The Power of Online and Offline Networking

Back in my younger years I had the opportunity to work with some great people at Transamerica which was then a Fortune 500. There I learned that there is great value in meeting other people – often to learn from their experiences – after all it takes a village. When I worked for Wells Fargo bank and Citibank all business bankers were encouraged to attend networking events. The experience was extraordinary. Because of this I got to ride on top of the Wells Fargo Wagon in a parade, waving at the crowd (on one of Los Angeles’ few rainy days). I was invited to attend a ribbon cutting event for the Cambodian community center in Long Beach. I assisted the Friends of the Colorado Lagoon to get a grant from Wells Fargo bank and was invited to a fund raising dinner. When I was working in investments my manager agreed to pay for me to attend Los Angeles Town Hall. There I had the privilege of meeting, shaking hands and talking to Ambassador Turki Al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia. I had the opportunity of meeting Torie Clarke the author of Lipstick on a Pig who was also once  Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. (It’s a great book about how we live in an era of authenticity – I admire her greatly!) I had the most amazing experience being that I was studying political science, philosophy and economics – to meet the most amazing Chuck Hagel. The firmness of his handshake, the straight in the eye look, and the powerful discussion with him will be forever implanted in my mind. Chuck Hagel was a US Senior Senator and although I’m very liberal in my views if I was an American and he ran for President I would have a difficult time not voting for him even though he is Republican!

In 2006 I was asked by my employer to give a presentation to my peers in presentation training on the power and utility of networking. Ask many MBA graduates and they will tell you that the value of a network is priceless (sorry Mastercard).

I guess networking became nature or maybe more appropriately, natural to me. When I moved to Paris in 2007 I found that finding a flat was very difficult. But alas through networking with American expats I found a flat in St. Germain dés Pres and had the privilege of living in one of the most prestigious neighbourhoods in Paris. (Don’t be too jealous, my flat was the size of a Chistian Laboutin shoebox!) When I moved to the UK and considered whether I wanted to work for a company or continue being a marketing consultant my amazing business coach Suzie Sharpe advised me that in the UK, networking is paramount, especially for expats like me.

By this point I had already begun to deploy a social media marketing strategy for Oshyn. I think my good mates there will agree that this strategy raised brand awareness, and drove a massive increase in website traffic. I decided to go to meetup.com to look for events in London to attend and I luckily found Last Thursday CMS. Lucky, because I met an amazing group of people and have since met many other people through their network both online and offline.

By being active in social networks I have had the opportunity to chat with well known authors, VCs, marketing consultants and many people who specialize in the technology of my employer. I have met amazing people that I never would have otherwise met, where we have been able to talk about how to do great things or have simply become friends.

I have learned that truly we are all people. We all do “some things” the same way. We’re humans regardless of what title we hold, where we were raised, and no matter how much we have in the bank. Being able to network with people from students, to politicians, to Senior executives enables great learning opportunities and in fact many opportunities you might otherwise be oblivious.

The greatest thing I have learned in networking is in the value of learning from others. And as an added benefit, it is nice to have the ability to contact experts when you need one.

“The way of the world is meeting people through other people.” – Robbert Kerrigan

“It isn’t just what you know, and it isn’t just who you know. It’s actually who you know, who knows you, and what you do for a living.” -Bob Burg

“The richest people in the world look for and build networks, everyone else looks for work.” -Robert Kiyosaki