From Endless Hustle to Triple Bottom Line
Discover how networking can be approached as transformational, rather than as transactional.
This networking scenario - and path-to-solution - is from my new book The Social Billionaire: A Networking Roadmap for Women Seeking to Flourish and Achieve More. The book is research-backed and draws on the real career experiences of ambitious women. It's designed to show you where the most powerful shifts in your networking approach can be made — and how to reach the career milestones you're after.
Networking Scenario: The Suffering Social Entrepreneur
ER is an enthusiastic entrepreneur focused on growing and scaling her business. She's also made giving back a business priority, launching a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit. Her networking needs: creating a powerful personal board of directors to guide her on the growth of a mission-driven venture, and getting smarter on ways to leverage her existing and vast network of diverse connections, more effectively.
Networking Prescription for ER:
- Refine her Success Roadmap (in Chapter 3 - Focus: What Are You Networking (And Why)?): The Success Roadmap is a planning tool to clarify your vision, goals, opportunities, and values — the starting point for any intentional, goal-driven networking effort.
- Bring An Offer Along With Your Ask (in Chapter 6 - Networking: Three High Impact Practices): Adopt tip number 7 in a list of suggestions outlined in Chapter 6, all of which are designed to ease networking anxiety. Before every networking interaction, identify one specific thing you need help with and one thing you bring to the table (you know, your networking give). Knowing you have something to offer gives you the confidence to make the ask.
- Assess her career go-to's (in Chapter 5 - Unlock Your High Achieving Network): Flip to the "Right now, the career go-to's with diverse networks I really need around my goals are" exercise, and use it to take an honest look at whether the people closest to your ambitions have the experience and connections your current goals actually require.
The Social Billionaire: A Networking Roadmap for Women Seeking to Flourish and Achieve More is full of exercises, reflections, and networking prescriptions to help you network your ambitions. Grab your copy - along with a pen. And when you've read it — an honest 5-star Amazon and/or Goodreads review would mean a great deal. Reviews are how books get found - and I'd like more women to find this book.
