legal sanity

The FC Experts Blog recently featured a three-part interview with Mike Dulworth (part two and part three), the author of a new networking book called The Connect Effect: Building Strong Personal, Professional, And Virtual Networks.

Dulworth, the head of a professional networking business, defines The Connect Effect as “the positive outcome derived from having a strong, vibrant, diverse network.” He also describes a complementary concept of entering The Network Zone. Like an elite athlete who achieves flow during a game or competition, business people enter the network zone when their “network is so broad and deep that almost anything can be accomplished more efficiently and effectively through” it.

According to Dulworth, we can cultivate this kind of peak networking performance by assessing our NQ (yup, that stands for Networking Quotient). Like our EQ (emotional intelligence) and MQ (moral intelligence), our networking intelligence isn’t fixed. We can raise it. The first step is to honestly appraise the “scope and strength” of our network and our networking activities. Beyond this candid assessment, Dulworth says, the key “is to find a way to build and maintain your network that is comfortable for you.”

I’ve addressed the importance of charting our own networking paths in posts like this one on re-connecting with your business network and this one discussing how to grow an organic business network . My friend Curt Rosengren adds to this point – and does us a major favor -- by publishing this extensive compilation of articles on networking for shy people.

For more insight into the art and science of building strong business connections, you can take a look at lawyer/marketing consultant Cole Silver’s new Expert Audio Series. I’m one of the contributors, along with a host of other legal bloggers, including:

Stephanie West Allen
Larry Bodine
Carolyn Elefant
Jim Hassett
Daniel Hull
Dennis Kennedy
Patrick Lamb
Susan Cartier Liebel
Ed Poll
Gerry Riskin