Networking Bulldozers

There are a certain number of people who possess the requisite social skills for almost every area of their lives. They have a happy family life, work well with their employees and colleagues, and have a full social circle. They may even contribute to a good cause.

There is, however, one area of their working life where all these social skills go out of the window and they become single minded bores with the single intention of having their own needs met and nobody else’s.

Yes, you guessed it: networking.

We can even give these creatures a name: networking bulldozers (NBs). Crushing everything in their path, the immediate sale is the name of the game for them, and they don’t care who they bore or irritate in the process.

If you suspect someone you know – or heaven forbid, you – might be a NB, here are some questions to determine if they are behaving themselves:

#1 Do they start a conversation with a statement about themselves?

#2 Are they able to remember (without looking at their business card) the name of the person they just finished speaking to?

#3 Did they even take the card of the person they were speaking to?

#4 Do they ever make small talk?

#5 Do they consider networking to be a valuable marketing method? This question is the clincher. Anyone who thinks it’s a waste of time is working directly against the spirit of giving and building relationships that characterises any effective networking group. They won’t stick around for long.