I wrote about networ
king previously, but thought of sharing more as I read a helpful article entitled, "Tracking the habits of elite networkers". The term "Networking" does have some ill perceptions to certain people, who may equate them to multi level marketing habits, or the habits of ultra extroverted individuals who have nothing better to do than spend time away from their families to meet their obsessed emotional need for companionship, or idealistic dream to know every human on this planet. In this sense then, daddies with different priorities n
eed not be networking. But I beg to differ and would state instead that effective and efficient networking is part and parcel of today's age of mass production, digitalization and globalization. While knowledge is an important asset of transaction, so is the ability to leverage on human social relationship through massive networks. If we believe in the power of internet and blogging, we need to learn to understand and inculcate the power of 
mass networks. The world has integrated so much that you simply would be keeping a huge gap from the rest of the world if you are determined to keep a private life. This is what I term the social divide, being not so different from digital divide or knowledge divide quoted from wikipedia. In other words, you would be no different from someone who believes that the Internet is evil, or that education is unnecessary, or that having a car or travelling on planes are not necessary in this life. I know that these are strong statements, but I hope I can convince you further through my sharings. If you feel more comfortable as an introvert, you need not be changing t
o an extrovert but simply need to know the power of networking and inculcate a networking habit that you are comfortable with. The bottom line is that you need to keep track of the people you have known and make attempts to nurture these relationships and preferably use technologies on the Internet to maintain them, if not enlarge the network further. Some may argue that big is not necessarily better, but larger networks mean 
you leverage across more people who could present you with more opportunities. Sadly (to some), the world has gotten into this mass production psyche that big, quick and efficient is always the better route. Daddies thus need to be open to the idea that networking is not only necessary for scouting job opportunities, but to learn to like the idea and habit of networking, being no different than the habit of being on the internet.
king previously, but thought of sharing more as I read a helpful article entitled, "Tracking the habits of elite networkers". The term "Networking" does have some ill perceptions to certain people, who may equate them to multi level marketing habits, or the habits of ultra extroverted individuals who have nothing better to do than spend time away from their families to meet their obsessed emotional need for companionship, or idealistic dream to know every human on this planet. In this sense then, daddies with different priorities n
eed not be networking. But I beg to differ and would state instead that effective and efficient networking is part and parcel of today's age of mass production, digitalization and globalization. While knowledge is an important asset of transaction, so is the ability to leverage on human social relationship through massive networks. If we believe in the power of internet and blogging, we need to learn to understand and inculcate the power of 
mass networks. The world has integrated so much that you simply would be keeping a huge gap from the rest of the world if you are determined to keep a private life. This is what I term the social divide, being not so different from digital divide or knowledge divide quoted from wikipedia. In other words, you would be no different from someone who believes that the Internet is evil, or that education is unnecessary, or that having a car or travelling on planes are not necessary in this life. I know that these are strong statements, but I hope I can convince you further through my sharings. If you feel more comfortable as an introvert, you need not be changing t
o an extrovert but simply need to know the power of networking and inculcate a networking habit that you are comfortable with. The bottom line is that you need to keep track of the people you have known and make attempts to nurture these relationships and preferably use technologies on the Internet to maintain them, if not enlarge the network further. Some may argue that big is not necessarily better, but larger networks mean 
you leverage across more people who could present you with more opportunities. Sadly (to some), the world has gotten into this mass production psyche that big, quick and efficient is always the better route. Daddies thus need to be open to the idea that networking is not only necessary for scouting job opportunities, but to learn to like the idea and habit of networking, being no different than the habit of being on the internet.
I must say that I am surely not an ultra extrovert. I thank God each day for the many opportunities He has granted me, many of which I do not deserve. I am far from sophisticated, even if I have traveled or worked in a few countries and speak a few languages. There are still so many areas I need to improve in, and habits that I need to inculcate to match the expectations of the people who have given me these opportunities. Even when I have 8000 contacts on my LinkedIn profile, I only st
arted this account in 2005, but had previously spent a lot of time to add contacts by writing polite messages to people I do not know, or through gathering lots of business cards in networking events. LinkedIn is such that it is less personal than facebook, and focuses more on leveraging professional contacts and many in the networking habit know that the larger your quality network, the more opportunities you could get. Let me give you an 
example. A few days ago, I got an email from McKinsey research in Boston who emailed me that they were conducting a research on document management systems and wanted to get my opinion by paying me USD$100 for 1 hour of my time over the phone. I am surely far from being an authoritative voice in this domain (though the interviewer seem to know not too much either). Yet, because I took the efforts to specify as much details in my resume on LinkedIn, people could easily locate me and offer me opportunities such as this. It does make a d
ifference that I did not say no. Same goes for the freelance market research work that I undertake on countries such as Japan and Malaysia. It helps to have a strong network on LinkedIn to be able to contact people from different industries including the sciences, arts or whatever there is in this world. The more specialized the field, the higher the wages for such projects. Do we necessarily need to get into many unnecessary projects? Maybe its no 
different than the question of do you necessarily need to blog or be on facebook? Opportunities and extra projects are certainly useful in recessionary periods such as now. It certainly does not hurt to have another acquantaince or friend in another country and if you spend the extra minute to keep in touch, it may not necessarily be a waste of time. Sometimes when you make that extra effort to network, you think to yourself, are you kidding yourself to write an email or message to someone whom you have not contacted for a while, or even to a stranger you have not met to establish networks because you b
elieve such positive efforts could only bring goodwill. Just do it. You would never know, if you never try. And if you did not get good results, do not dismay. The current mentality of mass production is to make the effort and possibly 1 in 10 or 1 in a 100 attempts, would bear good fruit. The networking habit is to cherish that fruit and continue on. Some do it because it is a competitive market today which necessitates such habits, some do it because they have tasted the fruit and loved it.
Are you on LinkedIn? If yes, add me if you have not already done so. If not, try opening an account and leave a comment when you do taste the fruit one day through patience.
(Photos show St Paul's Cathedral, London. Can you find Haruka in any sections of this monstrously large cathedral?)
1 comment :
Nice Philip!
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