“Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man,
discourse a clear man.” – October 1738
“Generous minds are all of kin.” – March 1734
Ben Franklin understood the importance of networking. Whether building a printing company, founding a library, or creating a postal service, he was successful because he involved others. Significant achievements are never completed alone, but with the help of others.
The best way to connect with the people who can help you – networking. And how we define success determines how we network. A lesson I learned from my father, Bill Fallon, I’m sure Mr. Franklin would approve of my choice for a role model – Bill had a career at the US Postal Service.
In his later years, my father would often have to go to a nursing center where he received physical therapy. During one of my visits, an orderly came into the room with my father’s medicine. My father introduced George as the most popular person in the building. They laughed and kidded each other about being “popular”. George said my father was his favorite patient on the floor.
After George left, my father talked about his physical therapy sessions. Not about his exercises, but about the people he’d met in the therapy room. A woman who lived in the same neighborhood in his town. A man who was also a veteran. My father related a few bits of information he learned about each person.
When his physical therapist arrived for the afternoon session, my father continued his pattern. First, he introduced me to the therapist by name, saying she was from Dorchester (a section of Boston where my mother was born). We discussed where she went to school, and how close she lived to the church where my parents were married.
My dad was one of the greatest networkers I’ve known. Growing up, it seemed that everyone knew my father and my family. Of course, the fact that my father had 10 kids set him apart in my hometown. But he also joined groups and clubs. He was active in the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He joined a local men’s club whose principal activities revolved around the bowling alley.
As a postal clerk, my father was a union member. But he wasn't just active with his specific union. He got to know all the letter carriers so well, that he was the only postal clerk invited to the letter carrier union’s annual Christmas party. Not even the local postmaster was invited. But my parents were. Even years after my father retired.
When he was about 60 years old, my dad joined the local Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men’s charitable organization. Joining the Knights is usually something guys in their 20’s and 30’s do. When I asked him why he joined at his age, my dad said he always thought about joining, and with all the kids grown up, he’d have the time to be a member. Besides, his current friends were getting older, and he wanted to make sure he’d still have some people around to attend his funeral. He didn’t want an empty church (it wasn’t). These are things an Irishman thinks about.
Too often, we may only look at networking as another method of increasing sales or finding a new job. Seeing connections on LinkedIn and Facebook as a way to further a personal agenda. Networking may be seen by some as a means to an end, with success measured by how much you get from your network.
This approach is only half-correct. Yes, you need to network to be successful in business. Your network will connect you to the people and companies that will hire you, or buy your product or service. There may be people looking for someone with your talents and abilities, and they’ll only be able to find you if you network.
It's been said that information is more powerful than money. Yes, information is powerful, but information is more powerful when it's shared. And information is shared through networking.
You may have read a lot of books, but is it as many books as the combined number read by the people in your network? You may have an advanced degree, but does it add up to the combined education of the people in your network? The Internet may be a powerful network of computers, but is it as powerful as a network of people using it? You may know a lot – a network of people will always know more.
But these are the secondary benefits of networking. The most important benefit is what you can do for other people. How you can connect two people who need to know each other. How you can provide information to another person. How you can help another person.
The most successful networkers don’t focus on what they can get from a connection. They focus on what they can bring to a connection. There are no scorecards or quid pro quo lists. The goal isn’t to create an opportunity, but to create a relationship.
My dad didn’t network to be successful in business. He networked to be successful in life. That success wasn’t measured by how much he accumulated, but by what he was able to give to others.