You’re a great innovator but… ideas spread slowly.
Can your network speed it up?
The type of people that compose your network might play a crucial role to the spread of your innovations. I wrote (long time ago!) an article about the speed of new technology introduction and how to model it.
A well-accepted model for technology (or innovation) diffusion by E. Rogers classifies users among 5 types depending on when they adopt new technology:
- innovators;
- early adopters;
- early majority;
- late majority, and
- laggards
The composition of your network will affect the speed of introduction of your new ideas, technologies or innovations. If your network is biased towards having more innovators and early adopters, your ideas will spread faster.
To spread your innovations, get to know more early adopters!
Related links:
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Posted
on January 24, 2012, 01:00,
by Jordi Robert-Ribes,
under
Innovation.
Two very different personalities meet.
Two complementary objectives.
Their meeting sparks innovation.
Tubular Bells is born!
As F. Johansson writes in The Medici Effect: “Oldfield had some strange ideas about music, and Branson wanted to start a record label.” If they had never met, we would not have Tubular Bells…
This might sound like a distant example (at least in time!). However, when I use it in my keynotes about the link between networking and innovation, it resonates with most executives.
After this initial “resonance”, the question that comes along is “How can I put myself in such a situation that sparks innovation?”
One of the answers is: “Maintaining a very diverse professional network”. It is not enough to have diversity in your network. That diversity brings the potential of innovative seeds. However, you need to activate those seeds. This might happen when you maintain your network: you keep in touch with those diverse people.
At some point, in one of those exchanges, you will say something that will prompt the other person to develop that idea. In turn, you develop it further. And just like that, during the conversation something innovative is born!
To best place yourself to see “innovative sparks”:
create a very diverse network of professional contacts.
Maintain it regularly!
Related links:
Connecting Forward: Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
You will enjoy listening to an excellent interview at VoiceAmerica: Chris Cooper with Andy Lopata and Dr Ivan Misner.
In that interview you can listen to very important aspects of networking. Even if you already know them, it’s great to be reminded by two of the most knowledgeable people on networking topics.
There are sentences about networking in general, like:
- “Networking is more about farming than it is about hunting. It’s about cultivating relationships”. (at 10’55” from the beginning of the interview)
- “The real power comes from people that know, like and trust you”. (3’00”)
- Andy gives a great quote from the 19th Century: “Give without remembering, receive without forgetting”. (27’45”)
- Ivan makes a great point: “It’s gotta be more about the relationship than the transaction. Otherwise networking is just face-to-face cold calling”. (37’00”)
Other quotes about what networking is not, for instance:
- “Myth: networking is only about events”. (5’20”)
- “Networking is not about selling per se (…) We network to become better connected”. (7’20”)
And about the biggest errors of networking, such as:
- “Going to networking events to sell”. (9’40”)
- “One of the biggest mistakes is failing to follow-up” and then Andy gives a great example. (15’30”)
Towards the end of the interview (52’45”), Ivan gives his opinion about networking differences across countries: “There are differences but they don’t make a difference. We all want to do business with people we know and trust. And trust transcends cultural differences. (…) There are superficial differences that you need to know.”
This brought to my mind a sentence from Prof. Ibarra (Insead): “I haven’t seen any national culture (in which) things don’t get done through networks.” (See also a recent blog post by Andy on British vs German differences.)
Networking is based on trust and, as I explain in some of my seminars, the parts of the brain that deal with trust are very primitive parts of the brain. They were developed when we were living in caves. Different cultures or countries hadn’t developed yet.
Thus the underlying framework on which trust is based is common to humans. The details about how to hand out a business card are just that: details.
Related links:
Connecting Forward: Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
Posted
on January 10, 2012, 01:00,
by Jordi Robert-Ribes,
under
Innovation.
Does exile itself make you more creative?
Or is it the first step towards valuable contacts whom help you develop innovative ideas?
Research by INSEAD and Northwestern University found a link between going abroad and creativity.
However, I don’t think that it is just the fact of living abroad that enhances your creativity. From my personal experience, having lived in several countries and across different continents, I agree: you see things differently when you are out of your comfort zone. Having said that, it is the links you create and establish both far-off and nearby that facilitate the combination of different ideas.
A recent article in The Economist relates how Indians living in the USA got the idea to work on a cheap fridge for rural Indians while they were visiting relatives back in India. There are countless similar examples in other countries and cultures.
Living abroad helps you getting better ideas.
Go one step further: make connections from abroad and your ideas will turn into innovation!
Related links:
Connecting Forward: Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
Posted
on January 3, 2012, 01:00,
by Jordi Robert-Ribes,
under
General.
Welcome to 2012!
While you start implementing your New Year’s resolutions (hopefully focused on helping others), here you have the most read Networking&Business posts during 2011:
- TEDx: Get More Weak-Ties
Attending a TEDx event is much more than just listening to the speeches. It is a great way of effectively extending your network with very valuable links.
- Collecting Business Cards Is Not Networking
When you start building your network in new territory you might be tempted to collect lost of business cards. This is just collecting business cards… Networking is adding value into your relationships.
- Santa Claus, The Great Networker
Santa Claus is a great networker and you can learn from him.
Read about what he does…
-
Who Will Benefit Form What You Are Reading?
When you read an article, always keep your mind trying to find people in your network who would benefit from it.
-
Take An Empty Networking Suitcase
While you are on holidays look for opportunities to bring value back to your contacts.
-
Serendipity On The Plane…
Luck does not come your way; you must go and find it.
So, how to encourage serendipitous encounters on a plane?
-
MBA Networking Is Not Working
Some MBA programs have started including “networking techniques and strategies” within their leadership skills syllabus.
-
Face-To-Face Will Be King
With the Internet you can base your business anywhere and live in an idyllic location, right? Wrong.
Connecting Forward: Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
“A New Year resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to one or more lasting personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit” or so is the common definition (eg. Wikipedia).
You have very few days left to craft your New Year’s resolution for 2012.
Why not having your New Year resolution focused on helping others achieve their New Year resolutions?
Wouldn’t this help the world being a better place?
Wouldn’t it help you being a better person?
Wouldn’t it help others being happier?
Wouldn’t it… nurture your network!
So:
- Start choosing two or three people in your network whom you could help.
- Guess (or ask) one of their New Year’s resolutions.
- Define how you can help them achieve it.
- During the first week of January, activate it! You can contact them and provide them some specific support, some information (article or book) or some other type of help.
- Repeat the steps above as necessary…
Enjoy seeing them succeed!
Happy New Year!
Connecting Forward: Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
Santa Claus is a great networker and you can learn from him.
Don’t stay up on Christmas Eve trying to catch him and asking him for advice.
Instead learn from what he does:
- He genuinely gives without wanting something in return.
- He smiles when he talks to you.
- He keeps following up every year.
- He spreads joy and happiness around him.
- He talks to everyone regardless of profession or cultural background.
- He offers you something personal instead of giving everyone the same item.
- He leaves something behind that stays over time.
- He goes to many countries.
- He really wants to know how your year has been.
- He has a personal brand that is very easy to remember.
- He remembers everyone’s name.
Thanks Santa!
Connecting Forward: Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
Posted
on December 13, 2011, 01:00,
by Jordi Robert-Ribes,
under
Innovation,
Tools.
Aren’t you looking forward to a long Christmas dinner with distant relatives?
If you are not, think twice… The more distant they are, the better!
You might have read in this blog many entries about the importance of a diverse network. It is even more so when you want to innovate in your business. The more diverse your network is, the more innovative ideas you will come up with.
During those meals with distant relatives you might have the opportunity to get very diverse links into your network.
Imagine that you are sitting next to your brother-in-law’s uncle. You should ask focused and open questions in order to know more about him. Listen “between the lines”. You might get very relevant information, not just about his current job, but also about his previous jobs. What did he do? What were that company’s challenges? How was his boss? What about his colleagues and direct reports?
Your uncle might suggests that he will introduce you to, for instance, his previous boss so that you both can meet. Follow up after the Christmas season with a kind reminder, preferably, by phone.
Enjoy the dinner and… follow-up after Christmas!
Connecting Forward: Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
Does a huge business card collection automatically give you a super-networker status?
Well… not often.
At a big trade show last week (EIBTM), I was there to give a keynote on how to improve your return-on-networking. After two days there, I realised that “networking” was one of the most repeated words at the event (in the program, in the coffee shops, etc). This is probably not a particularity of this event, as it happens in most events.
However, networking seems to have a different meaning for every person. When I was leaving the trade fair venue, I met two people with two very different approaches.
The first one came to me and said something along the lines: “You might not remember me. I was at your keynote. Thanks for the advice you gave. It’s been most useful during this fair. I’ve got two follow-up meetings for next week and a great appointment for next month when I’ll go to Berlin. I will follow up with four more people tomorrow over the phone.”
The second person was a recent acquaintance.
I asked him: “Did you enjoy the event?”
The answer was something like: “It’s been great. In just one day, I’ve collected 143 business cards. One… hundred… and… FORTY-THREE!!!”
First thing that pops into my mind: “So what?”
One deep breath and two seconds later my reply was: “Great! I hope you establish great connections and trust with them. What a bad luck you couldn’t come to my keynote which went into strategies on how to do it.”
Which prompted a: “Yes, sure. Great meeting you. Hope you enjoyed the fair too.”
However, by the last two words he was already ten meters away and his mind was miles away…
Good networking at events is connecting with people not just exchanging business card.
Connecting Forward: Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
Posted
on November 29, 2011, 01:00,
by Jordi Robert-Ribes,
under
General.
In some cultures, Christmas is the time to go back to your home country (or home town) and visit relatives. If this is your case, make the most from such visits to maintain and nurture your network.
The maintenance will be with the contacts in your home country and also with your new contacts in your new country. To do so you will need to start looking for ways to provide value to your contacts.
For the people in your home country you can:
- Bring them articles from the business press or magazines that can be of interest to them.
- Bring them reports by chambers of commerce about the state of the economy in your country.
- Items from your new country related to their hobbies.
The things you bring to people need to be personalised. If you bring an newspaper article it needs to be about a particular need of that person. You cannot bring the very same article to everyone in your network. Thus you will need to know the interests and challenges that people are facing.
For the people in your new country you can:
- Introduce them to people from your home country.
- Bring them back newspaper articles about your home country’s economy.
- Bring them samples of products from your home country to help them get new ideas.
You can also let some people know that you will be going to your home country over Christmas and ask them if you can bring them something back from there.
While you are visiting your home country, keep in the back of your mind the potential help to your new contacts as other ideas can pop-up while you are there.
Enjoy your Christmas preparations!
Connecting Forward: Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk
