Latest / Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections / Networking Unleashed: S1E78 An Interview with Greg Weinger and Michael A Forman, Public Speaker

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Networking Unleashed: S1E78 An Interview with Greg Weinger and Michael A Forman, Public Speaker · Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections

0:16
Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, Building
0:20
Profitable Connections, the podcast where we
0:23
uncover the strategies, stories, and systems
0:26
that turn relationships into real results. I'm
0:30
your host, Michael Foreman, and today's episode
0:33
is going to challenge the way you think about
0:35
career growth. collaboration, and connection.
0:39
My guest is an expert in helping professionals
0:42
get promoted in just 90 days, rethink how we
0:46
generate ideas by explaining why brainstorming
0:50
doesn't work, and master the art of dealing with
0:54
distractions and interruptions without losing
0:57
momentum or meaningful relationships along the
1:01
way. This conversation goes beyond surface -level
1:04
networking. We're talking about building influence,
1:08
showing up with intention and creating the kind
1:12
of connections that don't just open doors. They
1:15
help you walk through them prepared. So whether
1:19
you're climbing the corporate ladder, leading
1:21
a team, building your brand with this episode
1:24
or building your brand, this episode is packed
1:28
with insights you can use right now. I'd like
1:32
to bring it to the podcast. Greg Wenger, and
1:36
he has really an extensive background. So I'm
1:40
going to let him introduce himself, and then
1:42
we'll get on underway. Greg, welcome to the podcast.
1:46
Thanks so much, Michael. It's really great to
1:48
be here. I'm happy to tell you a little bit about
1:51
my background. I come from a really high achiever.
1:55
family, really. My father was a surgeon, so there's
1:58
really no question that you're going to go after
2:01
it in life. And so I came out of the barrel of
2:04
the shotgun or the cannon, whatever metaphor
2:06
you want to use. And so I was high school valedictorian.
2:10
I was on the swim team, All -American swimming.
2:13
I'll go to Stanford. And then I started to hit
2:17
some headwinds there and trying to find my way
2:19
a little bit. I drifted into, I studied. Two
2:22
things. I studied English and I studied computer
2:25
science and I thought, okay, I'm going to get
2:27
a job as a programmer. And I go out into the
2:30
career world and I tapped the brakes a little.
2:33
I didn't, I saw a lot of peers going after these
2:36
super high, highest level positions and I wanted
2:39
to enjoy life a little bit more. So I've always
2:42
thought work -life balance it, however that looks
2:45
for me. But I worked in programming for a while,
2:48
but I gradually got I didn't love decisions that
2:51
were being made. I was surrounded by brilliant
2:54
engineers and they're doing amazing things. And
2:57
I was like, the decision, why are we building
2:59
these things? I wanted to have some influence
3:02
over that. And so I'm going to cut to the chase.
3:06
I got into management. achieved different levels,
3:10
manager, director, VP. And I was eventually on
3:14
an executive team and that this is where I am
3:17
now. I've since worked at three companies. We've
3:20
grown them to like between 10 to 70 million in
3:23
revenue. We've done it multiple times. But the
3:25
first one I was just, this is a luck. I was on
3:28
an IPO company. So I've seen a lot of success.
3:31
I've learned a ton out of that. But where that
3:34
neat story doesn't tell you is the struggle that
3:37
I had, because as it turns out, I have the words
3:40
for it now, my whole life I've been an introvert.
3:43
And so when I was so achievement oriented, I
3:48
was like, I'm ready to be a leader now. And I
3:50
wasn't presenting as a leader. And this was just
3:53
a lot of things that we think of as leadership
3:57
didn't come naturally to me. Standing up confrontation.
4:00
I went through a lot of anxiety dealing with
4:03
confrontation at different stages in my career.
4:06
And so as I reached each level, it ratchets up
4:10
the pressure. And so at each level, I had to
4:12
learn new techniques and new skills along the
4:15
way, including at the executive level. That was
4:17
another level. And I had to do even more work
4:20
on myself just to give myself the tools to be
4:23
able to deal with the levels of pressure at that
4:26
level. So that's it in a nutshell. And that's
4:30
really good. And you hit on so many points that
4:33
I speak about regarding the networking communication,
4:37
but the introverts versus the extroverts and
4:40
the problems that go along with each of them.
4:43
And I don't want to get into what I do. The way
4:46
here that you're speaking, you've conquered most
4:50
of it. As you got that extra level, you conquered
4:56
what you had to do to... excel in your position
5:00
and you did it so on and so forth. And that's
5:04
all wonderful. That's great because, and at the
5:07
end, I'm going to ask you what you would recommend
5:09
for somebody else, but that's just really good.
5:12
Let me just go into some of the questions that
5:15
I have for you. You teach how to get promoted
5:17
in 90 days. What role does strategic networking
5:22
play in making that happen fast? It's a great
5:27
question. Maybe I just start with the initial
5:30
step. And it can sound like a bit of a cliche,
5:34
but it's really the essential piece. Like if
5:37
you don't do this, none of the rest really works
5:41
the way you want, especially if you're trying
5:43
to achieve something in 90 days. And that's really
5:46
to promote yourself. And what that means, it's
5:50
really a shift in mindset. You have to act as
5:53
though you already have the role that you want.
5:55
And so that involves knowing what that role is
5:58
and knowing maybe you see examples of it, maybe
6:01
you don't. And so that's one way that the networking
6:04
piece comes in. But it's really more about how
6:09
you show up. It's one part of it. And the other
6:13
part is the level of commitment. When you get
6:16
to a place where that next promotion is what
6:19
you must have. And there's just no question it's
6:22
going to happen. It's going to unfold for you,
6:24
whether it's in your current role or not. It
6:27
just becomes part of your destiny and your future.
6:30
And that's a decision everyone can make. And
6:31
I think a lot of people don't realize it until
6:34
you've had that experience. You don't realize
6:35
that this is how it actually works. So that's
6:38
the first step. The next step is the strategic
6:40
networking, because you need to figure out a
6:44
lot of things. You need to figure out. How am
6:47
I being perceived? You really need feedback is
6:50
one thing. And so you want to seek out mentors,
6:55
other people in your role, people who surround
6:58
your role. Roles surrounding your role have lots
7:00
of great information about the position that
7:03
you want to be in. And so you've got to talk
7:07
to people. And so if you haven't established
7:12
that network of people, It's never too late to
7:15
start. Now is the perfect time to start. I heard
7:17
this the other day. The first, what was the best
7:20
time to plant a tree or something? It was 20
7:23
years ago. What's the second best time to plant
7:25
a tree? It's now. So you can always start. And
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I think the easiest way is people who you see
7:32
every day, people in your company, someone you
7:34
can approach very easily. And then after that,
7:38
LinkedIn is God's gift to networking. It's really
7:44
connect with people you're already connected
7:46
with, but it's also easy to get introductions
7:48
and that sort of thing. And it's really, people
7:52
are always open to someone coming to you and
7:55
saying, hey, I could use some advice. It's really
7:58
not, I guess there are probably exceptions to
8:01
that, but most everybody loves to do that. They
8:03
love, you're really valuing and honoring their
8:06
knowledge and their experience by doing that.
8:10
And people like to help. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely.
8:14
I know when I was climbing the corporate ladder,
8:16
I always had a very good feeling of what I did,
8:19
but I knew intimately what my boss did. And I
8:24
knew a little bit about what his boss did because
8:27
I was always looking one to two places above
8:30
me, but that's me. I'm one of those people. I'm
8:33
okay. I'm happy now, but I want that position
8:35
and I go on. But what you said, but. building
8:39
the network, and it's never too late to start.
8:42
And you were so right when you said LinkedIn,
8:45
because you have your basic network that you
8:48
deal with. You connect with them on LinkedIn.
8:51
And I just gave this to one of my coaching students.
8:54
I said, you know what? You have to give them
8:58
a little piece of something. You're a problem
9:00
solver, okay? So you have to go after... let's
9:05
say a person, but give them something of value.
9:08
If you're constantly giving them something of
9:11
value, you'll be seeing that much more. Enough
9:13
about me. Let's go on to the next question. Can
9:16
you share a story where a single relationship
9:19
or connection helped someone accelerate their
9:22
career in under 90 days? Yes, absolutely. This
9:34
was I'll give you an example of this is my own
9:38
example of and this is well under 90 days. So
9:42
I actually there's a book called Phil Terry has
9:46
is it's about the the job search councils. It's
9:50
basically about not networking alone. So like
9:55
when you go out on your job search, it can be
9:57
a really lonely experience. And if you don't
9:59
have someone there to support you. And so. There's
10:03
a whole framework to it. You might be familiar
10:06
with it, but you find other people who are in
10:10
that situation and then you start interviewing
10:13
people and you start asking what can they, you
10:16
just start asking about the role. You're learning
10:18
more about that. And so you're not just rushing
10:21
into a job search. But what happened with me
10:24
is I read this book and one of the suggestions
10:27
in it was, can, you know, Can you find the role
10:32
that you want in your current job? And so I said,
10:36
that seems a lot easier. Why don't I try that?
10:40
Just try that first. And then I can go through
10:42
all of this whole process and form a council
10:45
and start a really extensive networking. And
10:48
I went to my boss and I said, I'm really, I need
10:51
to get to this next level. I've got that. Talked
10:55
about life circumstances. I need to get to a
10:57
different level of money, but it's also the right
11:00
time for me in my career. I need to take on more
11:02
responsibility. And he said at the time he was
11:04
reporting to the CEO and he said, let me talk
11:08
to him. And we had a long conversation. They
11:12
met at the bar that evening. And then later that
11:15
night, they came to me. It's like, we're going
11:17
to make it work out. Basically, I asked for the
11:20
role I wanted. And there was a strong element
11:23
of timing in that. But that's how close you might
11:27
be. You might think, I might have to leave my
11:28
job. It might be six to 12 months. But it could
11:31
be that close. Chances are, that's a more rare
11:34
circumstance. But three months is completely
11:38
realistic. And I've seen that multiple times.
11:41
Yes, very realistic. And again, going up the
11:44
corporate ladder, as you said, timing has to
11:48
be right. For somebody within the same job or
11:51
same company, timing has to be right. If it's
11:54
not, you can do that whole search thing. But
11:57
take it like what you said. You have to take
12:00
the shot, explain to your boss or something that
12:03
this is what you need. And he made it work for
12:06
you. So you had that relationship with your boss,
12:09
you had that relationship with the company, and
12:12
obviously you were good at what you did, otherwise
12:14
they wouldn't even have given you the time of
12:17
day. So all of that has to come into play. Okay,
12:21
so you say brainstorming doesn't work. What's
12:25
a more effective way to tap into the power of
12:28
people when generating ideas? Yeah, and to answer
12:33
that, we have to think about why it doesn't work.
12:36
There's a fascinating history on that. There's
12:39
a man named Alex Osborne. And so if you've ever
12:42
watched the Madman series, think of Don Draper.
12:45
That was him, his master of the universe, Madison
12:49
Avenue King in the 1940s, 30s, 40s. And he had
12:53
developed these techniques in his agencies where
12:55
he actually. He's credited with inventing brainstorming
12:59
where imagine like the madman office and smoke
13:02
is swirling. Maybe they're having scotches and
13:04
they're just throwing out ideas. And the ideas
13:06
is like for the wilder and the more spontaneous
13:09
this whole exercise is, the more creative and
13:12
fruitful the ideas become. And it's an extremely
13:17
attractive. idea. And it's it has just gotten
13:20
so embedded in our culture, minus the smoke and
13:23
scotch anymore. But but I can't tell you how
13:25
many brainstorming sessions I've been in my entire
13:28
life. And the only catch at it is that they've
13:32
been studying this in business schools for 40
13:34
years. And study after study proved that it doesn't
13:38
work. It's suboptimal. And one of the reasons
13:41
is because roughly half of the people in any
13:44
given room are introverts. And introverts don't
13:48
do their best thinking out loud. They're actually
13:50
doing their best thinking alone, given the time
13:54
and the exercise. And that's where a lot of the
13:56
creativity comes up. And so half of your people
13:59
are freezing up and getting overstimulated and
14:01
crowded out from thinking their best in that
14:03
situation. And then, you know, so it's just suboptimal
14:09
in that way. So how do you solve that? What has
14:12
been shown to work really well is to give people
14:16
homework assignments. So they can go off in and
14:19
come up with ideas on their own terms, on their
14:23
best, and then they come in and present them.
14:26
And so the group activity is triage, evaluation,
14:33
augmentation. There is an element of group discussion,
14:37
but it's starting with much more fertile initial
14:40
sets of ideas. And that actually works for extroverts
14:43
too. That's why it really is an optimal solution.
14:47
That sounds like a really good idea. And it sounds
14:50
like it's a very good idea of something that
14:53
if all you've done is brainstorming, when you
14:56
introduce this idea, it's actually a little more
15:00
clear for what you can accomplish and your opinions
15:05
or whatever else that you're giving to the mass,
15:09
whoever's in the brainstorming session. You're
15:12
giving a lot more to it than just the ideas that
15:14
are just coming off your head. There's a lot
15:17
more thinking involved. So that's very good.
15:20
Okay, so what's the difference between being
15:24
seen as a go -to person versus just being liked
15:29
in the workplace? And how does networking influence
15:32
that perception? Yeah, that's a great question.
15:40
First of all, I think a key part, and I talk
15:45
about introverts and introversion, but I think
15:47
this has got to go for everybody. A key part
15:51
of networking is establishing personal contact.
15:54
And many people are good at that. Introverts
15:58
are great one -on -one. And if you're an introvert,
16:00
you can do this as well as anyone. It's just
16:02
grab time with people who are peers. in other
16:09
roles and functions around the organization.
16:11
And there has to be, I think, to make this really
16:15
effective, you want to establish a personal level
16:17
of connection as well as a professional. And
16:20
what I've always done is I think about who are
16:23
really critical people to my role in the organization
16:27
to get things done. And for me, I've always worked
16:30
in product management. And so I need to know
16:33
people in marketing. I need to know key people
16:35
in sales. I don't need to know everyone important
16:39
in engineering, but really, and in finance as
16:42
well. It's really all the way across the company.
16:45
But I think you can do this for whatever role
16:47
you're in. Maybe you don't work with everyone
16:49
in the company, but if you understand who those
16:53
key people are, then you can establish that relationship.
16:57
And maybe you only need to talk to them once
17:00
every three months or some people you want to
17:02
talk to monthly. But when you sit down and talk
17:05
to them, And you understand what's really important
17:09
to them. What do they care about? And then you
17:12
can think about how can you help them? And you
17:15
offer that up and then you follow through. And
17:19
so what that does is it establishes trust. And
17:23
you can think of that as currency. This is you're
17:27
building up a wealth of trust in your network
17:31
within your company. And so then that person,
17:35
when they have an issue, they're going to come
17:37
and reach out to you and talk to you because
17:39
they know that they start to see, especially
17:42
over time, that they can count on you to help
17:45
them out. And that flows in both directions.
17:47
And so that's really how you get seen. And you
17:52
actually are someone who can get things done
17:56
around the organization and not just a pleasant
17:59
person in a room. You hit on so many points that
18:03
I can just talk for an hour just from the point
18:06
that you just made. That's how important they
18:08
are. With networking, there's a mantra, okay?
18:11
There's know you, you trust you, they'll do business
18:14
with you. Now, know you, if you're just dealing
18:17
with people in the company, they see your face,
18:19
they know you. Like you, that narrows down just
18:23
a little bit because not everybody's going to
18:25
like you, but that trust factor is so crucial
18:28
that it is a currency. And whenever I go into
18:32
a situation like that, I remember a word called
18:36
F -O -R -M. Family, occupation, recreation, and
18:42
a message. Because I can talk to the person on
18:45
any level. Their family, their husband, wife,
18:48
sister, brother, son, daughter, whatever. Their
18:51
occupation, that's your work. You can talk to
18:53
them. Recreation, what does he like to do? Does
18:56
he like to go boating? Does he ski? Whatever.
18:58
And talk about that. So if you talk about anything
19:02
but business and just keep it that conversation,
19:06
you'll be remembered. And in the hallway or on
19:10
the phone or in a meeting, they'll always know
19:12
you and wave to say, hello, how you doing? And
19:14
strike a little conversation with you. So I can't
19:18
go through all the points that you made, but
19:19
that trust factor is so important. It is like
19:23
a currency. Very good. Yeah. One thing I just
19:27
add to that is you got to really care. I can
19:30
imagine people who are in the listening business.
19:33
Okay. I got the, I have asked the family and
19:35
the recreation is like, honestly, this is what
19:39
makes worth really me, your work really meaningful
19:42
are these relationships. And if I would encourage
19:47
anyone, if you're feeling some dissatisfaction
19:49
at work, this is a rich source of satisfaction
19:52
in your work and adds a lot of meaning to what
19:54
you do. Authenticity. That's the number one thing.
19:58
You have to be authentic. You can't just be superficial
20:01
and say, okay, I have to know you. I have to
20:04
like your family. Your wife, what does she do?
20:07
You can't be phony. You can't be a phony. It's
20:10
got to be authentic. So yes, you're absolutely
20:13
right. Interruptions are everywhere. How can
20:17
leaders stay connected to people while protecting
20:20
their time and energy? Let's live that day to
20:26
day. I wish I found a surefire solution for that.
20:30
Do you think as a leader, that's part of your
20:32
job is that your team isn't going to get things
20:34
done unless you're out there actively watching
20:38
to reduce the interruptions on them? And probably
20:41
public enemy number one is the meeting. And as
20:46
a leader, you have a lot of control over that.
20:50
And in something, maybe it's my workplace or
20:53
the workplaces I've ever been. But and I think
20:55
Zoom and pandemic have something to do with this.
20:57
But just meetings, they will fill your entire
21:00
day if you don't guard against it. There's a
21:04
variety of tactics. I've never seen anything
21:06
work permanently, but I would just say maybe
21:09
it's just like weeds. You have to always be tending
21:12
to your calendar and making sure there's critical
21:14
time for you, but even more importantly, critical
21:17
time for your team to get their work done because
21:20
it's really an unfair expectation that everyone's
21:25
going to work every night, every weekend to make
21:27
up for it. That's keeping that work -life balance.
21:31
It's very important. I know on my calendar, I
21:35
have a set two hours for the day that I don't
21:38
allow any meetings. I have to get my work done.
21:42
I don't always get it done in two hours, but
21:44
it's true that you have to just take a little
21:47
bit of time of your day so you can rethink and
21:50
get your work done as well as go to all meetings.
21:53
And that's one of the things in corporate world,
21:56
everything's a meeting. We have to meet for this,
21:59
meet for that. No time for the work. Okay. So
22:02
how do you create networking moments in environments
22:06
where everyone is distracted, busy, or siloed?
22:13
That's right. And remote. And a lot of us, I
22:16
think a very large percentage of us are still
22:20
remote. And so there's always a meeting or a
22:23
chat message or an email to be processing. And
22:28
I think it's just a commitment and maybe setting
22:31
goals for the week. I think I was talking about
22:35
earlier about who is in your network within your
22:39
company. And you can bake that in by scheduling
22:44
recurring meetings. So it's just on the calendar
22:46
every. Every month I talk to this person. Some
22:50
people who are more critical, you might talk
22:53
to them weekly. Just grab that 15 minutes. If
22:55
you don't have anything to talk to, you can cancel
22:57
it and approach them, talk to them about it.
22:59
Look, I'd love to make sure that we stay in contact.
23:02
This relationship is super valuable to me. It's
23:05
fun to talk to you. Let's just have something
23:07
on the calendar. What's a good time for you?
23:10
And then I think widening your circle outside
23:14
of your company. And so this is where I've fallen
23:17
down in the past. This is something that I'm
23:20
still developing in myself, which is maintaining
23:21
my professional network outside of work. And
23:25
it's the same thing, but maybe the timeframes
23:27
are just longer. Every six months or every year,
23:30
make sure you talk to someone. I know people
23:32
do the birthday thing. I'm curious your opinion
23:36
about that. It's funny. I don't do that myself,
23:38
but I always love it when someone sends me a
23:41
text on the birthday. I was like, oh, that's
23:42
nice. I see what you're doing and I appreciate
23:44
it. And something, it's nice. I come from corporate
23:51
and the mortgage field and everything else. And
23:53
I did it when we're still using folders and not
23:56
electronic folders. But inside of every folder,
23:59
I had all of the information. It was the husband,
24:03
all the wife's information, the birthdays, the
24:06
children's birthdays. And I used to put it all
24:08
on my calendar and I used to send them a card.
24:12
when it was a birthday. And that was a lot of
24:15
cards, but that was the time of writing cards
24:18
and not sending a text message. But now it's
24:20
so much easier because it's true. Just write
24:23
a little text message or an email. And so I agree
24:27
that I think that goes a long way because the
24:30
person receiving it has that little feeling that
24:33
it feels good. Oh, he remembered. Oh, that's
24:36
very good. I actually, I have an old boss like
24:40
from years ago that I text. Every year, that's
24:43
the only time I talk to him, is on his birthday.
24:46
And I text him happy birthday and everything
24:47
else. He's always appreciative of it. So it's
24:51
something you ought to think about. Yeah, agreed.
24:55
Okay, so when you're aiming for a promotion,
24:58
how important is it to build a strategic internal
25:02
network beyond your direct manager? good question
25:10
it really depends on your situation because one
25:14
of the considerations at the outset is when you're
25:17
trying to get your promotion within your company
25:19
is will my manager support this be neutral or
25:25
try to undermine my desire to do that. And so
25:31
the example I gave earlier, I had a strong relationship
25:34
with my supervisor and he was supportive. I had
25:38
a feeling he would be neutral, at worst neutral
25:41
to that. And it turns out he was very supportive.
25:44
And so I have. been in situations in my career
25:51
and advised people in situations where their
25:54
boss is not going to be supportive of it or might
25:57
be working against them. And so then that's,
26:00
I think, where your question was headed at, where
26:02
you really do need to develop relationships with
26:06
your boss's peers at best, even better with their
26:10
boss or people at a higher level. And there are
26:13
probably some good ways to do that. Some things
26:17
that I've tried, it's people in the hallways
26:20
and just start asking questions. And then that
26:22
can, once you establish a little bit of rapport
26:25
and contact, then that creates some space for
26:28
you to say, oh, can I put some time on your calendar?
26:30
I have a few questions. And then it's similar
26:34
to what I was talking about before in your framework.
26:39
Know you, trust you. You want to get to that
26:41
trust you part. And then at a certain point,
26:44
if you do have a good enough relationship with
26:48
a peer where you might need to maneuver around
26:51
your supervisor, then you have people who believe
26:54
in you and who can pass the message along or
26:58
up. And I think sometimes it's not that you want
27:02
to leapfrog your boss or something, but it's
27:05
really about what are the opportunities? Are
27:07
there opportunities that you see for me? that
27:10
are maybe in a different department where could
27:12
you see me fitting in or doing something here
27:15
so those are some ideas you know it's very good
27:19
and i don't know how many people right now are
27:24
going to the in that position going to a going
27:28
to an office where people are milling around
27:31
and speaking with one another but if they have
27:34
that image of passing the person in the hall
27:37
saying i've got a question for you Make it an
27:40
important question, of course. But if you do
27:43
that once or twice, then you can move to, can
27:46
I set some time on your calendar? Because I have
27:49
a few questions. And if you've approached him
27:52
or her a few times in the hallway, then say,
27:55
oh, that's Greg. Oh, that's right. Sure, of course.
27:58
I'll make a few half an hour my calendar. And
28:02
then that's the way that you start. And that's
28:04
the way that you get all those other people involved.
28:07
That's a very good way. And I hope anybody who's
28:10
listening is paying attention because that's
28:13
a very good way. If your supervisor isn't always
28:17
on your side, they may work against you, which
28:20
a lot may feel. This is a way to go around that,
28:24
okay, without you feeling like you're backstabbing.
28:28
So that's very good. What are some underrated
28:32
networking moves professionals can make inside
28:35
their own companies? We basically just discovered
28:38
that. But do you have another? Inside the companies,
28:43
just attend the social events when they're there.
28:48
And sometimes if you're remote, sometimes they
28:50
have remote social events, meetings about any
28:55
kind of roundtable discussion. type of group
28:58
activity that's happening i've been fortunate
29:01
in recent years to have while the company is
29:04
has a lot it's really a hybrid kind of company
29:08
a lot of the company is distributed but we do
29:11
happen to have a local office and so it's making
29:14
use of that space to to have the old -fashioned
29:18
milling around and those discussions and And
29:24
I do have to come back to my area of interest
29:27
for introverts, and that can be more challenging.
29:29
And there are ways of doing that in concentrated
29:33
ways that maintain your energy and are authentic
29:37
to you. And it's really the other element is
29:41
a motivation. If you understand that, this is
29:44
really important. And if you want to accomplish
29:47
something, you want a promotion, you want to
29:50
just be more effective in your job. This is a
29:53
really critical piece. Those personal relationships
29:55
help you so much. Absolutely. Absolutely. OK,
30:01
what do top performers do differently in terms
30:05
of relationship building and visibility that
30:09
sets them up for fast track success? Yeah, I
30:16
think it's just the element of, I guess, a big
30:19
part of it that I didn't realize early in my
30:21
career. I intuitively found my way into developing
30:26
and cultivating relationships. And I intuitively,
30:31
I naturally underplay my successes, my accomplishments,
30:37
because I think this is common to a lot of introverts.
30:40
We don't love self -promotion. And I've since
30:44
come around to ways of understanding that that
30:47
it's there are ways of providing visibility into
30:50
the good work you're doing, and especially as
30:53
a leader to the work that your team is doing.
30:55
And so it's really you really need to devote
31:01
a lot of time to or just. I guess it's not a
31:04
lot of time, but just make sure that it happens.
31:07
You need to make sure that you're communicating
31:10
about your success and not just to your boss,
31:13
but announcing them in different places, because
31:16
it's really people should know about the good
31:20
work that you and your teams and things are doing.
31:23
One, so they. that gives them more confidence
31:26
in you. But two, it raises, it gives them the
31:29
opportunity to ask questions and improve the
31:33
way the organization functions. That's good.
31:37
I'm listening to you and I'm almost imagining
31:40
your ladder, the ladder that you've climbed and
31:44
everything else and all your successes. What
31:47
mistake have you made that you can remember?
31:52
Probably a big mistake. And how did you overcome
31:55
it? Yeah. One doozy mistake from earlier in my
32:04
career was at a certain time in my career, I
32:09
was leading customer projects. And in the software
32:13
industry and enterprise, we'll work with a large
32:17
company, a much larger company. I work in smaller
32:19
companies that works with. larger companies.
32:22
And so I get like all of the, the experience
32:25
of working in large corporate without the day
32:27
-to -day, some of those minuses, but it's, but
32:30
we work with very large companies and we had
32:33
a software rollout where the schedule kept falling
32:37
behind because they're like, boy, there's, it's
32:41
really, we had to import the data into our software.
32:45
And then we had to stand up at the time was like
32:47
a forum software. And boy, it's really taking
32:52
a long time to import this. It's never taken
32:54
this long to import all this data before. Engineers
32:56
are working really hard. We were really straining
32:59
to get all this data into our system. It never
33:02
occurred to me, and finally we did it. All the
33:04
data was in, and this was after a delay of two,
33:06
three weeks. It never occurred to me that just
33:09
in the same way that it was so hard to get data
33:11
into our system, when you turn the site live,
33:14
it might struggle to actually work like we expected
33:18
it to. So we launched. It was a spectacular failure.
33:22
The software seized up. We had to turn it off.
33:25
It was because and this was I was leading the
33:28
charge on this and I froze up. And so I learned
33:32
a lot. Some people can step in and help me. And
33:34
we got through this, the whole thing. But I learned
33:37
so many things in from that one. That one experience
33:42
and one, some are just experience of early warning
33:45
signs and preparation and testing and that sort
33:48
of thing, because we had some maturity issues
33:51
in the company. But two is really about that
33:56
when a situation comes up, it's not about you
33:59
and your personal worth. It's not about the job
34:02
you did, that there's always an opportunity to
34:05
lead, even if. There's been a colossal failure
34:09
and there's egg on your face and everything.
34:11
It's really about what do you do next? What's
34:14
the next thing in the moment? And it's not about
34:16
this gigantic judgment on the mistakes that you
34:21
made. So there's always an opportunity to move
34:24
forward and lead. Absolutely. And I've learned,
34:27
listen, I've been a small business owner. I've
34:30
worked through corporate. And one thing I've
34:33
learned. You learn so much more from your failures
34:37
than you do of your successes. And because the
34:39
lessons you learn from your failures really stick
34:42
with you because you say, I'm never going to
34:45
do that again. All right. But I always felt that
34:48
you learn more from your failures than your successes.
34:51
OK, so let's bring this podcast full circle.
34:54
What's one mindset shift that helps people stop
34:58
networking passively and start building influence
35:02
intentionally? There's a couple of ways I could
35:11
go on this. I'll pick one. I'll pick Elaine.
35:14
I think it's what's in it for you. It's really
35:19
about forming that connection, that next relationship.
35:22
And I just value it so much more now than I did
35:28
earlier in the career. I guess it felt to me,
35:30
networking felt like something that I should
35:33
do, I had to do. And for whatever reason, I just
35:37
had a bad attitude about it. And when you think
35:40
about think about the benefit you can have of
35:43
making that connection with a person. I if I
35:46
go out and have coffee with someone like that,
35:50
it's just such a pleasure and such a joy just
35:52
to sit down with another human being, especially
35:54
today in the land of Zoom and enjoy coffee and
35:58
just and have a conversation. And if you can
36:00
spend a half hour, 45 minutes, whatever it is,
36:03
it's. It just adds a dimension to your life of
36:07
human connection that is a shared moment. And
36:11
then that sticks with people. So you always have
36:14
that in your memory and in the memory of that
36:17
other person. And so that's such a gratifying
36:22
thing compared to I've got to expand my influence
36:25
and as part of this, like a death march to keep
36:29
improving your career. I don't know if I've captured
36:34
that well in words, but there's a lot of good
36:37
in it for you is the mindset shift. Greg, you've
36:40
done such a great job with these questions. It's
36:43
really unbelievable. I'm so glad that you achieved
36:46
the success that you've achieved. If somebody
36:49
wanted to get hold of you, what's the best way?
36:53
Yeah, thank you. I have my podcast and it's on
36:57
Substack. It's called powerandplay .substack
37:03
.com. Just all written together. You can also
37:06
reach me at powerful introvert. Call one word
37:10
there, powerful introvert .substack .com. You
37:13
can see all of my podcast episodes and my content
37:16
there. Very good. Very good. Great. Thank you
37:20
so much for coming on the podcast. You were a
37:23
great guest and I hope to talk to you soon. Yeah,
37:27
it was great talking to you, Michael. Well, hold
37:32
on, folks. Don't go anywhere. Let's hear from
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561 -427 -4888. A huge thank you to our guests
38:27
for sharing such insights today. And of course,
38:31
a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners,
38:34
for tuning in and spending your time with us.
38:37
If you're interested in my digital courses, being
38:41
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38:44
just go to Michael and fill out the request form.
38:48
Remember, networking isn't about being perfect.
38:51
It's about being present. So take what you've
38:54
learned today, get out there and make some meaningful
38:57
connections. If you've enjoyed this episode,
39:00
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39:06
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