Some people have a natural gift for networking; just like some have for sports, speaking a foreign language or creating beautiful music with an instrument. But anyone is capable of doing it well. This will influence one’s career, one’s business and perhaps, one’s happiness.
If we truly understand that relationships are most critical to both our professional and our personal successes, then it should be clear that it is worth investing in other people. Reach out to others with generosity, giving of yourself, knowing that one day you may need to take. But the biggest myth is that when it’s your turn to receive, in order to fulfill a need of your own, that it’s going to be right back from a person to whom you have given. In fact, it may not be at all. And that really should be okay with you. It all balances out.
"My Golden Rule of Networking is simple: Don't keep score."
- Harvey Mackay