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Best Fall Reads
*You've certainly already heard about The Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell, also author of bestselling Blink.
It's an entertaining read on the
subject of
networking, and may open your eyes to many hitherto
unseen aspects of our world.
*Karen
Stephenson's
academic treatise, The Quantum Theory of
Trust: The Secret of Mapping and Managing Human Relationships analyzes the whys and wherefores of a social
network's inner workings.
Both books divide people
into "networking archetypes"-- which one are you?
*For a more hands-on look at how social networking
functions and how to manage it, see
The Hidden Power
of Social Networks, by Rob Cross and
Andrew Parker.
Their book offers in-the-trenches tips for
understanding social networks-- it's essentially a
how-to guide.
*Finally, a historical point of view of networking
gets a fascinating airing in
Pull: Networking and
Success since Benjamin Franklin, by
Pamela Laird.
Extracted from book reviews of the excellent
Strategy + Business
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Greetings!
No time to make it to Deauville? No worries! Catch everything you missed in our brand-new, I'm-still-figuring- out-how-it-works blog! "Complete" coverage including scandals (what we did to the Nestle Chairman), gossip and photos... See you there!
Yours,
Olivia |
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An Update On The Handshake
Tom Chiarella found whilst researching handshakes for for Esquire that if he held a handshake just two beats longer than usual, people stopped what they were saying, particularly if these were people who were working for him—desk clerks, bellmen, and valets. He reports obtaining least one suite upgrade with this technique alone.
He also discovered that if he gradually increased the pressure of a shake, people would automatically smile. "And once I had them smiling," says he, "Then, well, I had them."
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Go to the full article
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| Doing Well By Doing Good |
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Pro bono work can be a great networking tool. Volunteering for community organizations will give you access to a whole new set of people, possibly very different from those you would you usually spend time with. It can also put you in touch with the industry's "big fish, as the people who make up the boards of these organizations tend to be the community's corporate leadership. But here are a few rules of thumb:
* Only choose causes, organizations and activities that you would enjoy per se, even without any other benefits. Otherwise, you run the risk both of appearing shallow and of being disappointed. .
* Be realistic regarding your time commitment. How many hours per week, month, or year, will you truly be able to devote to your cause?
To find out more, take a look at the grand central marketplace of volunteering opportunities: Idealist and VolunteerMatch. You'll be able to search by location, date, activity, and even by population served.
One organization I highly recommend to anyone based around New York is StreetWise Partners. Their mission is to build mentoring relationships between low-income individuals and volunteer business professionals to develop workplace skills and employment networks as the bridge to a successful career. They are an incredibly enthusiastic, efficient, well-run organization --one of the best I've ever seen. You can get involved by volunteering to mentor one of their participants or, of course, as a corporate sponsor. |
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| Creative Networking |
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You don’t necessarily need to carve time out of your already-packed schedule for “official networking.” Instead, just focus on meeting people and making connections in your day-to-day activities. For starters, networking need not be confined to “business activities” or “business days.”
Holidays for instance can be a time of fantastic networking, particularly since people are more relaxed, more approachable, so you can get to know them on a more personal level. And often, they’re quite willing to talk shop! I was skiing in a tiny village hidden away in the French Alps, and I’d promised both myself and my family a week free from work.
I was convinced I wouldn’t even think of networking with anyone there, as this resort is reserved exclusively for government research scientists and their families. Or so I thought--It turned out to be a week of intense networking—not with the scientists, but with their spouses. One contact led to a particularly prestigious (and well paid) teaching position in Paris.
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