Channeling Your Inner Networking Spirit

OK, now using your answers to those two questions, check out this matrix and find your networking spirit animal.

Are you the potted plant? This is the person who stands around, hovers, and clings to the hors d’oeuvres table, hoping someone will come along and sweep him into interesting conversation, or, worse, hoping they won’t.

Are you the donkey? This is the guy who trounces on everyone else, rolls into a group conversation and throws down his elevator pitch, thinking he’s come off as savvy and poised, but really coming off as, well, you know the other word for donkey…

Are you the mosquito? This is the person who keeps trying to inject meaningful points into the conversation but somehow fails to go with the flow and connect with others. He’s trying hard to impress people, but can’t manage to make more than a dull irritating buzz.

Or are you the panda? Does everyone love you and are you the life of the party? (Why do we like pandas so much, by the way? It’s hard to say, we just do!!) That’s how people react to you when you have true charisma.

Charisma is a function of genuine presence. If you are there to listen, to learn, and to make genuine connections with everyone you meet, you will naturally shine, and in the process – far more importantly–take the first important step in building real relationships rather than simply collecting a stack of lifeless business cards and black hole LinkedIn contacts. OK, so even if I am oversimplifying things and even if you don’t agree with your spirit animal, surely you can identify each of these distinct personalities. Whether you have been there yourself, or just observed others exhibiting these behaviors, you know what I am talking about.

I myself have been in each of these quadrants countless times myself.

I am a natural introvert, so for a long time, I erred toward potted plantness. I couldn’t stand small talk and couldn’t find a better way to avoid it than to camp out by the mushroom caps.

Then for a while I tried the donkey approach. That was, unfortunately, mostly in my b-school days and mostly because I – like you may soon do – felt all the pressure b-school creates to get that job, sell yourself, impress!! It’s not wrong to want to impress people, it just so happens that trying to impress them will make the exact opposite impression you want.

And then although (despite my preference for introversion) I have never been terribly shy about talking about myself, I still had moments of mosquitoness. That happened because I wasn’t confident in my ability to navigate a conversation – to impress by listening, asking great questions, and seeking to understand others. So I would instead pretend to be listening while others talked, and then interject with whatever I wanted to say as soon as someone stopped talking. Frequently those interjections would go over like a fart in church.

If your primary objective at a networking event is to find important people and impress them, you’re inherently approaching networking transactionally. Get in, look good, get the card, peace out. It’s a deal, not a foundation for a real friendship.

If you’re not confident talking about yourself to strangers, listening, and engaging in dynamic conversation, you will at some point feel uncomfortable. When you’re uncomfortable, you’re operating in survival mode, and it’s hard to project confidence or make genuine connections from there.

What you want is to be the panda every time: to make the most of your MBA network to meet exciting and interesting people and turn them into professional friends. You want to build relationships that matter, help you throughout your career, and make your work life more fun. Your long term success depends on being great at relationships. If you are entering an MBA program, now is the absolute best time to get it right.

So here you go. Here are the keys. It’s my e-book: Essential Networking Strategies for MBAs, and it’s based on my two decade career in professional communication training coupled with a heap ton of personal experience (read: failure). It will give you the ability to be the panda every time while having much more fun in the process.

IT’S FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME TO POETS&QUANTS READERS, SO GRAB IT NOW.

I hope you will also join me in New York for the Inaugural Poets&Quants Pre-MBA Networking Festival. Some of your favorite companies will be there, and this is a phenomenal chance for you to start building real friendships with those firms. Even if you don’t want to work for BCG or Goldman, et al., the seeds you plant today will grow into shady trees the further you advance in your career. Shady trees, not potted plants.

COME TO POETS&QUANTS’ PRE-MBA NETWORKING FESTIVAL IN NYC ON MAY 6TH

+ Not a conference! It’s an experience.

+ Build connections with world class employers.

+ Gain special attention from executives and partners at the leading MBA hirers.

+ Have your choice of where to go. Choose a track in such fields as consulting, finance, or startups or zigzag across industries to meet McKinsey at one time, Goldman Sachs at another, Amazon at still another time, and Pepsico before the end of the day.

+ Experience the festival with your fellow MBA admits to your school and other leading MBA programs

BEST OF ALL: IT’S HALF PRICE UNTIL MONDAY AT 6 P.M. PST