In honor of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, I asked five female founders how they effectively cultivate, harness and take better advantage of their networks.
When speaking with someone I really admire and I want to learn from, I find opportunities to express vulnerability and humility by letting them know that I don’t always know what to say and sometimes I have no clue what I am doing.
At networking events, you never know who you’ll meet or run into – and as you get to know each other, you may realize that there’s a mentor in the making for you. However, these types of gatherings or groups often pressure people to “peacock” – pretend to be something they are not, or carry the air of someone who knows everything. By being vulnerable and letting down a wall, I’ve been able to gain some incredibly valuable personal mentors, as well as advisors to my company.
I firmly believe there’s greater power in asking for help, because you never know who will bat for you in return.Most of the successful networking I have done has been slow, genuine, relationship building. In business we are taught to be direct and aggressive, but the point of networking is to meet people whose interests or skills or networks genuinely align with your long-term goals and who you can form a mutually beneficial relationship with.
For example, I learned that someone I started a relationship with at a networking event was training for a marathon. At the time, there was no immediate benefit, knowledge sharing, or partnership for either of us , but I kept in touch with her and continued to ask her about her marathon – something I was genuinely interested in and that we had in common .
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