Sunday, April 06, 2008

Networking Objects can help you to partner incredibly fast!

A Networking Object is something that instantly convinces a stranger that you are worth connecting to. For example:
  1. An award that you've won
  2. A book you've written and published
  3. An executive position (preferably at a large, prestigious organization)
  4. A position of power or influence (e.g. headhunter)
  5. A popular blog that you write and that attracts thousands of visitors per month
  6. A valuable yet FREE white paper or special report or newsletter that you give to all the people in your network
The above list is not exhaustive, of course, but it can give you a good idea of how "power networkers" leverage their strategic assets.

In other words, the more Networking Objects you have, the easier and faster your networking will be. You'll be able to partner with practically anybody.

Why? Because the elite is welcome everywhere.

Elite refers to a person or group which is endowed with a superior quality and is, therefore, favored.

How do you become a member of the elite?

Through focus.

Baltasar Gracian says, indeed, that being intensive is more important than being extensive. In other words, it's better to be the best at ONE thing than to be able to do "okay" at many things.

Through intensive efforts focused on ONE particular competency, you can easily become the best.

And when you're the best, everybody wants you. They all want to partner with you and they all want you in their Linkedin network.

Yet, when I look at the Linkedin profile of most users, I notice that very few people actually write down what they're the best at.

And when people send me invitations to connect to them, they never mention what they're really good at or the best at. They often only mention their huge network of contacts.

Yet, having a huge network of contacts is the easy part. The difficult part is to become the BEST at something.

In future posts, I'll explain more about how you can become the very best in your chosen field.