Business - Business Strategy

July 14, 2010

Interview with Ivan Misner, author of the book Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts into Connections

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Mike Carruthers:
Getting out and meeting new people is important for anyone in business but it’s not always easy or natural.

Ivan Misner:
I have found that most business people are basically cave dwellers and they can’t figure out why no one is referring them. Well networking is a contact sport; you’ve got to get belly to belly with people. 
 

July 13, 2010

Interview with Ivan Misner, author of the book Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts into Connections

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Mike Carruthers:
Everyone who has a job has heard about the importance of networking.

Ivan Misner:
And networking has been around a long time but it’s been practiced badly. Whether people don’t understand it and the reason for that is that we don’t teach this in colleges and universities. We give kids bachelor’s degrees in marketing – they don’t have a clue how to network and they totally confuse networking with direct selling.
 

Ivan Misner, author of the book Networking Like a Pro...

You go to a business mixer somebody walks up to you and says, “Hi, my name’s John, you know we should be doing business.” And they try to sell rather than build relationships. Networking is more about farming than it is about hunting. It’s about cultivating professional relationships with other people and developing trust. People prefer people they know and trust.

How do you build those relationships? Ivan says it’s basically a 3-step process called V, C, P.

Stands for visibility, credibility, and profitability – you first have to be visible in the community; people have to know who you are and what you do. Then you have to establish credibility. Credibility is where people know who you are, they know what you do and they know you’re good at it. And only when you’ve gotten to credibility can you get to profitability where people know who you are, they know what you do, they know you’re good at it and they’re willing to pass referrals to you on an ongoing reciprocal basis. Where networking goes bad is where people try to jump ahead.

Jumping ahead is tempting because effective networking takes time. How much time?

It varies by profession but as a rule we tell people you’re looking at 6 months or more.
 

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here

July 1, 2010

Interview with Nancy Lublin, author of the book Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business

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Mike Carruthers:
Not for profit organizations and charities have often been criticized for not acting more like a real business.

Nancy Lublin:
But I also think businesses need to behave more like not for profits. There are things that we do to stretch a dollar and stretch our team that businesses could really learn from.
 

June 8, 2010

Interview with Tony Schwartz, author of the book The Way We're Working Isn't Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance

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Mike Carruthers:
To be effective, productive, and to maintain your energy level there appears to be some wisdom in the idea that you should pace yourself.

Tony Schwartz:
What the research really tells us about the ideal way to work is to alternate periods of high focus with periods of renewal.

June 7, 2010

Interview with Tony Schwartz, author of the book The Way We're Working Isn't Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance

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Mike Carruthers:
You’re energy is the fuel that gets you through the day, but here’s the problem…

Tony Schwartz:
We are really good at spending energy and it’s the thing that gets valued in this world, and we tend not to take seriously the importance of renewing or restoring our energy.

 June 4, 2010

Interview with Mark Wiskup, author of the book The It Factor: Be the One People Like, Listen to, and Remember

Mike Carruthers:
Do you have the "it" factor?

Mark Wiskup:
The "it" factor is the rare ability to connect with anyone you meet for any reason - whether you know them for five seconds or whether you've known them for five years.

June 3, 2010

Interview with Wendy Ulrich, co-author of the book The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

Mike Carruthers:
How can you make the time you spend at work more meaningful and more enjoyable?

Wendy Ulrich:
One of the things that we see in the research today that brings meaning into people's lives is good relationships at work.
 

May 24, 2010

Interview with Casey Hawley, author of the book 10 Make-or-Break Career Moments: Navigate, Negotiate, and Communicate for Success

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Mike Carruthers:
In the quest to further your career or just get a new job the conventional advice is to get out there and network, but there’s more to it than that.

Casey Hawley:
Especially if you’re in the job market today, you’re trying to think, “How can I market, me, me, me.” But really the way to be most winsome is to think about the other person.

 May 13, 2010

Interview with Tom Anastasi, author of the book The Successful Entrepreneur

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Mike Carruthers:
Starting a business may sound glamorous but typically it’s not the road to fast riches.

Tom Anastasi:
Most entrepreneurs will make the same or even less than they would as an employee. The difference is they get to be their own boss and they go to work smiling most of the time.

May 5, 2010

Interview with Michael Maslansky, author of the book The Language of Trust: Selling Ideas in a World of Skeptics

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Mike Carruthers:
As consumers we’re skeptical of businesses and organizations and we have good reason

Michael Maslansky:
We can all point to a big company, whether it’s our cable company or our telephone company where we feel like we’ve been screwed. And so there’s just not a lot of trust out there and it makes communicating that much more difficult.