Tweet You’re at a coffee break. How do you start a conversation with someone? The most important thing you need is Preparation (with a capital P). We’ve seen in other posts about the importance of preparing your self-introduction. You also need to bring some prepared conversation starters with you. Otherwise, you might spend too long [...]
Tweet What should I do to remember the names of people you meet at conferences and events? This question was asked at several of my keynotes and seminars last week in London. So it might be worth pointing to some ideas, which come from Will Kintish and Jan Vermeiren (references at the bottom): Make sure [...]
Tweet You must prepare your self-introduction before you start your job. During the interview process you will gather information about the corporation and how you will fit in. You can read the recent annual reports and press clippings to prepare for your new job. Such information will allow you to have a self-introduction that is [...]
Tweet 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. [...]
Tweet Back from your holiday, you might be bringing value to your network. Hervé Bommelaer, a French network expert, in a recent post (Les cadeaux entretiennent le Réseau) gives some ideas to get maximum impact. The item you give to your contact should be: relevant personal useful unexpected given at the right time valued Let’s [...]
Tweet Any frequent flyer has stories of serendipitous encounters on a plane that lead to friendship or business deals. The main argument in the book “Good Luck” is that luck does not come your way, you must go and find it. So, how to encourage serendipitous encounters on a plane? Several strategies come to mind: [...]
Tweet With the Internet you can base your business anywhere and live in an idyllic location, right? Wrong. From a recent Financial Times article about the upcoming growth of supercities in the UK, we can see that face-to-face interaction will be a must. In the article, Lynda Gratton (professor at London Business School) reminds us [...]
Tweet What is the best networking tool of secret agent 007 (James Bond)? Despite having the latest technology tools, face-to-face is the way he gets the most important clues. I must admit that James Bond’s films are not my first choice. However, during a 3-hour bus ride last week the TV above the first row [...]
Tweet “What would have taken four weeks of emailing took four hours face-to-face”. This is the headline of a British Airways ad in a recent issue of Harvard Business Review. Of course, travel operators will benefit from the use of face-to-face meetings. Your network will benefit too! The British Airways campaign highlights the business benefits [...]
Tweet Do you send Christmas cards (or the equivalent if you celebrate Thanksgiving, Diwali or another festivity)? Is your purpose to nurture your network? If so, think again. You nurture your network when you provide some benefit to its members. To send 500 Christmas cards is the equivalent of telling each of those 500 people [...]
