Between the Lines

Recently, a client and friend of mine shared something she read online. It reflected a topic she and I had discussed numerous times, revolving around the increasingly prevalent requests by anyone and everyone to “meet for coffee.” Sometimes I may know the person; most often I don’t. Yet, I have found it amazing and am often incredulous how these conversations actually take place, especially for a “first impression” meeting.

As we fully embrace the arrival of 2012, many of us are revisiting our 2011 business approaches and outcomes. As a result, we may be considering integrating changes, improvements or different disciplines and habits. A friend of mind shared a great link from Inc.com which highlights a few simple, yet salient, tactical tips on how to improve our sales results. We can all benefit from these smart suggestions, which are easy to implement – if we just make it a practice. I, for one, am going to discipline myself as we fully enter 2012:

Bull & Bear Essentials offers an excellent list of top ten tips for success in life. These tips were consolidated from a series of interviews which Barbara Walters conducted with four billionaires. Those who have heard me speak over the past few years and/or read my blogs will recognize some familiar themes. I have highlighted those which resonate with a few key points from my recently published book, “Is This Seat Taken?”

Whether you are the CEO, a product manager, a team leader, or an individual contributor, I have found the most successful individuals are those that actively and sincerely solicit input, help and ideas from others in their organizations. Now, this is not the proverbial “obligated ask” – I am referring to those individuals that seek out and get additional heads and hands on board with their initiatives.

This takes time, effort, patience and a true desire to BUILD A TEAM from all levels of the organization. Many attempt to do this, perhaps because they have been told they “need to.” However, the leaders who master the art of true inclusiveness will build a network which will become a tremendous asset in their careers if done with purity of intention. A few tips:

Most of you know I don’t like the word ‘networking.’ I much prefer referring to meeting and making connections with others as relationship building. Recently, while giving a presentation to a group of professionals, this topic came up over and over. “How do we build an effective network? There are so many networking events and so [...]