Anton84 wrote:
Have done business school, while doing tri (IM and 70.3). Graduated with honors and have a decent job.
I feel that I did miss out on a lot of networking events, so in retrospect I would scale waaay back on training (like run 3X week for 45 min and that's it) and focus more on getting to know your classmates. These connections will last you a lifetime.
Networking can easily turn into a massive BS useless time sink.
Networking is a sales process, except the currency you are measuring in is slightly different, but that's it.
It's not how much time you spend doing sales prospecting, its having a high impact funnel and having really high quality stuff fall out of the funnel and hitting your revenue targets. People network and do sales in completely stupid ways spending way too much time on useless connections/prospects.
Most of you guys have to treat your time like you money and not give it out and spend it on entirely useless things. The bulk of networking is useless (and I've done Semiconductor strategic marketing-product marketing-biz dev-alliance programs for 20ish years). Networks don't last a lifetime no matter what some of you guys think. A network is only as good as how well you nurture it and keep it organic and alive with high impact contacts that can positively influence your path to success (or not in your company).
The bulk of people in your network are not today nor will ever be your friend. They are in your network because you can make them successful in their organization and you have them in your network because they can make you useful in yours. Some high impact ones, you "pay forward" and invest in, because they have the human qualities to be helpful to you in some future capacity. These are the the high impact network contacts that you keep alive like leaves at the end of your tree's branches.
But just randomly wasting time with low impact stupid people is EXACTLY what most people get sucked into and then they wonder why they missed 7x1 hour of training this week. Well they wasted 7 hours with idiots instead of spending 7 hours at the pool, the track or on the bike. At the end of the week, they have no further impact in their network than having spent those 7 hours training. The trap people fall into is treating networking like a party/popularity thing. Networking is all about connections-follow ups and driving mutually successful outcomes. Follow ups are the key. Constant follow up and being in the face of the key people in the network, and not when you need them but when they need you as a path to when you need them because you know you will need the high impact ones at some point, so you are building towards that.
Guys who don't have time wasting it on useless networking are basically stupid business school idiots not looking at the ROI of their own time while studying ROI and NPV's in finance class......sheeeesh people they teach you all this shit in biz school and then you don't even apply proper business strategy to your own personal brand/company and then you wonder why you can't train? WTF are most of you learning in biz school if you don't treat your own self as the ultimate business that you need to manage?
Sorry for the rant....replying in general to this thread. Pubes can take this rant up from here. I tried to do my best impersonation....he's right though, biz school is not that tough and it actually does not take that much time if you are properly organized and use proper priority management (I say this as a squander time on ST on a Friday nite)