I am looking in to the networking side of the performance industry but finding an article based purely on this was proving quite difficult. However, I stumbled across the article on ezine articles online written by a man called Gal Baras. Gal is an Internet Marketer and Life Coach from Brisbane, Austrailia.
The phrase 'It's not what you know- It's who you know' is a statement I want to research deeper as it is something that is regualry heard throughout this industry especially. Is this phrase entirely correct? It is interesting to hear Gal's side of this and how he firmly belives this phrase to be true. He supports this by sharing experiences of his own life and career and it very intruiging to see how much of an impact networking has had.
Gal opens this article with a very bold paragraph and is is immediately apparant that he believes networking is the key to success in every aspect of life.
'No matter how big our office, how colourful our flyers, how powerful our computers or how many degrees we have, it is the quality of relationships we establish with ourselves, our family, our friends, our customers, our suppliers and, more than anything else, with people we don't know, that will determine our success in our personal life or in business'
Gal believes that success in any profession is down to the quality of relationships created by ourselves with any type of person we come across in our lives. His opinion is that it does not matter how extravegant and amazing our qualifications are, or how fabulous something looks, it all comes down to relationships.
He explains how as a child studying, the emphasis was always on grades and deeper knowledge and that these where the formulas to success. However, we are given a small summary of his first few jobs and he explains how they where never because of his profession and education but because of his attitude and contacts.
'I got my first job after university through one of my professors. My second job was a referral by the manager who had just laid me off. I was taken to my third job, half way around the world, by my plant manager, who was moving there himself and needed people he could rely on in his own new job'
Gal goes on to talk about his 4th, 5th and 6th jobs and all of course being because of the network he had created which he refers to as his "safety net".
'Networking is inexpensive, sometimes even free, and it works because of two major psychological truths:
- People are afraid to do business with strangers.
- People prefer to do business with people they know or with people who were recommended by someone they know.
Therefore, the MORE people you know (i.e. the BIGGER your network), the more business you'll do'.
There are many points made in this article that I strongly believe in. For example the last 2 points I believe to very true as I experienced this myself in the past jobs. I do believe that expanding your network and getting as many contacts as you can along the way can benefit you but is it purely down to this? Gal talks about his first job after university. Yes this was through his professor but would he have been offered this oppourtunity without a degree? He states that qualifications have no importance but without his education it could have been a different story. It is all good and well having affilitaions in all the right places, and maybe he believes his education has no significance, but what if he where to burn bridges with a certain someone? He would have to start from scratch and if he had no eduaction or qualifications behind him then would anybody even look at him twice? Would he be taken seriously as a professional? Yes Gal Baras is proof that networking can promote success but this may not be the case for every person. Can it have a negative effect also? What if you are too well know for the wrong reasons? These questions support my reasoning for my inquiry as I find it so interesting to find examples of situations that dont benefit your success but possibly ruin it. It is with this research I propose to develop my knowledge and try to discover techniques that will help create success.
References
http://ezinearticles.com/?Networking---Its-Not-What-You-Know---Its-Who-You-Know&id=363736
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