Network, Network, Network

Above all else, the one characteristic that my mentors share is the ability to network well.  That is to say, they are good at building and maintaining relationships.  Relationships, have certainly been one of the keys in my success, which is why I loved Donald Latumahina’s post on www.lifeoptimizer.org about a book entitled Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time.  

Donald picked out several  (ok… a literal ton) of examples from the book.  Here are the top three:

1. Make other people more successful
   Real networking is about finding ways to make other people more successful. It is sharing your knowledge and resources, time and energy, friends and associates, and empathy and compassion in a continual effort to provide value to others, while coincidentally increasing your own.
2. Work hard to give more than you get
   It’s the value you bring that makes people want to connect with you. All this takes work. It means you have to think hard not only about yourself but also about other people.
3. Don’t keep score
   Don’t think of relationships as finite. In fact, it’s the exercising of equity that builds equity. There is no score to keep when abundance leads to even more abundance.

The original post can be found here.