In honor of last Friday’s Stand Against Racism day, (a national movement sponsored by the YWCA), this week’s networking tip is about diversification.
Just like with your financial investments, your people investments will grow more and withstand future change if you vary the mix.
You will benefit more from building and maintaining relationships with people who are different from you in terms of profession, age, race, gender, religious and political beliefs, etc.
If your current business network was a fruit salad, you’d want as many different kinds of exotic and ordinary fruits present. A bowl full of apples can be pretty boring (and nutritionally one-dimensional) if you ask me.
Start by taking stock of who is in your current network. Do you only hang out with people in your same professional? (e.g., the CPA club or the holistic healers?) Do you network only with people in your same gender (e.g., women helping women only). Does your network look like the white privilege society or the senior citizen’s center? How many people from different generations than you are connected to you? Of it just your aging friends? Perhaps it’s time to learn to network across generations.
If you find that your network is too homogeneous (defined as of the same or a similar kind or nature) then it’s time to add some diversity to your contact base. Mix and match. Blend. Add more texture to your sphere of influence. Network with people who are different than you.
Not yet convinced? Are you wondering What’s in it for me? Here’s just a few things you have to gain by implementing this networking tip on diversity: new perspective, new ideas, new networks to tap into, global peace, racial justice, personal growth and development, new friendships, greater youth and wisdom, and potentially more business and career opportunities for yourself and others!
Your networking GOAL for this week:
Reach out to three (3) people this week who are distinctly different from you in terms of age, race, gender and/or profession/occupation. Make an effort to establish common ground with them and find ways in which you can help each other solve problems and/or achieve goals. Be curious. Ask questions. Make no assumptions. And always be respectful. You have something to learn from this other person and vice versa.
- Let me know what results you get from implementing this networking tip – NetworkingAhead.com/facebook
