Latest / Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections / Networking Unleashed: S1E98 An Interview with Sid Mohasseb and Michael A Forman, Public Speaker

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Networking Unleashed: S1E98 An Interview with Sid Mohasseb and Michael A Forman, Public Speaker · Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections

• 0:14
  Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
• 0:18
  Connections, the show where relationships become
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  results and connections turn into opportunities.
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  I'm your host, Michael Foreman, and today we're
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  exploring the future of networking through the
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  lens of education, entrepreneurship, and technology.
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  My guest is at the forefront of Anabasis Academy's
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  innovative approach to learning. blending leadership
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  development with AI -driven tools to prepare
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  the next generation of entrepreneurs. We'll dive
• 0:49
  into how emerging leaders can build meaningful
• 0:52
  networks, leverage technology without losing
• 0:55
  the human touch, and use relationships as the
• 0:59
  key driver for professional and personal growth.
• 1:03
  Whether a student, entrepreneur, or seasoned
• 1:05
  professional, this conversation will give you
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  strategies to connect smarter, lead better, and
• 1:11
  grow faster. I'd like to welcome to the podcast,
• 1:15
  Sid. We had a little problem connecting, but
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  we're all here now. And I'm welcoming you to
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  the podcast. And would you please just give us
• 1:24
  a little bit about your background? Of course,
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  it's great to be with you and your audience,
• 1:29
  Michael. And sometimes a little bit of a connection
• 1:32
  problem gives us more anticipation. So I'm happy
• 1:37
  to be here. In terms of background, I'll be pretty
• 1:39
  short because what I always believe is not me
• 1:42
  that counts, it's the audience and it's you.
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  I'm an immigrant by background. I came to the
• 1:49
  States when I was 16, educated here in college,
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  started my first company when I was in college.
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  And then at some period of time, I was a partner
• 2:00
  of a consulting firm. I worked with very large
• 2:03
  organizations. Then I started my own firm and
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  did turnarounds. We bought companies and sold
• 2:07
  them. Then started the other companies, mostly
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  in technology. Bought four or five of them. A
• 2:14
  few worked and we sold the companies and a couple
• 2:18
  didn't work. And we learned a lot. And in the
• 2:21
  past 20 years, and you can see that I'm an old
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  guy, I've been teaching at universities, both
• 2:28
  in engineering and business schools, and have
• 2:31
  been making investments in early stage companies.
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  I was the president of Tech Coast Angels, which
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  is the largest angel investment entity, had a
• 2:38
  venture fund, then sold the company and full
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  circle to consulting as the strategic innovation
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  leader for a very large advisory at 26. billion
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  dollar advisory company. And now I do three or
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  four things. One is I'm still teaching. Another
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  is that I have a few books and I write a lot.
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  If you search me, hundreds of articles. I'm old,
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  so I'm very opinionated. I still serve on boards,
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  corporate boards and make investments. And our
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  latest venture is Anabasis Academy that you referred
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  to, which is a fusing, a combination of mindfulness,
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  awareness. and entrepreneurship because everything
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  begins in your mind and we're all unique so we
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  have to find that authentic way of of making
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  progress so that's me outstanding outstanding
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  and i'm sure you could have gone on for another
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  half an hour just tell me about your background
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  because it is so vast but okay so let's jump
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  right into the questions how does the new approach
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  at Anabasis? Am I saying that correctly? Yeah,
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  Anabasis. Anabasis, by the way, Ana is a Latin
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  word meaning moving up, move up. And basis is
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  obviously the base. So Anabasis is moving the
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  base up. Okay. See, I learn something new every
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  day. How does the new approach at Anabasis Academy
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  prepare students to build meaningful professional
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  networks from an early stage? First, I've got
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  to explain how the world works now because it's
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  important. Before I can say, hey, this is how
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  it's different. In terms of education, whether
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  it's students at colleges or folks that are going
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  through management training, leadership training,
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  or even motivational stuff, everything that you
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  could see out there. based on a lot of how -tos.
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  That's, I'm going to give you a skill, and I'm
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  going to give you four things, and then you're
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  going to follow these four things, and you're
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  going to get to nirvana, okay? So if you go at
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  school, when we go to school, they give us a
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  lot of stuff to memorize, and then repeat those
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  in circular formats whenever we face those situations.
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  Do these five things, and it's going to work.
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  What that does, it's very good at increasing
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  productivity. Because I'm getting you to do the
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  same thing over and over. But it's not necessarily
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  relevant or conducive to innovation and creativity.
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  Now, we are in a world, if you look at the AI
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  stuff that's happening, look at everything around
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  us, that we're at a transition point. We're at
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  a transition point. And our evolution as human
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  beings is moving towards... creativity and innovation,
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  as opposed to tasks. The tasks, even the programming
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  stuff AI is doing. So the tasks can be done by
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  somebody else. You don't need a how to follow
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  these seven steps and do this. And by the way,
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  they say practical advice to do A, B, or C, or
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  become a trillionaire. Those practical advice
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  are practical for who? Because you and I are
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  different. I'm an introvert, you're an extrovert.
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  I grew up in this place, you grew up in that
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  place. You went to the military, I never did.
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  There's so many different, there are 8 billion
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  people on our planet, no two people are the same.
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  So what does that mean to be practical? It just
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  doesn't make any sense. So the idea is, yes,
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  it's good to learn from others. There's a thousand
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  books out there, a hundred thousand maybe on
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  leadership. No two leaders are the same. No two
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  situations to apply your leadership is the same.
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  So it's how do you look at these skills and become
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  skillful, which is different. It's how do I use
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  my entirety to be able to do that. Now, so Animations
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  Academy is about provoking you. It's not about,
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  it doesn't think that your mind is like a vase
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  or another container. We don't want to put more
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  water in your mind, if you would. We want to
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  be able to ignite a fire because the belief is
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  you have all capabilities in terms of building.
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  We're all built to create better, Michael. We're
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  all built. It's in our DNA. We're not just here
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  to survive. We're here to be better. We all want
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  to do that. The trick is to provoke folks and
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  engage folks. To be able to activate the part,
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  which is about being aware of your decisions,
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  being aware of the surroundings, being aware.
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  Because if you're aware, you make better decisions.
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  Absolutely correct. That goes hand in hand, of
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  course, with the networking, which I'm all about.
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  You have to be aware of your opportunities, have
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  to be aware of the people. As long as you're
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  aware, you can talk with anybody, speak with
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  anybody. Correct. So this is a very good segment
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  or way to connect it to what your focus is, which
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  is the networking. A lot of people want to network
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  to sell something. I have this. I want to give
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  it to you. But let's think this for a minute.
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  Let's think about this for a minute. Do you really
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  sell or do people buy? People love to buy, but
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  they hate to be sold to. Yeah, they love to buy
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  based on their own decisions. So who makes the
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  decision at the end? Not you as a salesman, not
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  you as a founder, not you as... They make the
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  decision. They, for their own reasons. In a networking
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  environment, I'm not there to sell. I'm there
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  to understand the reasons why they would buy,
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  why they would engage. Why is it that how can
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  I satisfy... What they're looking for. How can
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  I provide the value? Because I don't have that
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  decision. They have that decision. Now, it's
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  the same thing about your employees. You know,
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  we think networking is about outside. Networking
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  is creating a network that produces a better
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  result than an individual. A network is an ecosystem
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  that creates collectively a better outcome. So
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  if you apply the same idea, Hey, my employees,
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  they decide if they give me productivity or not.
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  I don't decide how much productivity they give
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  me. I don't decide at 8 o 'clock at night or
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  10 o 'clock at night or 4 o 'clock in the afternoon.
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  They're really thinking about doing something
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  innovative or doing something better. They decide.
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  So if I realize that, then I have created a network
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  that is based on reasons. That drive decisions.
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  The same applies to your investors. The same
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  applies to your partners in business and actually
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  to the community that you thrive in. Does that
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  make sense? It makes perfect sense. It makes
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  perfect sense. Depending on who you are, it depends
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  on what angle you're looking at it from. It's
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  all the same problem. It's all the same outcome.
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  You're just looking at it from a different way.
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  Absolutely. And that's fantastic. I never thought
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  about it that way. Let me go on. People, people,
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  usually this is the thing. If you really listen
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  to what I've been talking about and writing stuff,
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  this is really not rocket science. No, it's not.
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  Life is not rocket science. We make it all this
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  rigmarole in order to have these 17 layers and
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  then charge people to do this. We make it this
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  complicated thing. It's actually pretty simple.
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  No, I coach. I coach many people. And I go and
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  I speak on different stages in different companies.
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  And I tell them all, it's not rocket science.
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  It's all common sense. And really, the 20 -somethings,
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  the 30 -somethings, they've never heard this
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  before. They haven't been taught this. But the
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  older people, the older, the 40s, 50s, or even
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  60s, they say, oh, yeah, I've heard of that.
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  I don't do it, but I've heard of it. But it's
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  all common sense. Okay. So. What role does networking
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  play in entrepreneurship and how can aspiring
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  founders leverage it effectively? So I talk about
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  a few things. An entrepreneur, first of all,
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  we have to build our own entrepreneurial philosophy,
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  each one of us. And by the way, entrepreneurship
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  by actual definition, I'm not making this up.
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  This word was defined in the 1700s. That is over
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  300 years ago. An entrepreneur is someone who
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  has something, who wishes to exchange it with
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  something of higher value, knowing that there
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  is risk. That means you have something. This
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  could be your idea. It could be your talents.
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  It could be you're a basketball player or you're
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  a good musician or you have a product that you
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  build. You have something. And you want to exchange
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  it with something of higher value. you have this
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  you want to give it to somebody else knowing
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  that there is risk you may have this you may
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  not necessarily get what you want to get okay
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  so we with that definition we all have this entrepreneurial
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  ability regardless of where you are the seven
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  seven year old child that you have who wants
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  to get an ice cream they're experiencing their
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  entrepreneurship okay The mother who goes out
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  and works all day and makes $12 an hour and brings
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  that to their kid to go to Disneyland on vacation.
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  And Elon Musk is experiencing the entrepreneur.
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  So let's take that as a no. The question is,
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  how can you experience that entrepreneur? How
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  can you practice it? You can define what you
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  have. You can define what is of higher value
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  to you. But from here to there, there's risk.
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  From here to there. So how do you accomplish
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  this? You cannot accomplish this without an ecosystem.
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  Period. Because people buy stuff from you. People
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  work for you. People give you money and investment.
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  People partner with you. And you live within
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  a society. These are the five pillars of the
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  way. Without these five, you're not practicing
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  entrepreneurship as it's defined in any way possible.
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  Whether it's at home. Or in a business. So an
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  ecosystem, a network is a must -have. Okay? A
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  network is an ecosystem. That's good. I'm going
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  to steal that from you, if you don't mind. No
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  problem. Okay. Let's switch it to AI a little
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  bit. AI is reshaping industries. How can professionals
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  use AI to enhance, not replace, genuine relationship
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  building? This is a very, it's a very obviously
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  topical question of the day because everywhere,
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  yes, there are numerous studies that says that
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  by 2030, we're going to lose in the world somewhere
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  around 800 ,000 or 500 ,000 jobs that are completely
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  going to be gone. And if you think about it,
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  that's about one, about a few percentage point
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  of the total jobs available. So it is a challenge.
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  Now, most of the things that are out there, there's
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  a lot of noise out there. Everybody there tries
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  to, oh, let's do an LLM and a JTPT or whatever.
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  And mostly are focused on productivity. Mostly
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  are focused on productivity. Meaning, here's
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  what I'm doing. Let me do this faster. But remember,
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  if you do things faster, let's say. Just as an
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  example, let's say we have a production system.
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  We make these cups and we make 10 of them an
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  hour. But out of 10, one is faulty. It's broken.
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  Now, if I just do this faster, I would do 100
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  an hour, but I will have more errors. Productivity
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  in terms of replicating what you're doing doesn't
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  necessarily mean that you got better. Now, there's
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  multiple tools now if you want to look at. capturing
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  people to come into your network if you call
• 15:27
  it emailing stuff or but if the content if the
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  way you communicate you don't meet the reasons
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  it doesn't matter how fast you do it it really
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  doesn't matter how fast you do it so it depends
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  on how well you do it correct how so if you're
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  doing it well you could use tools to do it well
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  If you're not doing it well, just getting somebody
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  else's practical one, two, three doesn't make
• 15:56
  you. Like goes back to the old saying of garbage
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  in, garbage out. Yeah. So you put garbage in
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  and you want to make it go faster. That's great.
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  But garbage out. Correct. But here's the thing.
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  Here's the thing, Michael. This is the interesting
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  part. We have so much noise and people trying
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  to sell things to people out there. So much noise
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  of how to do... You get my point about I'm against
• 16:22
  this how -to business. Everybody's trying to
• 16:25
  how -to this, how -to that and charge people
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  for doing the how -to this or how -to that. If
• 16:29
  somebody else is doing it and you just copy it,
• 16:33
  it's not authentic. It's not you. And people
• 16:35
  will see through that. Yes, they will. Because
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  you're not being authentic. You're not being...
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  You're somebody else trying to be doing this.
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  Hey, a copy of a copy is just not as good as
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  the genuine thing. No, it's not. Okay, let me
• 16:52
  go on. From your perspective, what leadership
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  qualities make someone naturally magnetic in
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  networking situations? Listening. Very good.
• 17:07
  Very important. Active listening. Go ahead. Listening.
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  Listening to learn. Not listening to empathize.
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  I want to emphasize that. Because there is a
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  lot of hoopla. Oh, you listen to empathize with
• 17:22
  people. No, I listen to learn. So I improve my
• 17:26
  own decisions. This is a very selfish act. I'm
• 17:29
  not listening to respect others. It does do that.
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  But it's a side effect of things. I am listening
• 17:37
  because they have their own reasons. And if I
• 17:40
  know their reason, I can be a better sales guy.
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  I can deliver better value. I'm listening because
• 17:46
  they are giving me information that makes my
• 17:49
  life better. I can make decisions better. I'm
• 17:53
  not listening to reply. I'm not listening to
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  empathize. I'm listening to learn. You're a problem
• 18:02
  solver. OK, so if someone has a problem, you
• 18:06
  have the solution. You're getting to that. But
• 18:09
  you can't get to that unless you first find out
• 18:11
  what the problem is. So by active listening,
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  you're listening to them. And of course, when
• 18:17
  you respond, sort of what they said to you so
• 18:21
  that they know that you were listening to them.
• 18:24
  It's a whole big thing, but it works. OK. How
• 18:29
  can young professionals or students strategically
• 18:32
  network to open doors in entrepreneurship and
• 18:36
  innovation? Very good question. So this may vary
• 18:43
  from most people's perspective. There's two ways
• 18:46
  of looking at it. I have this product or I have
• 18:52
  this mission. I want to be X, Y, Z. And then
• 18:55
  I begin to find everybody in that environment
• 18:58
  and then send them emails and do this and do
• 19:01
  that and blast them with LinkedIn stuff and whatever
• 19:04
  to create this thing. And I show up at every
• 19:06
  meeting everywhere now. That is like taking a
• 19:11
  shotgun and trying to hit a mosquito. Okay. For
• 19:17
  multiple reasons, it doesn't work because A,
• 19:19
  you can't do that at scale and be genuine. Okay.
• 19:25
  So, yes, it's like having friends on Facebook.
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  I have, I don't know, 15 ,000 people on LinkedIn
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  or 10 ,000 people on Facebook. I do. But how
• 19:37
  many of them are really my friends? If I have
• 19:39
  a problem, who would come to my assistance? Nobody.
• 19:43
  So there is this idea that if I have a broad
• 19:47
  network of people, that would funnel down to
• 19:51
  something. funneling down to something, says,
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  I'm going to go as many as possible. And then,
• 19:57
  okay, I only need two people to make my business
• 20:01
  work. So what happens is you waste a lot of time
• 20:06
  over here. You're not genuine. They understand
• 20:08
  that you're not genuine. And then you may get
• 20:11
  to two people. Now, entrepreneurship is not luck.
• 20:16
  People say entrepreneurship is about risk takers.
• 20:19
  Risk takers are in Las Vegas. entrepreneurs are
• 20:23
  risk navigators. How do you navigate risk? By
• 20:27
  being attentive, network with people, not because
• 20:30
  you want to get something out of them, because
• 20:32
  you want to give something to them. And when
• 20:35
  you do that, and you're genuine about it, those
• 20:39
  build relationships that are rooted in trust.
• 20:43
  And those trust -worthy relationships Or the
• 20:48
  network that's going to prosper. When networking,
• 20:51
  there's really a whole, there's a mantra. If
• 20:56
  they know you, if they like you, if they trust
• 20:57
  you, they'll do business with you. But when you
• 21:00
  go into a networking event or networking with
• 21:04
  a person, you're looking to give, not to receive.
• 21:07
  That's exactly right. You're always looking to
• 21:10
  give because the more you give, the more that
• 21:13
  they will respect you. But also they will turn
• 21:16
  around and want to give you something. But you're
• 21:19
  not going to ask for it. You're going to sit
• 21:21
  there and say, how can I help you? How can I
• 21:24
  make you more successful? Because they make,
• 21:28
  at the end, because they make every decision.
• 21:30
  This is a fundamentally different way of looking
• 21:33
  at business. I don't make decisions. They make
• 21:38
  decisions. Absolutely. They make decisions. So
• 21:42
  I have to understand why they're making that
• 21:45
  decision. Yes, at some point, I have to make
• 21:48
  a decision to get engaged or not to get engaged.
• 21:50
  I do have to do that, right? But it is their
• 21:53
  decision that gives me money, that gives me prosperity,
• 21:58
  that gives me connections, that gives me help.
• 22:00
  It's their decision. It's not my decision. Absolutely.
• 22:06
  Okay, so... Are there common networking mistakes
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  among founders or leaders and how can they avoid
• 22:13
  them? I'm going to go back almost 40 years. There
• 22:20
  was a guy. And he had a beard. We used to call
• 22:25
  him H -Beard. He used to study. I went to USC,
• 22:29
  University of Southern California. And he was
• 22:33
  4 .0 all the way. He was a very smart guy, a
• 22:37
  genius, super genius, whatever you want to call
• 22:39
  it. And he had a beard. That's why we called
• 22:40
  him H -Beard. And I remember in those days there
• 22:43
  were discotheques that people would go to. You
• 22:46
  may remember those days, but a lot of your audience
• 22:49
  may not. I remember discotheques. I'm 63. Yeah.
• 22:54
  So I remember. We used to go there. We were college
• 22:57
  kids, so we would go there. And then one night,
• 23:00
  I noticed this guy came in the door. I was already
• 23:04
  there having a drink, and he came in the door,
• 23:05
  and he went and he started asking girls, would
• 23:09
  you like to dance? And then move on. Would you
• 23:12
  like to dance? And then move on. I said, hey,
• 23:15
  what are you doing? He said, on the average,
• 23:18
  I have done the analysis. I get 22 no's before
• 23:21
  I get to a yes. I like to get the no's out of
• 23:24
  the way. So one big mistake is people go to these
• 23:29
  meetings and they think that I'm a good networker.
• 23:33
  So they go to people, to people, to people. Hello,
• 23:35
  how are you? Okay, thank you very much. Okay,
• 23:36
  let me get a card. Okay, so what did you accomplish?
• 23:39
  Nothing. You have a card and now you're trying
• 23:41
  to email the guy somehow or another and have
• 23:44
  a conversation with him. Okay, you have a conversation
• 23:48
  now. So it's this idea that volume, quantity
• 23:55
  is more important than the quality. I used to
• 24:00
  be in the mortgage industry and I would go to
• 24:03
  networking events. I'd come home with a shoebox
• 24:06
  filled with business cards. I'd say, look how
• 24:09
  good I did. Yeah. It's so completely wrong that
• 24:13
  it's unbelievable. So now when I coach or when
• 24:17
  I do a workshop or anything else, I tell you,
• 24:21
  say, look, if you go to a three or four hour
• 24:23
  event, come home with about 15, maybe 20 business
• 24:26
  cards. And that's because you are creating that
• 24:30
  relationship with them. And you actually have
• 24:34
  something to speak about during your follow up.
• 24:37
  Because your follow -up is so much more important
• 24:39
  than meeting the person. Correct. Correct. So
• 24:43
  here's the thing. And this is the other mistake.
• 24:45
  They talk to people. I've seen this. And people
• 24:47
  come to me. And they immediately, within the
• 24:49
  first 30 seconds, they're trying to sell me something.
• 24:51
  I'm in the business of this. Are you interested
• 24:55
  in this? Not really. Okay. Thank you very much.
• 24:57
  Okay. So first of all, I don't know who the hell
• 25:01
  you are. Secondly, you don't know who I am. So
• 25:04
  why would I need? what you have and for what
• 25:08
  purpose there is no trust there is no relationship
• 25:10
  there's no this is not you're not selling toilet
• 25:13
  papers that i'm going to ralphs and pick it up
• 25:15
  because i've got to go to the restroom so the
• 25:19
  idea of knowing each other is more important
• 25:25
  than selling something there goes the relationship
• 25:30
  part of the equation i've gone from transactional
• 25:35
  to a relationship -based meeting. If you create
• 25:41
  that relationship, then you'll go much further.
• 25:44
  Okay, so how can someone balance tech -driven
• 25:49
  efficiency like AI tools with the human touch
• 25:53
  required for authentic networking? So what I
• 25:59
  always say about AI is don't delegate your imagination
• 26:03
  to AI. Okay? Don't delegate your imagination.
• 26:09
  Meaning, you have a lot of people now. Everything
• 26:11
  they want to do, they go to chat GPT. Some problems
• 26:15
  are that people have committed suicide because
• 26:17
  they go to chat GPT and use it as a psychologist.
• 26:22
  Okay, that's it. Because, so they, some people,
• 26:26
  want the machine to tell them what to do. Okay,
• 26:31
  because we are trained in this. Remember that
• 26:33
  go back to our original, the conversation that
• 26:35
  we started with. It's this educational thing
• 26:38
  that we're used to this, tell me what to do.
• 26:41
  And if I'm good at following orders, I should
• 26:43
  get something at the other end. So this is now
• 26:47
  a machine telling us what to do. Okay, call,
• 26:50
  I'll do this thing. Here's the email, send these
• 26:52
  three emails. Guess what? They gave exactly the
• 26:55
  same, this machine. is giving exactly the same
• 26:59
  advice to about a thousand, if not 10 ,000 other
• 27:04
  people who are asking it about networking. So
• 27:08
  all those people out there are going to get emails
• 27:10
  that looks exactly the same like everybody else.
• 27:13
  So you just lost your edge. Absolutely. Don't
• 27:19
  confuse efficiency with effectiveness. Effectiveness.
• 27:25
  comes from you and who you are and what you bring
• 27:29
  to the table, how trustworthy you are, how you
• 27:32
  listen, how you address problems, how you build
• 27:36
  relationships. That's effectiveness. Efficiency
• 27:40
  is how quickly you do it. Absolutely. And it's
• 27:45
  a choice that people have to make. It's a conscious
• 27:48
  choice. It's a conscious choice, but you have
• 27:51
  to train yourself or themselves. To do it the
• 27:56
  right way, because when I said I went to the
• 27:59
  school of hard knocks, I did everything the wrong
• 28:01
  way because I have to train. I had to train myself
• 28:05
  to do things the right way. And once I train
• 28:09
  myself and doing things the right way, then I
• 28:13
  was successful. I think the key word there that
• 28:17
  I want to emphasize is I have to train myself
• 28:20
  based on who you are. I am a horrible networker,
• 28:25
  I'll be very honest. I'll go into, you put me
• 28:27
  in a room with three people, four people, I'm
• 28:30
  very effective. Because I can build relationships.
• 28:34
  You put me in a room with 200 people, I'm very
• 28:36
  ineffective. You got to know who you are. So
• 28:42
  my objective is when I go there, is to find four
• 28:45
  people. Not 25, not 15. My objective is to find...
• 28:50
  a good conversation because i know i'm horrible
• 28:53
  at getting this thing i'm going to fail at the
• 28:55
  end so my success is can i find a friend i'm
• 29:00
  here for two hours can i find somebody to have
• 29:04
  a good conversation and learn with and trust
• 29:06
  with and i'm looking for how can i help as opposed
• 29:10
  to taking business cards but that's me my point
• 29:14
  is you have to find your authentic approach Yeah,
• 29:18
  that's you, but that is the correct way in order
• 29:22
  to network in today's environment. So by you
• 29:26
  going there and wanting to connect with somebody,
• 29:30
  become friends with somebody, that's building
• 29:32
  your relationship and you get far more ahead
• 29:37
  than that transactional. So it goes a long way.
• 29:43
  In the entrepreneurial world. How do you identify
• 29:48
  the right people to connect with versus just
• 29:51
  collecting contacts? We just went over it. I
• 29:55
  think we just went over it. But the key is, if
• 29:58
  you listen, and is there something I can do for
• 30:02
  somebody? You are a problem solver. Always remember
• 30:07
  that. You are a problem solver. Those are the
• 30:11
  people you have to connect with, not the ones
• 30:13
  that solve your problem. See, this is the thing.
• 30:15
  We look for, hey, I need cash flow, so I need
• 30:18
  somebody to solve it. Let's go find people who
• 30:22
  can give me money. It doesn't work that way.
• 30:25
  No, it doesn't. It doesn't. Okay. What lessons
• 30:28
  from education and leadership training translate
• 30:32
  directly into building a strong professional
• 30:36
  network? So all of us, all of us are leaders.
• 30:44
  We may be bad leaders. We may be ineffective
• 30:49
  leaders. But we all lead something. We all lead
• 30:53
  our own life in some way. We may lead a team.
• 30:56
  We may lead in the right environments that we
• 30:58
  create and we choose and we feel confident we
• 31:01
  lead. It's part of life. Now, we may not have
• 31:06
  the confidence to lead properly because we think,
• 31:09
  I don't know enough as much as Michael, so he's
• 31:12
  a better leader than I am. Maybe. In some situations,
• 31:15
  he's a better leader than you are. Now, I use
• 31:18
  the example of these, the Eskimo have used these
• 31:21
  dogs, the slate dogs or whatever they call them.
• 31:25
  Sure. Yeah. So there's usually 10 or 12 or 16
• 31:29
  of them. Now, here's the thing. They each have
• 31:32
  a role. And by the way, in different terrains,
• 31:35
  they move the guy who's in the dog that's in
• 31:38
  the end and that guy leaves. And they bring him
• 31:41
  forward because he knows how to lead in a situation.
• 31:44
  And then they switch him around and some lead
• 31:47
  in a different way. So the lead dog, which is
• 31:51
  a term people use a lot, the lead dog doesn't
• 31:55
  have to be the lead dog all the time. You lead
• 31:59
  based on situations. Now, that comes from your
• 32:03
  confidence. That comes from your, it does come
• 32:06
  from your education. It does come from skills,
• 32:08
  but. Every situation requires a different kind
• 32:11
  of a leadership. You're in a war. That's a different
• 32:16
  kind of leadership. Then you're leading a five
• 32:19
  -year -old, you're a coach or a leader in a five
• 32:21
  -year -old soccer game. It's a different leadership.
• 32:25
  You're a mom and you're leading the efforts at
• 32:28
  home of who gets up at what time and who gets
• 32:30
  the stuff and who goes to school at what time
• 32:33
  or who does the homework. It's a different thing.
• 32:35
  You lead Microsoft or you lead a donut shop.
• 32:38
  You lead them at different levels, at different
• 32:40
  areas. So connecting that to your networking
• 32:44
  thing. In every situation, every conversation,
• 32:48
  we're either leading or following or both. Being
• 32:53
  able to realize how to lead or follow, like this
• 32:59
  late doc, how to lead or follow in that conversation
• 33:03
  makes you a better network. Okay. Okay, let's
• 33:08
  bring this podcast full circle. If you could
• 33:13
  give one actionable networking strategy to anyone
• 33:17
  looking to accelerate their career or business
• 33:20
  growth, what would it be? One tangible, actionable.
• 33:25
  So I would avoid to go out there and obvious,
• 33:29
  those are obvious things. What I would say would
• 33:32
  be tangible. is the practicing before you network.
• 33:38
  So let me explain what I mean. Think that you're
• 33:42
  networking with your mom's friends or with your
• 33:46
  uncle's friends or with your cousins or with
• 33:49
  the person who's at the grocery store. Practice
• 33:53
  listening. That's a safe place. You're not selling
• 33:59
  anything. Learn how to listen. Learn how to appreciate
• 34:04
  who people are and create a conversation. Do
• 34:07
  it in a safe place. And when you get that ability
• 34:11
  to connect with people in a genuine way, in your
• 34:15
  own way, then you have the skills. And there
• 34:19
  are thousands of books and capabilities and experts
• 34:22
  like yourself in terms of how to get bigger networks
• 34:25
  and whatever. Then you have the skill set or
• 34:29
  the skillfulness. to be able to apply. That would
• 34:34
  be my advice. That was great. That was absolutely
• 34:37
  great. There's so much more that I want to ask
• 34:40
  you or talk about, but time won't let us. So
• 34:43
  if somebody wanted to get hold of you for whatever
• 34:46
  the reason, what's the best way for them to get
• 34:49
  hold of you? My email is Sid at Mahasib .com,
• 34:53
  which is, you see it on the screens at Mahasib,
• 34:56
  my first name at mylastname .com. I also want
• 35:00
  Michael to mention the Anavases Academy, where
• 35:04
  you started, where we started, which is where
• 35:06
  we provoke and engage. We have a lot of stuff
• 35:11
  and the membership could be, is $1 forever. And
• 35:17
  then the next level is something that... people
• 35:19
  have paid forward and sponsored folks. Because
• 35:22
  I believe that if I'm provoked and if I can put
• 35:27
  my own authentic self together, if I practice
• 35:29
  my entrepreneurship in the way I defined it,
• 35:32
  of realizing what I have and exchanging it for
• 35:35
  something better, we will live in a much better
• 35:38
  world. So I'd like to invite everybody and they
• 35:42
  can go there, anabasesacademy .org. They can
• 35:46
  listen to our wake -up calls. They could become
• 35:48
  a member. They can apply to be sponsored by clicking
• 35:51
  on sponsor me and somebody would pay for them.
• 35:54
  So let's get engaged. Let's provoke each other.
• 35:57
  And we say this is a learning platform. We learn
• 36:00
  from each other. I don't know. I don't have all
• 36:02
  the answers. I do not have. We at the Academy
• 36:05
  do not have a one, two, three solution for you.
• 36:09
  I'm not going to give you something that's going
• 36:11
  to make you a trillionaire tomorrow. But we'll
• 36:15
  together learn how to evolve and how to be better
• 36:19
  in our own authentic way. So that's a sustainable
• 36:23
  growth. It sounds fabulous. Sid, I can't begin
• 36:27
  to tell you how much I appreciate everything
• 36:30
  you've told me, taught me. And I hope to speak
• 36:33
  with you again soon. God bless. It was a pleasure.
• 36:37
  God bless you and all of your audience. Well,
• 36:43
  hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere. Let's hear
• 36:47
  from our sponsors. David Neal, co -founder Revved
• 36:51
  Up Kids. Revved Up Kids is on a mission to protect
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  children and teens from sexual abuse, exploitation,
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  and trafficking. They provide prevention training
• 37:01
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  Century 21. When it comes to making the biggest
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  financial decision of your life, leave it in
• 37:16
  the hands of a proven professional, Henry Kaplan.
• 37:19
  Henry is a global real estate agent with Century
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  21, celebrating his 41st year in business. No
• 37:27
  matter where you're moving, Henry has the right
• 37:29
  connections for you. You can contact Henry at
• 37:33
  561 -427 -4888. A huge thank you to our guests
• 37:39
  for sharing such... insights today. And of course,
• 37:43
  a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners,
• 37:46
  for tuning in and spending your time with us.
• 37:49
  If you're interested in my digital courses, being
• 37:52
  coached or having me come and talk to your company,
• 37:55
  just go to Michael and fill out the request form.
• 37:59
  Remember, networking isn't about being perfect.
• 38:03
  It's about being present. So take what you've
• 38:06
  learned today, get out there and make some meaningful
• 38:09
  connections. If you've enjoyed this episode,
• 38:12
  please don't forget to subscribe. Leave us a
• 38:15
  review and share it with someone who could use
• 38:17
  a little networking inspiration. Let's keep the
• 38:21
  conversation going. You can find me on Apple,
• 38:24
  Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, or my website, foreman
• 38:29
  .com slash podcasts.