Who you know is important, and what they know is even more so!

It is no longer enough to be the most connected person in your field. The data deluge and information overload we all experience has increased the demand for quality. Once upon a time we networked with a volume intent. This involved getting as many business cards as you could from the room. Now it's as many friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter you can get. The aim was to get as many business cards as you could so you could flog them stuff and hassle them after. I have no idea what the future of Facebook or Twitter is, or even what's around the corner. What I do know is this… a quality network is more valuable than a large one over the long term.

The Thought Leaders Directory 2011, is this week's gift, and will give you an introduction to some of the Thought Leaders in the community.

When I created Thought Leaders in 2001, it was driven by a double need. Firstly, the need to improve the quality of my thinking and secondly, to improve the quality of my connections. Henry Ford said that you should surround yourself with people smarter than you and get out of their way. This has certainly been my experience. Indeed the quality of my network is directly proportional to my personal growth. Better thinking leads to better conversations. From there, anything is possible.

Here are some ideas for building a quality network...

• Meet with people live
• Present at gatherings
• Handwrite notes
• Care a bit about their world
• Grow and learn
• Meet and share
• Discuss ideas not people
• Be your best value in the relationship
• Stay in touch

Quality networking is about who you're talking to and more importantly, what you are talking about. Network with intent. Hang out with smart people. Add enormous value to the conversation and their world. It's not just who you know that‘s important anymore, it's also what they know. It's the convergence of networks and knowledge that matter now.

M@

Matt Church

What you know and who you know

Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones (US motivational Speaker), once famously said; ‘the key difference between who you are today and who you will be tomorrow are the books you read and the people you meet.'

In the mentor discussion group on Thought Leaders Central recently, the fabulous Michael Henderson (Corporate Anthropologist) shared that he believes we need to see Thought Leaders as both a curriculum and a community.

Our learning curriculum at Thought Leaders is about commercial savvy, in the Million Dollar Expert Program this is very overtly commercial.

So you have to focus on making money (our curriculum) but also hold a focus on relationships (our communities). My father always said (and I believe this is a mindset to challenge), 'don't mix money and friendship'. For me, the kind of people I work with should be the kind of people I like. The alternative is what, 'to work with people you would not be friends with?' Following my dads advice about mixing friendship and money would have me miserable in my work.

My dad was right in a manufacturing widgets sense, but with Thought Leadership, your friends should get your best advice first! I have learned also the hard way, that discounting this (especially to nil) affects the way they receive the advice. It is very much a case of if you get something for free, you don’t commit to getting the full value from it.

Here are some thoughts I have around commerce and community or doing business with friends...

1. If I give things away to people I like, they don't get the value of committing.
2. At some point change the nature of the relationship from overtly commercial to declared intimacy. I stop charging those who become deep friends.
3. If in doubt sell through, not to.

My secret to personal exertion business...

Do business with people you like, talking about things you like, in a way you like. That way going to work is never a chore.

M@