Professional Geekery

Why We’re Bad At Networking: Too Much Talk of Networking

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Sometimes these posts come out of nowhere.  And they launch series.

I was discussing social capital on Twitter, as best one can at 140 characters a post while taking a walk, and one thing led to another.  Someone brought up why networking wasn’t preached enough (which is the subject of this post) and I realized it’s time to discuss why we’re bad at networking in the first place.

True it may not be “us we” that’s bad, but an amazing amount of people kind of are bad at it.  Worse there’s no excuse for it as we have the tools, technology, information, and we’re naturally social creatures.  If someone can use Facebook to declare their love of beer pong, they can network (as long as they remember to take down the beer pong stuff, seriously people).

So why is it some of us are just so bad at it?  Especially as so many people talk about it?

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Promoting Professional Geekery #50 – Get Others To Follow Your Lead

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(For more Promoting Professional Geekery, see this Roundup of past columns.)

And we come to the end of the series.  Yes, my challenge was to see if I could come up with as many ways possible to promote professional geekery.  What’s terrifying is that I’m ending it at 50.  I have more, but those will come in the future.

And this one of the final things you can do to promote professional geekery, the love of turning meekness into a career.  That is . . .

. . . get other to get involved.

You’re connecting with all sorts of progeeks, all sorts of people like you (if not as good looking and charming).  All of them have stories, all of them have tales, just like you.

Some of them, probably most of them, have experience and information to share that differf from yours, perhaps radically.  Each of them can make a unique contribution different from you.  You just need to prod them.

So get them to do all the things in this list.  Get them to work cons or write books or whatever.  Spread the word – and show them how easy it is with the examples from your own life!

Give them the list from this series for that matter.  There has to be something in there they can and want to do.

Done right this spreads the word even more.  They support progeeks.  They tell others the idea . . .

So there you go.  50 different ideas.  Start today and find a way to promote professional geekery!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

 

Promoting Professional Geekery #49 – Be A Role Model

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(For more Promoting Professional Geekery, see this Roundup of past columns.)

It’s time to share your progeeky successes with people.  You need to tell people how you made it

Why would you do this, beyond sharing your own awesomeness?  That’s simple:

  1. You’ll be a role model, which I’ve noted is very important.  When people see someone and know they’re successful, they find it easier to emulate them.
  2. You’ll be inspirational.  People need to see being a professional geek can work.
  3. You’ll be educational.  If you can give detailed descriptions of what you did right and how you did it, people can learn.
  4. You’ll be a reminder that success is possible.  Believe me, people need that.

What format? So what’s the best way to do it?  That kind of depends on what’s best for you.  Among these columns I’ve suggested the value of blogs, books, guides, etc.  The best thing I’ve found is to:

  1. Pick a format that makes it work.  What method works best to share your success stories?
  2. Pick a format that works for you.  After all some methods just aren’t for you.
  3. Pick a format that reaches people.  This is one reason I like blogs is they’re around for a long time if you pay your server bills.

How should I do it?  This is actually simple – make sure you share your success story in ways that people can actually follow in your footsteps and apply your lessons.  This means:

  1. List how you did it, what you did, what you did wrong, and what you did right.  Let them see your path so they can duplicate it.
  2. Always, always include cause-and-effect when possible so people see how (and what) results should follow.
  3. Include resources you used so people no what to use.
  4. Include “Takeaways” and “To dos” to inspire people to action.

What about my ego?  If you’re worried you look like an egomaniac, then make sure your work keeps the audience in mind first.  Ask how you help them, what you can do for them, how this can pay off for them. It puts them in he foreground, your ego in the background, and you can stop worrying.

I’m sure you’ve got plenty of successes to share.  Get to it!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/