Network your way to personal and professional
The end of her marriage, and a nagging sense of professional and personal isolation led Jennifer Harwood to reassess her beliefs on how to achieve success. The result of that search are contained in her book "The Art of Networking", where she argues that the key to a more personally and professionally fulfilling life is to place people at the centre of your business philosophy
Book: The Art of Networking
Author: Jennifer Harwood
Publisher: Direct Incite Publishing
Price: $35
Reviewed by: Kate Carr
"I felt that I had to do it all on my own to deserve the results and the success," she writes. "This is SO NOT TRUE."
"Proactively networking is about sharing yourself, goals and dreams with others and they do the same with you... It's about creating value, being genuine and it's about wanting the best for others."
Replacing an obsession with working hard with a focus on networking is the key to business and personal success, according to Harwood and this book is all about how to do this.
Now the founder of Direct Incite, a firm dedicated to growing and developing business, Harwood leaves no stone unturned in her attempts share her passion for the power of networking.
Part self-help manual, part business advice Harwood's book features chapters on how a network works, finding a network, building a community and even offers advice on how to effectively flirt at an event without it detracting from your overall networking goals.
The book is also filled with more practical advice, such as what to include on your business card, remembering names, getting out of a corner and working a room.
But possibly the most refreshing aspect of Harwood's book is the way she combines the importance of self-focus associated with many business manuals, with an emphasis on the importance of the group.
In the section on 'how to work a room?' for example, she writes: "When it comes to working a room, my advice is... DON'T work it.... The networking advice I stick to is: The most important person in the room that you can speak to is right in front of you."
She also recommends you do not give out your business card unless asked and spend twice as much time listening to people as talking yourself.
She returns consistently to the importance of being generous to the network you are involved in, participating in it rather than seeing it solely as something to be exploited for you own ends.
This isn't to say she recommends selflessness, for example she devotes considerable time to emphasising the importance of befriending people who act as 'centres of influence', as well as how to meet the people you most need to and how to minimise your time with people who will prove less useful to you.
However, by and large her overarching theme is that opportunities come in all shapes and sizes; you never know just how helpful a person could be to you unless you listen to them and give them your time.
For those looking for a little bit of real life with your business advice, this could be a good place to start.
See also Networking: The gift of the gab for an article on networking for brokers.
