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On Relationship

Build relationships, network they tell you. (Business context all through)

If  you have a great relationship you can absorb a lot of shocks.

Sounds good, but it sounds a bit like the event manager who thinks he can get away with crappy work because he knows the guy who controls the purse strings. While this is true and people did work like this once upon a time, it is a process that is not sustainable.

Here comes the training guy asking the same questions again and again. Here comes the training guy asking for a meeting again. You see where this is going.

Relationships are a by-product.

Read that again. Relationship is not a hi-bye relationship, but something that is a result of visceral engagement and solving a business problem. If you solved a business problem, you have a relationship.

It is like buying a product. Each time you bought the product, the product delivered. You wont buy a product that does not deliver.

Ditto for relationships.

Focus on work, relationships will follow.

I dont do relationship management, I often say, I work. If I am not having a relationship with someone, it just means, we are not doing any work for them as a team.

Just got off a conversation where a sales guy taught me how his industry was changing - and couldnt help relate to this story from my own experience.

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