Last week’s OASIS: Montgomery Summit gathered together industry-leading entrepreneurs, executives and investors to discuss what’s next in business and tech innovation. At a panel titled “Building the relationships you need for the next 25 years of success,” RelSci founder and CEO Neal Goldman and networking expert Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, discussed the critical importance of relationship capital to high-level organizational success; why giving trumps taking for network health; and how the right connections can get your business off the ground.
1. Ferrazzi, on networking as a dirty word:
“Networking has become a negative term, but I think in Never Eat Alone we showed that if done right, it was really positive. Real networking was about finding ways to make other people more successful.”
2. Goldman, on what it means to build a relationship:
“When I think about formulating stronger relationships, often the key is to act without your own self-interest. Offer help, introductions support, or just reach out. Do it often and do it purposefully.”
3. Ferrazzi, on the highest form of networking:
“Be generous. Be generous with your time, your energy, your mind and your relationships.”
4. Goldman, on ideal investor relationships:
“Whether or not it is an introduction or helping me think though a problem, I picked investors who understood the mission and wanted to help. Our investors have been extraordinarily generous with their time, their energy and their networks.”
5. Ferrazzi, on meaningful connection:
“Often when things are bad for someone, we disappear when really this is the absolute moment when we should reach out. Someone loses a job, you email or call and say ‘Hi. How are you? How can I help?'”
6. Goldman, on networking as a skill
“The only way to get better at building relationships and making an ask is to interact with people—a lot. Everything is a skill.”
7. Ferrazzi, just giving us a shameless plug
RelSci provides a relationship capital platform that helps create competitive advantage for organizations through a crucial yet vastly underutilized asset: relationship capital with influential decision makers. Learn more at relsci.com.
Keith Ferrazzi is the world’s foremost expert in professional relationship development. He has transformed the lives and careers of clients and readers worldwide, bringing 20 years of research and experience to the art and science of business relationship development. Currently, he is founder and chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight, a consulting and training company. He is author of Never Eat Alone and Who’s Got Your Back.
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