Social capital is equally important | Fola Daniel Adelesi
Fola Daniel Adelesi
International Keynote Speaker | Training Facilitator | PR & Comms | Corporate Event Host
Many people think that the capital they need is financial capital and they don't understand that there are other forms of capital that may even be more important than financial capital. Many people who get financial capital don't just get the financial capital because they have brilliant ideas. The ideas may be brilliant, but it's not everyone who has had a brilliant idea that has gotten money solely based on the brilliance of that idea.
Sometimes when people give you money, it's because they trust you. It's because they believe you. It's because they think that when they give you the money, you will do exactly what you say you're going to do with that money.
If they don't trust you, they may not give you that business idea. Though you have a fantastic business idea, that's why you need to understand that social capital, which is also known as reputation capital, is more important or in some cases can be more important than business capital. The people who are in business today, some of them will tell you that the reason or the way they got the funds for their business was from their friends, was from people some of them knew and some other people got business money from people they never even knew.
The only reason they got that money was because someone trusted them. What is your reputation capital, or do you even have this social capital? We call it social capital because people have not seen you do business before, and they have not seen, or they cannot prove that you are a reliable person. So, your reputation then comes in at that point.
Do people trust you enough? Can some other people vouch for you that if you're giving money, you will do business and you will execute it the way it ought to be executed? Take your social or reputation capital seriously. Now one of the ways you build this social capital or reputation capital is by doing little things efficiently. The businesses you're doing today, they look small, they look inconsequential.
You don't think anything will come out of it, but there's something that you don't know. The people you're relating with today, you're building your social capital with them. The way you relate with them today will determine what can come your way in the future.
How you're treating the people that you're treating today, how you're proving to them that you can be trusted, that you can be relied upon, will determine if they will recommend you in the future. When you do business with someone and the person is willing to recommend you to other people because you did the business excellently well, you didn't cheat them, or maybe they mistakenly gave you more funds and you refunded it, that's exactly the best way to build your social capital. It's very, very critical.
You just cannot do without social capital in business. So, people may know that you're good. People may know that you studied for this thing.
You are perfect at what you do. In fact, you may be the best, but if they cannot trust you, if your character is not good, if your attitude towards them is not good, if they know that you will put money ahead of relationships, if they know that you will not deliver on time, all those other things will begin to erode your social capital or what I have called your reputation capital. So, it's very important to not only think that it's just knowing the business or delivering a service that is business or that is what you need for capital.
Don't ever think that money is the only capital that you need. There is much more to capital than just money. Most times people look at other things like how you react, how you relate with them, how you are trustworthy you are.
The emphasis is on being trustworthy and reliable. Once they know that that is in place, if our people can give you money and go to sleep, they can give you money and never worry that something is going to go wrong. They can give you money and know that when it is time to see results for what they gave you money for, they are going to see the result.
And although people can ask you to go and do something that they paid you for, they may never even ask you, how did it go? How was it? I hope you did well. They won't ask you why because they know that you consistently deliver. Excellence is a culture for you.
All these things are very important, and I dare say to our young generation today, focus on being trusted. Earn the trust of the people that you are doing business with. It will always be more important than your skill and the knowledge that you have.
If you focus on being trusted and being reliable, then more businesses will come. It will amplify your skills. It's not enough to have skills.
In addition to your skills and your knowledge, in addition to your education, add reliability, add trust to everything that you are doing.
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Fola Daniel Adelesi
FDA Speaks professionally, Trains Effectively, Delivers great keynotes & Comperes humorously | 13 books & counting.
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