WEBVTT 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:20.219 Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, Building 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:23.320 Profitable Connections, the podcast where we 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:26.660 uncover the strategies, stories, and systems 00:00:26.660 --> 00:00:30.480 that turn relationships into real results. I'm 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:33.119 your host, Michael Foreman, and today's episode 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.859 is going to challenge the way you think about 00:00:35.859 --> 00:00:38.829 career growth. collaboration, and connection. 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:42.509 My guest is an expert in helping professionals 00:00:42.509 --> 00:00:46.210 get promoted in just 90 days, rethink how we 00:00:46.210 --> 00:00:50.030 generate ideas by explaining why brainstorming 00:00:50.030 --> 00:00:54.329 doesn't work, and master the art of dealing with 00:00:54.329 --> 00:00:57.009 distractions and interruptions without losing 00:00:57.009 --> 00:01:01.310 momentum or meaningful relationships along the 00:01:01.310 --> 00:01:04.829 way. This conversation goes beyond surface -level 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:08.420 networking. We're talking about building influence, 00:01:08.700 --> 00:01:12.060 showing up with intention and creating the kind 00:01:12.060 --> 00:01:15.739 of connections that don't just open doors. They 00:01:15.739 --> 00:01:19.540 help you walk through them prepared. So whether 00:01:19.540 --> 00:01:21.599 you're climbing the corporate ladder, leading 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.480 a team, building your brand with this episode 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:28.620 or building your brand, this episode is packed 00:01:28.620 --> 00:01:32.459 with insights you can use right now. I'd like 00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:36.159 to bring it to the podcast. Greg Wenger, and 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:40.180 he has really an extensive background. So I'm 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:42.840 going to let him introduce himself, and then 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:45.379 we'll get on underway. Greg, welcome to the podcast. 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:48.319 Thanks so much, Michael. It's really great to 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:51.700 be here. I'm happy to tell you a little bit about 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:55.379 my background. I come from a really high achiever. 00:01:55.900 --> 00:01:58.900 family, really. My father was a surgeon, so there's 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:01.319 really no question that you're going to go after 00:02:01.319 --> 00:02:04.420 it in life. And so I came out of the barrel of 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:06.260 the shotgun or the cannon, whatever metaphor 00:02:06.260 --> 00:02:10.060 you want to use. And so I was high school valedictorian. 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:12.740 I was on the swim team, All -American swimming. 00:02:13.159 --> 00:02:17.180 I'll go to Stanford. And then I started to hit 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:19.520 some headwinds there and trying to find my way 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.750 a little bit. I drifted into, I studied. Two 00:02:22.750 --> 00:02:25.669 things. I studied English and I studied computer 00:02:25.669 --> 00:02:27.949 science and I thought, okay, I'm going to get 00:02:27.949 --> 00:02:30.710 a job as a programmer. And I go out into the 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:33.830 career world and I tapped the brakes a little. 00:02:33.909 --> 00:02:36.229 I didn't, I saw a lot of peers going after these 00:02:36.229 --> 00:02:39.509 super high, highest level positions and I wanted 00:02:39.509 --> 00:02:42.610 to enjoy life a little bit more. So I've always 00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:45.069 thought work -life balance it, however that looks 00:02:45.069 --> 00:02:48.370 for me. But I worked in programming for a while, 00:02:48.370 --> 00:02:51.939 but I gradually got I didn't love decisions that 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:54.439 were being made. I was surrounded by brilliant 00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:57.180 engineers and they're doing amazing things. And 00:02:57.180 --> 00:02:59.479 I was like, the decision, why are we building 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:02.240 these things? I wanted to have some influence 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:06.860 over that. And so I'm going to cut to the chase. 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:10.560 I got into management. achieved different levels, 00:03:10.699 --> 00:03:14.900 manager, director, VP. And I was eventually on 00:03:14.900 --> 00:03:17.599 an executive team and that this is where I am 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:20.099 now. I've since worked at three companies. We've 00:03:20.099 --> 00:03:23.259 grown them to like between 10 to 70 million in 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:25.319 revenue. We've done it multiple times. But the 00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:28.580 first one I was just, this is a luck. I was on 00:03:28.580 --> 00:03:31.699 an IPO company. So I've seen a lot of success. 00:03:31.819 --> 00:03:34.280 I've learned a ton out of that. But where that 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.539 neat story doesn't tell you is the struggle that 00:03:37.539 --> 00:03:40.139 I had, because as it turns out, I have the words 00:03:40.139 --> 00:03:42.639 for it now, my whole life I've been an introvert. 00:03:43.099 --> 00:03:48.000 And so when I was so achievement oriented, I 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.819 was like, I'm ready to be a leader now. And I 00:03:50.819 --> 00:03:53.960 wasn't presenting as a leader. And this was just 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:57.099 a lot of things that we think of as leadership 00:03:57.099 --> 00:03:59.939 didn't come naturally to me. Standing up confrontation. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.840 I went through a lot of anxiety dealing with 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:05.960 confrontation at different stages in my career. 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:10.319 And so as I reached each level, it ratchets up 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:12.580 the pressure. And so at each level, I had to 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:15.419 learn new techniques and new skills along the 00:04:15.419 --> 00:04:17.620 way, including at the executive level. That was 00:04:17.620 --> 00:04:20.519 another level. And I had to do even more work 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:23.579 on myself just to give myself the tools to be 00:04:23.579 --> 00:04:26.459 able to deal with the levels of pressure at that 00:04:26.459 --> 00:04:30.870 level. So that's it in a nutshell. And that's 00:04:30.870 --> 00:04:33.790 really good. And you hit on so many points that 00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:37.050 I speak about regarding the networking communication, 00:04:37.490 --> 00:04:40.569 but the introverts versus the extroverts and 00:04:40.569 --> 00:04:43.490 the problems that go along with each of them. 00:04:43.629 --> 00:04:46.910 And I don't want to get into what I do. The way 00:04:46.910 --> 00:04:50.649 here that you're speaking, you've conquered most 00:04:50.649 --> 00:04:56.050 of it. As you got that extra level, you conquered 00:04:56.050 --> 00:05:00.589 what you had to do to... excel in your position 00:05:00.589 --> 00:05:04.209 and you did it so on and so forth. And that's 00:05:04.209 --> 00:05:07.509 all wonderful. That's great because, and at the 00:05:07.509 --> 00:05:09.670 end, I'm going to ask you what you would recommend 00:05:09.670 --> 00:05:12.529 for somebody else, but that's just really good. 00:05:12.670 --> 00:05:15.209 Let me just go into some of the questions that 00:05:15.209 --> 00:05:17.949 I have for you. You teach how to get promoted 00:05:17.949 --> 00:05:22.009 in 90 days. What role does strategic networking 00:05:22.009 --> 00:05:27.389 play in making that happen fast? It's a great 00:05:27.389 --> 00:05:30.529 question. Maybe I just start with the initial 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:34.170 step. And it can sound like a bit of a cliche, 00:05:34.329 --> 00:05:37.370 but it's really the essential piece. Like if 00:05:37.370 --> 00:05:41.649 you don't do this, none of the rest really works 00:05:41.649 --> 00:05:43.649 the way you want, especially if you're trying 00:05:43.649 --> 00:05:46.230 to achieve something in 90 days. And that's really 00:05:46.230 --> 00:05:50.170 to promote yourself. And what that means, it's 00:05:50.170 --> 00:05:53.250 really a shift in mindset. You have to act as 00:05:53.250 --> 00:05:55.189 though you already have the role that you want. 00:05:55.470 --> 00:05:58.209 And so that involves knowing what that role is 00:05:58.209 --> 00:06:01.930 and knowing maybe you see examples of it, maybe 00:06:01.930 --> 00:06:04.430 you don't. And so that's one way that the networking 00:06:04.430 --> 00:06:09.410 piece comes in. But it's really more about how 00:06:09.410 --> 00:06:13.269 you show up. It's one part of it. And the other 00:06:13.269 --> 00:06:16.589 part is the level of commitment. When you get 00:06:16.589 --> 00:06:19.410 to a place where that next promotion is what 00:06:19.410 --> 00:06:22.500 you must have. And there's just no question it's 00:06:22.500 --> 00:06:24.779 going to happen. It's going to unfold for you, 00:06:24.819 --> 00:06:27.199 whether it's in your current role or not. It 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:30.060 just becomes part of your destiny and your future. 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:31.759 And that's a decision everyone can make. And 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:34.079 I think a lot of people don't realize it until 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:35.560 you've had that experience. You don't realize 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:38.339 that this is how it actually works. So that's 00:06:38.339 --> 00:06:40.740 the first step. The next step is the strategic 00:06:40.740 --> 00:06:44.019 networking, because you need to figure out a 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:47.410 lot of things. You need to figure out. How am 00:06:47.410 --> 00:06:50.829 I being perceived? You really need feedback is 00:06:50.829 --> 00:06:54.769 one thing. And so you want to seek out mentors, 00:06:55.110 --> 00:06:58.569 other people in your role, people who surround 00:06:58.569 --> 00:07:00.829 your role. Roles surrounding your role have lots 00:07:00.829 --> 00:07:03.889 of great information about the position that 00:07:03.889 --> 00:07:07.889 you want to be in. And so you've got to talk 00:07:07.889 --> 00:07:12.529 to people. And so if you haven't established 00:07:12.529 --> 00:07:15.490 that network of people, It's never too late to 00:07:15.490 --> 00:07:17.970 start. Now is the perfect time to start. I heard 00:07:17.970 --> 00:07:20.689 this the other day. The first, what was the best 00:07:20.689 --> 00:07:23.670 time to plant a tree or something? It was 20 00:07:23.670 --> 00:07:25.670 years ago. What's the second best time to plant 00:07:25.670 --> 00:07:29.730 a tree? It's now. So you can always start. And 00:07:29.730 --> 00:07:32.550 I think the easiest way is people who you see 00:07:32.550 --> 00:07:34.550 every day, people in your company, someone you 00:07:34.550 --> 00:07:37.910 can approach very easily. And then after that, 00:07:38.129 --> 00:07:44.500 LinkedIn is God's gift to networking. It's really 00:07:44.500 --> 00:07:46.519 connect with people you're already connected 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:48.779 with, but it's also easy to get introductions 00:07:48.779 --> 00:07:52.259 and that sort of thing. And it's really, people 00:07:52.259 --> 00:07:55.740 are always open to someone coming to you and 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:58.100 saying, hey, I could use some advice. It's really 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:01.279 not, I guess there are probably exceptions to 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.980 that, but most everybody loves to do that. They 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:06.459 love, you're really valuing and honoring their 00:08:06.459 --> 00:08:10.040 knowledge and their experience by doing that. 00:08:10.139 --> 00:08:14.160 And people like to help. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. 00:08:14.500 --> 00:08:16.699 I know when I was climbing the corporate ladder, 00:08:16.860 --> 00:08:19.579 I always had a very good feeling of what I did, 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:24.540 but I knew intimately what my boss did. And I 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:27.439 knew a little bit about what his boss did because 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:30.300 I was always looking one to two places above 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:33.240 me, but that's me. I'm one of those people. I'm 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:35.419 okay. I'm happy now, but I want that position 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:39.740 and I go on. But what you said, but. building 00:08:39.740 --> 00:08:42.340 the network, and it's never too late to start. 00:08:42.500 --> 00:08:44.899 And you were so right when you said LinkedIn, 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.299 because you have your basic network that you 00:08:48.299 --> 00:08:51.259 deal with. You connect with them on LinkedIn. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:54.559 And I just gave this to one of my coaching students. 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:58.419 I said, you know what? You have to give them 00:08:58.419 --> 00:09:00.740 a little piece of something. You're a problem 00:09:00.740 --> 00:09:05.389 solver, okay? So you have to go after... let's 00:09:05.389 --> 00:09:08.649 say a person, but give them something of value. 00:09:08.789 --> 00:09:11.009 If you're constantly giving them something of 00:09:11.009 --> 00:09:13.470 value, you'll be seeing that much more. Enough 00:09:13.470 --> 00:09:16.990 about me. Let's go on to the next question. Can 00:09:16.990 --> 00:09:19.809 you share a story where a single relationship 00:09:19.809 --> 00:09:22.950 or connection helped someone accelerate their 00:09:22.950 --> 00:09:34.440 career in under 90 days? Yes, absolutely. This 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:38.379 was I'll give you an example of this is my own 00:09:38.379 --> 00:09:42.720 example of and this is well under 90 days. So 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:46.559 I actually there's a book called Phil Terry has 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:50.879 is it's about the the job search councils. It's 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:55.299 basically about not networking alone. So like 00:09:55.299 --> 00:09:57.580 when you go out on your job search, it can be 00:09:57.580 --> 00:09:59.600 a really lonely experience. And if you don't 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:03.559 have someone there to support you. And so. There's 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:06.980 a whole framework to it. You might be familiar 00:10:06.980 --> 00:10:10.399 with it, but you find other people who are in 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:13.379 that situation and then you start interviewing 00:10:13.379 --> 00:10:16.820 people and you start asking what can they, you 00:10:16.820 --> 00:10:18.879 just start asking about the role. You're learning 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:21.539 more about that. And so you're not just rushing 00:10:21.539 --> 00:10:24.519 into a job search. But what happened with me 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:27.320 is I read this book and one of the suggestions 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:32.039 in it was, can, you know, Can you find the role 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:36.720 that you want in your current job? And so I said, 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:40.139 that seems a lot easier. Why don't I try that? 00:10:40.220 --> 00:10:42.299 Just try that first. And then I can go through 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:45.399 all of this whole process and form a council 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:48.340 and start a really extensive networking. And 00:10:48.340 --> 00:10:51.740 I went to my boss and I said, I'm really, I need 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:55.649 to get to this next level. I've got that. Talked 00:10:55.649 --> 00:10:57.750 about life circumstances. I need to get to a 00:10:57.750 --> 00:11:00.090 different level of money, but it's also the right 00:11:00.090 --> 00:11:02.269 time for me in my career. I need to take on more 00:11:02.269 --> 00:11:04.590 responsibility. And he said at the time he was 00:11:04.590 --> 00:11:08.330 reporting to the CEO and he said, let me talk 00:11:08.330 --> 00:11:12.149 to him. And we had a long conversation. They 00:11:12.149 --> 00:11:15.570 met at the bar that evening. And then later that 00:11:15.570 --> 00:11:17.090 night, they came to me. It's like, we're going 00:11:17.090 --> 00:11:20.549 to make it work out. Basically, I asked for the 00:11:20.549 --> 00:11:23.370 role I wanted. And there was a strong element 00:11:23.370 --> 00:11:27.009 of timing in that. But that's how close you might 00:11:27.009 --> 00:11:28.750 be. You might think, I might have to leave my 00:11:28.750 --> 00:11:31.289 job. It might be six to 12 months. But it could 00:11:31.289 --> 00:11:34.509 be that close. Chances are, that's a more rare 00:11:34.509 --> 00:11:38.210 circumstance. But three months is completely 00:11:38.210 --> 00:11:40.389 realistic. And I've seen that multiple times. 00:11:41.289 --> 00:11:44.950 Yes, very realistic. And again, going up the 00:11:44.950 --> 00:11:48.549 corporate ladder, as you said, timing has to 00:11:48.549 --> 00:11:51.169 be right. For somebody within the same job or 00:11:51.169 --> 00:11:54.669 same company, timing has to be right. If it's 00:11:54.669 --> 00:11:57.509 not, you can do that whole search thing. But 00:11:57.509 --> 00:12:00.789 take it like what you said. You have to take 00:12:00.789 --> 00:12:03.570 the shot, explain to your boss or something that 00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:06.049 this is what you need. And he made it work for 00:12:06.049 --> 00:12:09.590 you. So you had that relationship with your boss, 00:12:09.769 --> 00:12:12.009 you had that relationship with the company, and 00:12:12.009 --> 00:12:14.909 obviously you were good at what you did, otherwise 00:12:14.909 --> 00:12:17.370 they wouldn't even have given you the time of 00:12:17.370 --> 00:12:21.230 day. So all of that has to come into play. Okay, 00:12:21.289 --> 00:12:25.549 so you say brainstorming doesn't work. What's 00:12:25.549 --> 00:12:28.250 a more effective way to tap into the power of 00:12:28.250 --> 00:12:33.850 people when generating ideas? Yeah, and to answer 00:12:33.850 --> 00:12:35.850 that, we have to think about why it doesn't work. 00:12:36.509 --> 00:12:39.289 There's a fascinating history on that. There's 00:12:39.289 --> 00:12:42.889 a man named Alex Osborne. And so if you've ever 00:12:42.889 --> 00:12:45.889 watched the Madman series, think of Don Draper. 00:12:45.970 --> 00:12:49.210 That was him, his master of the universe, Madison 00:12:49.210 --> 00:12:53.570 Avenue King in the 1940s, 30s, 40s. And he had 00:12:53.570 --> 00:12:55.669 developed these techniques in his agencies where 00:12:55.669 --> 00:12:59.230 he actually. He's credited with inventing brainstorming 00:12:59.230 --> 00:13:02.570 where imagine like the madman office and smoke 00:13:02.570 --> 00:13:04.370 is swirling. Maybe they're having scotches and 00:13:04.370 --> 00:13:06.230 they're just throwing out ideas. And the ideas 00:13:06.230 --> 00:13:09.730 is like for the wilder and the more spontaneous 00:13:09.730 --> 00:13:12.870 this whole exercise is, the more creative and 00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:17.049 fruitful the ideas become. And it's an extremely 00:13:17.049 --> 00:13:20.940 attractive. idea. And it's it has just gotten 00:13:20.940 --> 00:13:23.700 so embedded in our culture, minus the smoke and 00:13:23.700 --> 00:13:25.860 scotch anymore. But but I can't tell you how 00:13:25.860 --> 00:13:28.059 many brainstorming sessions I've been in my entire 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:32.559 life. And the only catch at it is that they've 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:34.500 been studying this in business schools for 40 00:13:34.500 --> 00:13:38.639 years. And study after study proved that it doesn't 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:41.639 work. It's suboptimal. And one of the reasons 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:44.980 is because roughly half of the people in any 00:13:44.980 --> 00:13:48.850 given room are introverts. And introverts don't 00:13:48.850 --> 00:13:50.789 do their best thinking out loud. They're actually 00:13:50.789 --> 00:13:54.409 doing their best thinking alone, given the time 00:13:54.409 --> 00:13:56.269 and the exercise. And that's where a lot of the 00:13:56.269 --> 00:13:59.090 creativity comes up. And so half of your people 00:13:59.090 --> 00:14:01.789 are freezing up and getting overstimulated and 00:14:01.789 --> 00:14:03.950 crowded out from thinking their best in that 00:14:03.950 --> 00:14:09.610 situation. And then, you know, so it's just suboptimal 00:14:09.610 --> 00:14:12.629 in that way. So how do you solve that? What has 00:14:12.629 --> 00:14:15.470 been shown to work really well is to give people 00:14:16.059 --> 00:14:19.820 homework assignments. So they can go off in and 00:14:19.820 --> 00:14:23.980 come up with ideas on their own terms, on their 00:14:23.980 --> 00:14:25.840 best, and then they come in and present them. 00:14:26.059 --> 00:14:33.000 And so the group activity is triage, evaluation, 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.960 augmentation. There is an element of group discussion, 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:40.240 but it's starting with much more fertile initial 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:43.860 sets of ideas. And that actually works for extroverts 00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:46.899 too. That's why it really is an optimal solution. 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:50.679 That sounds like a really good idea. And it sounds 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:53.500 like it's a very good idea of something that 00:14:53.500 --> 00:14:56.779 if all you've done is brainstorming, when you 00:14:56.779 --> 00:15:00.279 introduce this idea, it's actually a little more 00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:05.639 clear for what you can accomplish and your opinions 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:08.919 or whatever else that you're giving to the mass, 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:12.419 whoever's in the brainstorming session. You're 00:15:12.419 --> 00:15:14.879 giving a lot more to it than just the ideas that 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:17.120 are just coming off your head. There's a lot 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:19.240 more thinking involved. So that's very good. 00:15:20.059 --> 00:15:24.139 Okay, so what's the difference between being 00:15:24.139 --> 00:15:29.279 seen as a go -to person versus just being liked 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:32.440 in the workplace? And how does networking influence 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:39.080 that perception? Yeah, that's a great question. 00:15:40.339 --> 00:15:45.159 First of all, I think a key part, and I talk 00:15:45.159 --> 00:15:47.700 about introverts and introversion, but I think 00:15:47.700 --> 00:15:51.059 this has got to go for everybody. A key part 00:15:51.059 --> 00:15:54.000 of networking is establishing personal contact. 00:15:54.620 --> 00:15:58.200 And many people are good at that. Introverts 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:00.259 are great one -on -one. And if you're an introvert, 00:16:00.299 --> 00:16:02.019 you can do this as well as anyone. It's just 00:16:02.019 --> 00:16:09.070 grab time with people who are peers. in other 00:16:09.070 --> 00:16:10.909 roles and functions around the organization. 00:16:11.769 --> 00:16:15.769 And there has to be, I think, to make this really 00:16:15.769 --> 00:16:17.889 effective, you want to establish a personal level 00:16:17.889 --> 00:16:20.690 of connection as well as a professional. And 00:16:20.690 --> 00:16:23.909 what I've always done is I think about who are 00:16:23.909 --> 00:16:27.029 really critical people to my role in the organization 00:16:27.029 --> 00:16:30.490 to get things done. And for me, I've always worked 00:16:30.490 --> 00:16:33.029 in product management. And so I need to know 00:16:33.029 --> 00:16:35.509 people in marketing. I need to know key people 00:16:35.509 --> 00:16:39.259 in sales. I don't need to know everyone important 00:16:39.259 --> 00:16:42.240 in engineering, but really, and in finance as 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:44.259 well. It's really all the way across the company. 00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:47.679 But I think you can do this for whatever role 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:49.700 you're in. Maybe you don't work with everyone 00:16:49.700 --> 00:16:53.159 in the company, but if you understand who those 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:57.220 key people are, then you can establish that relationship. 00:16:57.399 --> 00:17:00.019 And maybe you only need to talk to them once 00:17:00.019 --> 00:17:02.460 every three months or some people you want to 00:17:02.460 --> 00:17:05.380 talk to monthly. But when you sit down and talk 00:17:05.380 --> 00:17:09.920 to them, And you understand what's really important 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.920 to them. What do they care about? And then you 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:15.819 can think about how can you help them? And you 00:17:15.819 --> 00:17:19.160 offer that up and then you follow through. And 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:23.900 so what that does is it establishes trust. And 00:17:23.900 --> 00:17:27.799 you can think of that as currency. This is you're 00:17:27.799 --> 00:17:31.180 building up a wealth of trust in your network 00:17:31.180 --> 00:17:34.950 within your company. And so then that person, 00:17:35.009 --> 00:17:37.369 when they have an issue, they're going to come 00:17:37.369 --> 00:17:39.430 and reach out to you and talk to you because 00:17:39.430 --> 00:17:42.289 they know that they start to see, especially 00:17:42.289 --> 00:17:45.109 over time, that they can count on you to help 00:17:45.109 --> 00:17:47.730 them out. And that flows in both directions. 00:17:47.809 --> 00:17:52.990 And so that's really how you get seen. And you 00:17:52.990 --> 00:17:56.029 actually are someone who can get things done 00:17:56.029 --> 00:17:59.549 around the organization and not just a pleasant 00:17:59.549 --> 00:18:03.549 person in a room. You hit on so many points that 00:18:03.549 --> 00:18:06.009 I can just talk for an hour just from the point 00:18:06.009 --> 00:18:08.109 that you just made. That's how important they 00:18:08.109 --> 00:18:11.549 are. With networking, there's a mantra, okay? 00:18:11.650 --> 00:18:14.809 There's know you, you trust you, they'll do business 00:18:14.809 --> 00:18:17.650 with you. Now, know you, if you're just dealing 00:18:17.650 --> 00:18:19.690 with people in the company, they see your face, 00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:23.349 they know you. Like you, that narrows down just 00:18:23.349 --> 00:18:25.470 a little bit because not everybody's going to 00:18:25.470 --> 00:18:28.549 like you, but that trust factor is so crucial 00:18:28.549 --> 00:18:32.950 that it is a currency. And whenever I go into 00:18:32.950 --> 00:18:36.450 a situation like that, I remember a word called 00:18:36.450 --> 00:18:42.190 F -O -R -M. Family, occupation, recreation, and 00:18:42.190 --> 00:18:45.809 a message. Because I can talk to the person on 00:18:45.809 --> 00:18:48.589 any level. Their family, their husband, wife, 00:18:48.750 --> 00:18:51.490 sister, brother, son, daughter, whatever. Their 00:18:51.490 --> 00:18:53.930 occupation, that's your work. You can talk to 00:18:53.930 --> 00:18:56.210 them. Recreation, what does he like to do? Does 00:18:56.210 --> 00:18:58.309 he like to go boating? Does he ski? Whatever. 00:18:58.509 --> 00:19:02.569 And talk about that. So if you talk about anything 00:19:02.569 --> 00:19:05.970 but business and just keep it that conversation, 00:19:06.450 --> 00:19:10.289 you'll be remembered. And in the hallway or on 00:19:10.289 --> 00:19:12.470 the phone or in a meeting, they'll always know 00:19:12.470 --> 00:19:14.650 you and wave to say, hello, how you doing? And 00:19:14.650 --> 00:19:18.250 strike a little conversation with you. So I can't 00:19:18.250 --> 00:19:19.910 go through all the points that you made, but 00:19:19.910 --> 00:19:23.950 that trust factor is so important. It is like 00:19:23.950 --> 00:19:27.970 a currency. Very good. Yeah. One thing I just 00:19:27.970 --> 00:19:30.630 add to that is you got to really care. I can 00:19:30.630 --> 00:19:33.089 imagine people who are in the listening business. 00:19:33.130 --> 00:19:35.569 Okay. I got the, I have asked the family and 00:19:35.569 --> 00:19:39.450 the recreation is like, honestly, this is what 00:19:39.450 --> 00:19:42.769 makes worth really me, your work really meaningful 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:47.289 are these relationships. And if I would encourage 00:19:47.289 --> 00:19:49.650 anyone, if you're feeling some dissatisfaction 00:19:49.650 --> 00:19:52.150 at work, this is a rich source of satisfaction 00:19:52.150 --> 00:19:54.029 in your work and adds a lot of meaning to what 00:19:54.029 --> 00:19:58.380 you do. Authenticity. That's the number one thing. 00:19:58.500 --> 00:20:01.859 You have to be authentic. You can't just be superficial 00:20:01.859 --> 00:20:04.940 and say, okay, I have to know you. I have to 00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:07.640 like your family. Your wife, what does she do? 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:10.839 You can't be phony. You can't be a phony. It's 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:13.299 got to be authentic. So yes, you're absolutely 00:20:13.299 --> 00:20:17.839 right. Interruptions are everywhere. How can 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:20.859 leaders stay connected to people while protecting 00:20:20.859 --> 00:20:26.829 their time and energy? Let's live that day to 00:20:26.829 --> 00:20:30.349 day. I wish I found a surefire solution for that. 00:20:30.529 --> 00:20:32.309 Do you think as a leader, that's part of your 00:20:32.309 --> 00:20:34.630 job is that your team isn't going to get things 00:20:34.630 --> 00:20:38.569 done unless you're out there actively watching 00:20:38.569 --> 00:20:41.710 to reduce the interruptions on them? And probably 00:20:41.710 --> 00:20:46.769 public enemy number one is the meeting. And as 00:20:46.769 --> 00:20:49.210 a leader, you have a lot of control over that. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:53.440 And in something, maybe it's my workplace or 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:55.759 the workplaces I've ever been. But and I think 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:57.859 Zoom and pandemic have something to do with this. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.440 But just meetings, they will fill your entire 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:04.509 day if you don't guard against it. There's a 00:21:04.509 --> 00:21:06.190 variety of tactics. I've never seen anything 00:21:06.190 --> 00:21:09.029 work permanently, but I would just say maybe 00:21:09.029 --> 00:21:12.329 it's just like weeds. You have to always be tending 00:21:12.329 --> 00:21:14.309 to your calendar and making sure there's critical 00:21:14.309 --> 00:21:17.609 time for you, but even more importantly, critical 00:21:17.609 --> 00:21:20.710 time for your team to get their work done because 00:21:20.710 --> 00:21:25.009 it's really an unfair expectation that everyone's 00:21:25.009 --> 00:21:27.569 going to work every night, every weekend to make 00:21:27.569 --> 00:21:31.079 up for it. That's keeping that work -life balance. 00:21:31.339 --> 00:21:35.000 It's very important. I know on my calendar, I 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:38.519 have a set two hours for the day that I don't 00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:41.980 allow any meetings. I have to get my work done. 00:21:42.140 --> 00:21:44.339 I don't always get it done in two hours, but 00:21:44.339 --> 00:21:47.599 it's true that you have to just take a little 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:50.420 bit of time of your day so you can rethink and 00:21:50.420 --> 00:21:53.279 get your work done as well as go to all meetings. 00:21:53.660 --> 00:21:56.480 And that's one of the things in corporate world, 00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:59.559 everything's a meeting. We have to meet for this, 00:21:59.619 --> 00:22:02.359 meet for that. No time for the work. Okay. So 00:22:02.359 --> 00:22:06.599 how do you create networking moments in environments 00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:11.279 where everyone is distracted, busy, or siloed? 00:22:13.180 --> 00:22:16.200 That's right. And remote. And a lot of us, I 00:22:16.200 --> 00:22:20.319 think a very large percentage of us are still 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:23.980 remote. And so there's always a meeting or a 00:22:23.980 --> 00:22:28.609 chat message or an email to be processing. And 00:22:28.609 --> 00:22:31.470 I think it's just a commitment and maybe setting 00:22:31.470 --> 00:22:35.750 goals for the week. I think I was talking about 00:22:35.750 --> 00:22:39.410 earlier about who is in your network within your 00:22:39.410 --> 00:22:44.529 company. And you can bake that in by scheduling 00:22:44.529 --> 00:22:46.769 recurring meetings. So it's just on the calendar 00:22:46.769 --> 00:22:50.900 every. Every month I talk to this person. Some 00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:53.220 people who are more critical, you might talk 00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:55.460 to them weekly. Just grab that 15 minutes. If 00:22:55.460 --> 00:22:57.220 you don't have anything to talk to, you can cancel 00:22:57.220 --> 00:22:59.380 it and approach them, talk to them about it. 00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:01.839 Look, I'd love to make sure that we stay in contact. 00:23:02.539 --> 00:23:05.660 This relationship is super valuable to me. It's 00:23:05.660 --> 00:23:07.200 fun to talk to you. Let's just have something 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:09.059 on the calendar. What's a good time for you? 00:23:10.099 --> 00:23:14.559 And then I think widening your circle outside 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.950 of your company. And so this is where I've fallen 00:23:17.950 --> 00:23:20.230 down in the past. This is something that I'm 00:23:20.230 --> 00:23:21.869 still developing in myself, which is maintaining 00:23:21.869 --> 00:23:25.089 my professional network outside of work. And 00:23:25.089 --> 00:23:27.029 it's the same thing, but maybe the timeframes 00:23:27.029 --> 00:23:30.589 are just longer. Every six months or every year, 00:23:30.650 --> 00:23:32.970 make sure you talk to someone. I know people 00:23:32.970 --> 00:23:36.029 do the birthday thing. I'm curious your opinion 00:23:36.029 --> 00:23:38.549 about that. It's funny. I don't do that myself, 00:23:38.789 --> 00:23:41.210 but I always love it when someone sends me a 00:23:41.210 --> 00:23:42.970 text on the birthday. I was like, oh, that's 00:23:42.970 --> 00:23:44.730 nice. I see what you're doing and I appreciate 00:23:44.730 --> 00:23:51.059 it. And something, it's nice. I come from corporate 00:23:51.059 --> 00:23:53.759 and the mortgage field and everything else. And 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:56.420 I did it when we're still using folders and not 00:23:56.420 --> 00:23:59.640 electronic folders. But inside of every folder, 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:03.099 I had all of the information. It was the husband, 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:06.180 all the wife's information, the birthdays, the 00:24:06.180 --> 00:24:08.900 children's birthdays. And I used to put it all 00:24:08.900 --> 00:24:12.119 on my calendar and I used to send them a card. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:15.220 when it was a birthday. And that was a lot of 00:24:15.220 --> 00:24:18.200 cards, but that was the time of writing cards 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:20.539 and not sending a text message. But now it's 00:24:20.539 --> 00:24:23.759 so much easier because it's true. Just write 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:27.380 a little text message or an email. And so I agree 00:24:27.380 --> 00:24:30.920 that I think that goes a long way because the 00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:33.859 person receiving it has that little feeling that 00:24:33.859 --> 00:24:36.440 it feels good. Oh, he remembered. Oh, that's 00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:40.119 very good. I actually, I have an old boss like 00:24:40.119 --> 00:24:43.220 from years ago that I text. Every year, that's 00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:45.900 the only time I talk to him, is on his birthday. 00:24:46.099 --> 00:24:47.940 And I text him happy birthday and everything 00:24:47.940 --> 00:24:51.380 else. He's always appreciative of it. So it's 00:24:51.380 --> 00:24:53.700 something you ought to think about. Yeah, agreed. 00:24:55.500 --> 00:24:58.220 Okay, so when you're aiming for a promotion, 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:02.299 how important is it to build a strategic internal 00:25:02.299 --> 00:25:10.519 network beyond your direct manager? good question 00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:14.980 it really depends on your situation because one 00:25:14.980 --> 00:25:17.819 of the considerations at the outset is when you're 00:25:17.819 --> 00:25:19.700 trying to get your promotion within your company 00:25:19.700 --> 00:25:25.480 is will my manager support this be neutral or 00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:31.349 try to undermine my desire to do that. And so 00:25:31.349 --> 00:25:34.970 the example I gave earlier, I had a strong relationship 00:25:34.970 --> 00:25:38.390 with my supervisor and he was supportive. I had 00:25:38.390 --> 00:25:41.990 a feeling he would be neutral, at worst neutral 00:25:41.990 --> 00:25:44.390 to that. And it turns out he was very supportive. 00:25:44.730 --> 00:25:51.680 And so I have. been in situations in my career 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:54.579 and advised people in situations where their 00:25:54.579 --> 00:25:57.160 boss is not going to be supportive of it or might 00:25:57.160 --> 00:26:00.140 be working against them. And so then that's, 00:26:00.140 --> 00:26:02.799 I think, where your question was headed at, where 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:06.660 you really do need to develop relationships with 00:26:06.660 --> 00:26:10.960 your boss's peers at best, even better with their 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:13.500 boss or people at a higher level. And there are 00:26:13.500 --> 00:26:17.170 probably some good ways to do that. Some things 00:26:17.170 --> 00:26:20.069 that I've tried, it's people in the hallways 00:26:20.069 --> 00:26:22.630 and just start asking questions. And then that 00:26:22.630 --> 00:26:25.390 can, once you establish a little bit of rapport 00:26:25.390 --> 00:26:28.829 and contact, then that creates some space for 00:26:28.829 --> 00:26:30.750 you to say, oh, can I put some time on your calendar? 00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:34.289 I have a few questions. And then it's similar 00:26:34.289 --> 00:26:39.349 to what I was talking about before in your framework. 00:26:39.470 --> 00:26:41.910 Know you, trust you. You want to get to that 00:26:41.910 --> 00:26:44.890 trust you part. And then at a certain point, 00:26:44.910 --> 00:26:48.450 if you do have a good enough relationship with 00:26:48.450 --> 00:26:51.349 a peer where you might need to maneuver around 00:26:51.349 --> 00:26:54.589 your supervisor, then you have people who believe 00:26:54.589 --> 00:26:58.089 in you and who can pass the message along or 00:26:58.089 --> 00:27:02.329 up. And I think sometimes it's not that you want 00:27:02.329 --> 00:27:05.470 to leapfrog your boss or something, but it's 00:27:05.470 --> 00:27:07.690 really about what are the opportunities? Are 00:27:07.690 --> 00:27:10.380 there opportunities that you see for me? that 00:27:10.380 --> 00:27:12.380 are maybe in a different department where could 00:27:12.380 --> 00:27:15.240 you see me fitting in or doing something here 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:19.880 so those are some ideas you know it's very good 00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:24.160 and i don't know how many people right now are 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:28.900 going to the in that position going to a going 00:27:28.900 --> 00:27:31.180 to an office where people are milling around 00:27:31.180 --> 00:27:34.359 and speaking with one another but if they have 00:27:34.359 --> 00:27:37.740 that image of passing the person in the hall 00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:40.589 saying i've got a question for you Make it an 00:27:40.589 --> 00:27:43.369 important question, of course. But if you do 00:27:43.369 --> 00:27:46.890 that once or twice, then you can move to, can 00:27:46.890 --> 00:27:49.470 I set some time on your calendar? Because I have 00:27:49.470 --> 00:27:52.150 a few questions. And if you've approached him 00:27:52.150 --> 00:27:55.869 or her a few times in the hallway, then say, 00:27:55.950 --> 00:27:58.549 oh, that's Greg. Oh, that's right. Sure, of course. 00:27:58.630 --> 00:28:02.269 I'll make a few half an hour my calendar. And 00:28:02.269 --> 00:28:04.670 then that's the way that you start. And that's 00:28:04.670 --> 00:28:07.549 the way that you get all those other people involved. 00:28:07.910 --> 00:28:10.759 That's a very good way. And I hope anybody who's 00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:13.180 listening is paying attention because that's 00:28:13.180 --> 00:28:17.000 a very good way. If your supervisor isn't always 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:20.640 on your side, they may work against you, which 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:24.220 a lot may feel. This is a way to go around that, 00:28:24.299 --> 00:28:27.539 okay, without you feeling like you're backstabbing. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:32.319 So that's very good. What are some underrated 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:35.819 networking moves professionals can make inside 00:28:35.819 --> 00:28:38.920 their own companies? We basically just discovered 00:28:38.920 --> 00:28:43.279 that. But do you have another? Inside the companies, 00:28:43.420 --> 00:28:48.019 just attend the social events when they're there. 00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:50.960 And sometimes if you're remote, sometimes they 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:55.119 have remote social events, meetings about any 00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:58.339 kind of roundtable discussion. type of group 00:28:58.339 --> 00:29:01.460 activity that's happening i've been fortunate 00:29:01.460 --> 00:29:04.900 in recent years to have while the company is 00:29:04.900 --> 00:29:08.039 has a lot it's really a hybrid kind of company 00:29:08.039 --> 00:29:11.500 a lot of the company is distributed but we do 00:29:11.500 --> 00:29:14.420 happen to have a local office and so it's making 00:29:14.420 --> 00:29:18.460 use of that space to to have the old -fashioned 00:29:18.460 --> 00:29:24.470 milling around and those discussions and And 00:29:24.470 --> 00:29:27.130 I do have to come back to my area of interest 00:29:27.130 --> 00:29:29.609 for introverts, and that can be more challenging. 00:29:29.769 --> 00:29:33.849 And there are ways of doing that in concentrated 00:29:33.849 --> 00:29:37.109 ways that maintain your energy and are authentic 00:29:37.109 --> 00:29:41.009 to you. And it's really the other element is 00:29:41.009 --> 00:29:44.190 a motivation. If you understand that, this is 00:29:44.190 --> 00:29:47.910 really important. And if you want to accomplish 00:29:47.910 --> 00:29:50.130 something, you want a promotion, you want to 00:29:50.130 --> 00:29:53.269 just be more effective in your job. This is a 00:29:53.269 --> 00:29:55.809 really critical piece. Those personal relationships 00:29:55.809 --> 00:30:01.710 help you so much. Absolutely. Absolutely. OK, 00:30:01.910 --> 00:30:05.890 what do top performers do differently in terms 00:30:05.890 --> 00:30:09.190 of relationship building and visibility that 00:30:09.190 --> 00:30:16.089 sets them up for fast track success? Yeah, I 00:30:16.089 --> 00:30:19.309 think it's just the element of, I guess, a big 00:30:19.309 --> 00:30:21.609 part of it that I didn't realize early in my 00:30:21.609 --> 00:30:26.710 career. I intuitively found my way into developing 00:30:26.710 --> 00:30:31.470 and cultivating relationships. And I intuitively, 00:30:31.589 --> 00:30:36.630 I naturally underplay my successes, my accomplishments, 00:30:37.009 --> 00:30:40.529 because I think this is common to a lot of introverts. 00:30:40.529 --> 00:30:44.599 We don't love self -promotion. And I've since 00:30:44.599 --> 00:30:47.599 come around to ways of understanding that that 00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:50.700 it's there are ways of providing visibility into 00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:53.059 the good work you're doing, and especially as 00:30:53.059 --> 00:30:55.240 a leader to the work that your team is doing. 00:30:55.700 --> 00:31:01.299 And so it's really you really need to devote 00:31:01.299 --> 00:31:04.910 a lot of time to or just. I guess it's not a 00:31:04.910 --> 00:31:07.349 lot of time, but just make sure that it happens. 00:31:07.650 --> 00:31:10.089 You need to make sure that you're communicating 00:31:10.089 --> 00:31:13.309 about your success and not just to your boss, 00:31:13.470 --> 00:31:16.589 but announcing them in different places, because 00:31:16.589 --> 00:31:20.750 it's really people should know about the good 00:31:20.750 --> 00:31:23.089 work that you and your teams and things are doing. 00:31:23.609 --> 00:31:26.960 One, so they. that gives them more confidence 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:29.819 in you. But two, it raises, it gives them the 00:31:29.819 --> 00:31:33.200 opportunity to ask questions and improve the 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:36.619 way the organization functions. That's good. 00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:40.900 I'm listening to you and I'm almost imagining 00:31:40.900 --> 00:31:44.220 your ladder, the ladder that you've climbed and 00:31:44.220 --> 00:31:47.240 everything else and all your successes. What 00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:52.240 mistake have you made that you can remember? 00:31:52.890 --> 00:31:55.450 Probably a big mistake. And how did you overcome 00:31:55.450 --> 00:32:04.970 it? Yeah. One doozy mistake from earlier in my 00:32:04.970 --> 00:32:09.890 career was at a certain time in my career, I 00:32:09.890 --> 00:32:13.109 was leading customer projects. And in the software 00:32:13.109 --> 00:32:17.170 industry and enterprise, we'll work with a large 00:32:17.170 --> 00:32:19.710 company, a much larger company. I work in smaller 00:32:19.710 --> 00:32:21.890 companies that works with. larger companies. 00:32:22.109 --> 00:32:25.529 And so I get like all of the, the experience 00:32:25.529 --> 00:32:27.789 of working in large corporate without the day 00:32:27.789 --> 00:32:30.009 -to -day, some of those minuses, but it's, but 00:32:30.009 --> 00:32:33.650 we work with very large companies and we had 00:32:33.650 --> 00:32:37.690 a software rollout where the schedule kept falling 00:32:37.690 --> 00:32:41.849 behind because they're like, boy, there's, it's 00:32:41.849 --> 00:32:44.950 really, we had to import the data into our software. 00:32:45.029 --> 00:32:47.509 And then we had to stand up at the time was like 00:32:47.509 --> 00:32:52.259 a forum software. And boy, it's really taking 00:32:52.259 --> 00:32:54.000 a long time to import this. It's never taken 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:56.940 this long to import all this data before. Engineers 00:32:56.940 --> 00:32:59.039 are working really hard. We were really straining 00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:02.059 to get all this data into our system. It never 00:33:02.059 --> 00:33:04.019 occurred to me, and finally we did it. All the 00:33:04.019 --> 00:33:06.240 data was in, and this was after a delay of two, 00:33:06.339 --> 00:33:09.279 three weeks. It never occurred to me that just 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:11.240 in the same way that it was so hard to get data 00:33:11.240 --> 00:33:13.619 into our system, when you turn the site live, 00:33:14.039 --> 00:33:18.500 it might struggle to actually work like we expected 00:33:18.500 --> 00:33:22.200 it to. So we launched. It was a spectacular failure. 00:33:22.259 --> 00:33:24.940 The software seized up. We had to turn it off. 00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:28.119 It was because and this was I was leading the 00:33:28.119 --> 00:33:32.259 charge on this and I froze up. And so I learned 00:33:32.259 --> 00:33:34.420 a lot. Some people can step in and help me. And 00:33:34.420 --> 00:33:37.660 we got through this, the whole thing. But I learned 00:33:37.660 --> 00:33:42.500 so many things in from that one. That one experience 00:33:42.500 --> 00:33:45.500 and one, some are just experience of early warning 00:33:45.500 --> 00:33:48.140 signs and preparation and testing and that sort 00:33:48.140 --> 00:33:51.859 of thing, because we had some maturity issues 00:33:51.859 --> 00:33:56.539 in the company. But two is really about that 00:33:56.539 --> 00:33:59.240 when a situation comes up, it's not about you 00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:02.619 and your personal worth. It's not about the job 00:34:02.619 --> 00:34:05.099 you did, that there's always an opportunity to 00:34:05.099 --> 00:34:09.389 lead, even if. There's been a colossal failure 00:34:09.389 --> 00:34:11.730 and there's egg on your face and everything. 00:34:11.929 --> 00:34:14.949 It's really about what do you do next? What's 00:34:14.949 --> 00:34:16.849 the next thing in the moment? And it's not about 00:34:16.849 --> 00:34:21.809 this gigantic judgment on the mistakes that you 00:34:21.809 --> 00:34:24.590 made. So there's always an opportunity to move 00:34:24.590 --> 00:34:27.789 forward and lead. Absolutely. And I've learned, 00:34:27.849 --> 00:34:30.630 listen, I've been a small business owner. I've 00:34:30.630 --> 00:34:33.949 worked through corporate. And one thing I've 00:34:33.949 --> 00:34:37.329 learned. You learn so much more from your failures 00:34:37.329 --> 00:34:39.969 than you do of your successes. And because the 00:34:39.969 --> 00:34:42.989 lessons you learn from your failures really stick 00:34:42.989 --> 00:34:45.409 with you because you say, I'm never going to 00:34:45.409 --> 00:34:48.289 do that again. All right. But I always felt that 00:34:48.289 --> 00:34:50.429 you learn more from your failures than your successes. 00:34:51.090 --> 00:34:54.150 OK, so let's bring this podcast full circle. 00:34:54.630 --> 00:34:58.730 What's one mindset shift that helps people stop 00:34:58.730 --> 00:35:02.489 networking passively and start building influence 00:35:02.489 --> 00:35:11.429 intentionally? There's a couple of ways I could 00:35:11.429 --> 00:35:13.449 go on this. I'll pick one. I'll pick Elaine. 00:35:14.369 --> 00:35:19.150 I think it's what's in it for you. It's really 00:35:19.150 --> 00:35:22.010 about forming that connection, that next relationship. 00:35:22.869 --> 00:35:28.190 And I just value it so much more now than I did 00:35:28.190 --> 00:35:30.829 earlier in the career. I guess it felt to me, 00:35:30.909 --> 00:35:33.469 networking felt like something that I should 00:35:33.469 --> 00:35:37.409 do, I had to do. And for whatever reason, I just 00:35:37.409 --> 00:35:40.380 had a bad attitude about it. And when you think 00:35:40.380 --> 00:35:43.639 about think about the benefit you can have of 00:35:43.639 --> 00:35:46.880 making that connection with a person. I if I 00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:50.960 go out and have coffee with someone like that, 00:35:50.980 --> 00:35:52.760 it's just such a pleasure and such a joy just 00:35:52.760 --> 00:35:54.659 to sit down with another human being, especially 00:35:54.659 --> 00:35:58.059 today in the land of Zoom and enjoy coffee and 00:35:58.059 --> 00:36:00.739 just and have a conversation. And if you can 00:36:00.739 --> 00:36:03.340 spend a half hour, 45 minutes, whatever it is, 00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:07.079 it's. It just adds a dimension to your life of 00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:11.360 human connection that is a shared moment. And 00:36:11.360 --> 00:36:14.039 then that sticks with people. So you always have 00:36:14.039 --> 00:36:17.179 that in your memory and in the memory of that 00:36:17.179 --> 00:36:22.599 other person. And so that's such a gratifying 00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:25.699 thing compared to I've got to expand my influence 00:36:25.699 --> 00:36:29.699 and as part of this, like a death march to keep 00:36:29.699 --> 00:36:34.099 improving your career. I don't know if I've captured 00:36:34.099 --> 00:36:37.380 that well in words, but there's a lot of good 00:36:37.380 --> 00:36:40.679 in it for you is the mindset shift. Greg, you've 00:36:40.679 --> 00:36:43.079 done such a great job with these questions. It's 00:36:43.079 --> 00:36:46.619 really unbelievable. I'm so glad that you achieved 00:36:46.619 --> 00:36:49.559 the success that you've achieved. If somebody 00:36:49.559 --> 00:36:51.840 wanted to get hold of you, what's the best way? 00:36:53.019 --> 00:36:57.840 Yeah, thank you. I have my podcast and it's on 00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:03.079 Substack. It's called powerandplay .substack 00:37:03.079 --> 00:37:06.880 .com. Just all written together. You can also 00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:10.500 reach me at powerful introvert. Call one word 00:37:10.500 --> 00:37:13.880 there, powerful introvert .substack .com. You 00:37:13.880 --> 00:37:16.739 can see all of my podcast episodes and my content 00:37:16.739 --> 00:37:20.960 there. Very good. Very good. Great. Thank you 00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:23.280 so much for coming on the podcast. You were a 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:27.039 great guest and I hope to talk to you soon. Yeah, 00:37:27.059 --> 00:37:32.599 it was great talking to you, Michael. Well, hold 00:37:32.599 --> 00:37:35.860 on, folks. Don't go anywhere. Let's hear from 00:37:35.860 --> 00:37:39.260 our sponsors. David Neal, co -founder Revved 00:37:39.260 --> 00:37:42.800 Up Kids. Revved Up Kids is on a mission to protect 00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:46.619 children and teens from sexual abuse, exploitation, 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:49.920 and trafficking. They provide prevention training 00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:53.719 programs for children, teens, and adults. To 00:37:53.719 --> 00:37:58.340 learn more, go to revvedupkids .org. Henry Kaplan, 00:37:58.519 --> 00:38:01.550 Century 21. When it comes to making the biggest 00:38:01.550 --> 00:38:04.550 financial decision of your life, leave it in 00:38:04.550 --> 00:38:07.389 the hands of a proven professional, Henry Kaplan. 00:38:07.630 --> 00:38:10.889 Henry is a global real estate agent with Century 00:38:10.889 --> 00:38:15.349 21, celebrating his 41st year in business. No 00:38:15.349 --> 00:38:17.789 matter where you're moving, Henry has the right 00:38:17.789 --> 00:38:21.329 connections for you. You can contact Henry at 00:38:21.329 --> 00:38:27.909 561 -427 -4888. A huge thank you to our guests 00:38:27.909 --> 00:38:31.710 for sharing such insights today. And of course, 00:38:31.710 --> 00:38:34.650 a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners, 00:38:34.889 --> 00:38:37.570 for tuning in and spending your time with us. 00:38:37.809 --> 00:38:41.150 If you're interested in my digital courses, being 00:38:41.150 --> 00:38:43.869 coached or having me come and talk to your company, 00:38:44.110 --> 00:38:47.530 just go to Michael and fill out the request form. 00:38:48.050 --> 00:38:51.369 Remember, networking isn't about being perfect. 00:38:51.570 --> 00:38:54.650 It's about being present. So take what you've 00:38:54.650 --> 00:38:57.489 learned today, get out there and make some meaningful 00:38:57.489 --> 00:39:00.440 connections. If you've enjoyed this episode, 00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:03.579 please don't forget to subscribe. Leave us a 00:39:03.579 --> 00:39:06.179 review and share it with someone who could use 00:39:06.179 --> 00:39:09.320 a little networking inspiration. Let's keep the 00:39:09.320 --> 00:39:12.320 conversation going. You can find me on Apple, 00:39:12.460 --> 00:39:17.280 Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, or my website, foreman 00:39:17.280 --> 00:39:19.699 .com slash podcasts.