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Make it About Them

Angel L Ramos (@thenewapproach [1]) asked me to blog about effective networking tips.

Angel, you have discovered a topic where I must admit that I don’t think I have much to say. I work with three professional networkers: Bridget Downes, Kelly Dowling and Tiffany Hughes. Having the pleasure of watching them for a year and looking for what makes them so successful, I think it comes down to this:

Networking is like a first date… If you want a second date, make it about them.

The risk in this strategy is that they might always want it to be about them. When that happens, you need to know that it is time to move on.

Bridget, Kelly and Tiffany – feel free to chime in. (see their responses [2])

Paul Jarley, Ph.D., is the dean of the UCF College of Business Administration. He blogs every week at http://www.bus.ucf.edu/dean [3]. This post appeared on July 22, 2013. Follow him on Twitter @pauljarley [4]