You’re Best at Networking When...

When we’re good at networking, we’re really really good and there is no time that we are better networkers then when someone close to us gets sick.

Think about what happens. Our friend let us know that they are sick. After we empathize, we work to find ways to help. We think of who we know who has knowledge or relationships that could help our friend. We think of someone who has had a similar malady and we call them to learn about their experience. We think of someone in the medical field who might have relationships that can help our friend.

It is interesting to see what happens:

• We go from being confident to uncertain
• Our uncertainty makes us humble
• Our humility causes us to seek knowledge
• When we are interested in knowledge we ask good questions and we listen

When we listen, we learn. When we learn, we gain the tools to solve problems. The humility to listen is by far the most valuable networking skill.