MPD

Last month, I wrote about attending a Churchill Club seminar on startups. I recently discovered that Guy Kawasaki, the moderator of the event, has a blog (he even has a video of the Churchill Club seminar). I found Guy a very easy person to listen to, and reading what he has to say has only reaffirmed my opinion of him as a thoughtful, articulate person. For this reason, I was particularly interested to learn he has to say about networking in his post “The Art of Schmoozing.”

Guy’s number one rule of schmoozing is that you have to realize the goal is to determine what you can do for other people, not what they can do for you. Cast in this light, schmoozing isn’t so bad. Unfortunately, as far as it applies to me, I’m not sure what I can offer most people in a networking situation; I’m still a student, so I don’t have a lot of experience or connections. This is something I may need to think about for a while, and hopefully the trick will just be becoming aware of opportunities to help people out.

The next few rules from Guy remind me very much of the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. For me, the essence of this advice comes down to Dale’s suggestion to “become genuinely interested in other people.” For example, Guy advises asking open-ended questions as the trick to becoming a good conversationalist. I like this advice, but personally I try to take it one step further by remembering the underlying idea. Don’t just ask questions to begin a conversation, listen carefully to other people, then make sure to ask questions that show you have heard what they said and have thought about it. I’ve been working on this in interviews, and though it may sometimes feel like you’re playing dumb by questioning everything, everyone appreciates having someone listen to them and take them seriously.

Finally, Guy offers two more pieces of advice that I found worth mentioning. One is just a reinforcement of something we’ve all heard before: follow up. This allows you to take the step from having an interesting conversation with someone and turn it into a real relationship. I know this is one piece of advice that I will need to remember next week after the career fair.

Last, Guy suggests that after you have done a favor for someone, you ask for the return of the favor. I had never heard this advice before, so it’s worth thinking about for a little while. Guy’s reasoning is that it’s better to be on equal footing because “keeping someone indebted to you puts undue pressure on your relationship.” Another reason to continue exchanging favors is that it continues your relationship with the person you have just met.

All in all, an interesting column from an interesting guy. I’d suggest reading it to anyone who, like me, is trying to become more outgoing or needs to prepare for a networking event like a career fair.