Networking is a long game of building trust - Would you have connected and develop relationships with two guys who started a company in this garage?

Recently I realised I would be 70 next year, which means I will have been building and maintaining my network for some 50 years. With age, I have the arrogance to offer some parable strewn ramblings that those of lesser years might find useful. My na?ve aim to is start long term two-way dialogues between members of my network. To encourage you to learn about each other not through transmission but by asking questions that stimulate receiving. Not by Tweeting - put your Smart Phones down and talk. In today's global world you can't always do that over a coffee, but you can Skype video where you can see each-others body language.

Networking is a long game of building trust with no quick fixes - it resembles a Snakes & Ladders Board - with each throw of the dice you can move sedately upwards, gain advantage by climbing ladders or slide back down slippery snakes - if my memory is correct our family board even had a snake on 97 taking you back to 3. We build trust on which business is based, layer by layer, waiting for each layer too cure before building the next - trying to add many layers to quickly and like a brick wall, it will collapse. And here is the problem - unless you speak the truth no matter how good your CRM, you will never remember what you said to them to maintain & develop that trust.

Many books have been written on how to build trust but one to start with is John Gray's "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus". To quote John "Once upon a time Martians and Venusians met, fell in love, and had a happy relationship together because they respected and accepted their differences. Then they came to Earth and amnesia set in: they forgot they were from different planets." Respect your differences with those around you - family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, suppliers and clients. You build your trust in their language and not in your own. Ego and Self-interest are the networking norm, so try genuine interest in others and ask questions. 

"Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes". —?Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789 

It always amuses me when LinkedIn members decline to connect unless they have met people or know them already. I worked with some great people at ON-Brand some years ago who introduced me to the idea that 80% of ideas you need in future will come from outside your industry. Try Mervyn King's brilliant must-read book “The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking and the Future of the Global Economy” and remember the constant theme of Radical Uncertainty. Fix into your memory the quote by United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "There are Known Knowns, Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns". So over your life you will have need of trusted connections in many sectors and you will never know in advance whose those trusted connection might be. Most executives change roles ever 3 years or less, in new roles, industries and geographic locations. In fifty years I have moved through selling typewriters & adding machines office to office and later Bureaux services in London, Workstations, Super Computers. Direct & Indirect in Great Britain, Ireland, and Middle-East. 

In my later years, I am lucky to be working with Heather White Chairman & Founder, Boardroom Ready, connecting with Boards who are seeking to broaden their board knowledge pool and gender balance and are UK AIM listed or SME’s with a turnover of ￡20m + who would be interested in having senior executives from the FTSE500 as a “Guest Observer”. The placement is at no cost to these board and obviously, NDAs and confidentiality are all duly put in place. The benefit to the "Host Board" is the external perspective they can bring to the business, and in return, the “Guest Observer” takes away experience of working with another business whilst retaining their own career path. https://boardroomready.co/boardroom-plus/ 

Quoting selectively from an Investopedia Article "The Peter Principle was laid out by Canadian educational scholar, Dr. Laurence J. Peter, in his 1968 book titled "The Peter Principle." Dr. Peter stated in his book that an employee's inability to fulfil the requirements of a given position that he is promoted to may not be the result of general incompetence on the part of the employee as much as it is due to the fact that the position simply requires different skills than those the employee actually possesses. A possible solution to the problem posed by the Peter Principle is for companies to provide adequate skill training for employees receiving a promotion, and to ensure the training is appropriate for the position to which they have been promoted". Time as a “Guest Observer” allows the aspiring Executive to gain real-world experience whilst mutually adding value and "enjoying" a reality check. Read more: Peter Principle Definition | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/peter-principle.asp#ixzz4Z2MuLknp  

Look forward to your constructive comments, invites to connect (if not already), InMail's and emails.

Alan MacKelworth 

About Alan MacKelworth: Now approaching 30 years as a Global B2B Networkologist and Client Lobbyist. Much of that time building targeted global relationship development in new industry sectors, organisations and geography for clients. Developing clusters of strategic relationships in the power industry, simulation, defence, security, aerospace, telecommunications, systems integration, software development, information technology and physical/cybersecurity sectors. Early influencers are Mark Granovetter "The Strength of Weak Ties" and Sun Tzu "The Art of War". The LinkedIn site officially launched on May 5, 2003 - joined October 29, 2003 as an early adopter and member #36,770. Now with more than 467 million members in over 200 countries and territories. https://press.linkedin.com/about-linkedin?#