself personally and professionally. I will definitely be connecting on Facebook and truly hope you are feeling more like your awesome self.