Your Network's Beacon of Inspiration

Hi there, happy Thursday!

Welcome to issue #5 of the Network Wrangler. Here’s how we’re traversing today’s issue on Groundhog Day’s Eve:

1. MANAGE: Thoughts on managing your existing network

2. GROW: Insights on growing your network

3. INSPIRE: A business idea that leverages networks

4. SCROLL: Quick links to items related to networking

Enjoying the newsletters? I’d love it if you’d forward it into your network.

MANAGE: The Critical Role of Motivator

Here in the United States, we celebrate the tradition of Groundhog Day tomorrow. Our celebration centers on a quaint superstition passed to us by Germans of a particular persuasion who use a badger to forecast the winter weather outlook.

The superstition holds that if the furry creature emerges from its den and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of miserable winter. If there’s no shadow, an early Spring is coming!

Regardless, the Spring Equinox is roughly six weeks after the day we look for sun on the Groundhog’s back, so the rodent's forecasting abilities are irrelevant.

Until they aren’t.

Growing up, I looked forward to the outcome of Punxsutawney Phil’s shadow-seeking, and I always hoped for a cloudy day. I got so excited at the prospect of an early Spring that it turbo-charged my planning for accomplishing things in the longer days ahead. I was eager to enjoy the coming days with copious sunshine, warmth, and the newness of the verdant season.

The groundhog’s forecast motivated me right out of my winter blues.

So, where do you get your motivation to push yourself or inspire you to do more?

While a groundhog may not be for you, do you have someone in your network of close connections who plays the Motivator role for you?

A Motivator constantly challenges you to strive for your full potential and, more importantly, refuses to let you settle for mediocrity. When you’re feeling the doldrums or are just tired from the daily grind, your Motivator is the one who knows how to fuel your inner fire.

This person could be a coach, close friend, or speaker whose message resonates deeply with you.

Your Motivator is a beacon of inspiration, reminding you of your capabilities and pushing you to achieve more.

So, who is your Motivator?

If you can’t name that person by the end of this sentence, you have a hole in your inner circle that you should fill immediately.

Start looking for that someone who aligns with what you’re trying to do and cheers you on. Find that someone who “gets” you and won’t let you compromise. Reach out to them and tell them how much you appreciate they’re a Motivator for you and what it means to you.

Chances are, they’ll be flattered to know they have that effect on you, and they’ll redouble their efforts to help you be all you can be: to think bigger, dream larger and take risks.

That’s what good Motivators do, and everyone needs a Motivator in their Inner Circle.

So, who’s your Motivator? Share this newsletter with them as a way of letting them know they star in that role for you.

If you’re still trying to find a Motivator, well, you can borrow a groundhog for a day to tide you over.

(I still scan the Groundhog Day results to relive my childhood giddiness. I’m hoping for no shadow tomorrow.)

GROW: Seek Someone Two Steps Ahead

I can’t stress enough the importance of our Inner Circle: those close connections that have an outsized impact on our success.

It’s imperative to know who’s in your Inner Circle and what each of these people brings to your life. It’s also critical to know when you need to mix up the roster of folks as you pursue new challenges.

But where will these new Inner Circle candidates come from?

The answer, of course, is from your wider network of close-in ties, weak ties, or connections you have yet to make.

This brings us to today’s growth hack: making connections with someone more experienced.

With very few exceptions, there’s always someone more experienced than us in every aspect of life (personal, professional, creative, athletic, parenting, etc).

For this week’s growth hack, your task is to decide what aspect of your life you prioritize supporting with new connections in your network.

Once you’ve decided where you want to focus your improving, use your network to find someone who’s just a couple of steps ahead of you on that path.

You want someone a couple of steps ahead of you for two reasons:

1. They’re more likely to be able to put themselves in your shoes for targeted advice and guidance (not long ago, they were where you are now), and

2. They’re in a place within reach via a burst of short-term focus and energy on your part. It may be a stretch for you, but it’s do-able.

You can find someone at least one step ahead of your journey by writing a description of them and sharing it with your existing network.

• Weak description: “I’m looking to connect with someone who’s built consumer funnels.”

• Stronger description: “I’m looking for someone who’s successfully created sales funnels to convert project-based work into retainer engagements in a consulting industry.”

The more precise your description, the quicker you’ll find that someone.

It’s easier for a precise request to traverse your network than a vague one because the burden of the search (do I know someone like this?) is lower and easier to pass along to someone else if the answer is, “no.”

Once you’ve been introduced, reach out to the person to share what they’ve done that resonates with you, and tie it back to your work, your philosophy, or your goals.

Introduce yourself not as a fan but as an equal (because you are; you’re just at different points on your paths) and say something thought-provoking they can relate to.

Like this: “The way you created that funnel for converting B2B leads from project work to retainers was helpful at my last job, but I’m transitioning into a more consumer-focused job. Would you change your funnel approach if you were me?”

Remember that you admire the person because you respect their accomplishments and thought leadership. By sparking an interesting conversation, you can give them a chance to admire you as well.

Of course, follow up with them to start strengthening the connection into something you might find Inner Circle-worthy someday.

INSPIRE: The Idea Recombobulator^TM

This week, I chatted with a poet about what motivates her to write and where she gets her inspiration. Being in her presence was magical, and I got a sense of the creative power just beneath the surface.

There was something about the way she measured the time between question and response with a half-smile and glance up and to the right that let me know there was some deep thinking and profound wisdom being tapped into.

However, she shared a practice with me, around sharing her in-process poetry in a safe and trusted space, that inspires this week’s network-based business idea: The Idea Recombobulator^TM (the trademark is in jest, of course, as I made up the name to be the opposite of discombobulated: confused/disconcerted).

My poet gushed about these poet retreats she goes on where there’s an intimate gathering of highly creative people from different disciplines (fiction, poetry, painting, sculpting, and music) who spend a long weekend offering up their work to each other to react to, tear apart, piece back together and/or recombine to make something new. She loves the outcome of bringing her work into the creative crowd, turning it into something new and wonderful because of the exposure. And she loves even more that no matter how painful the process of seeing her work’s metamorphosis into something new, it’s done with love and respect.

So, the core concept of the Idea Recombobulator is to provide an online service where someone is able to share an idea and have people of completely different and differentiated backgrounds weigh in on the idea and offer their own take on how to make it real.

This concept builds on the thinking that having multiple inputs from different backgrounds makes an idea stronger. (For more on this, see Scott E Page’s book The Difference, How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies).

The network piece of this is bringing in people of different backgrounds to weigh in on the idea in a respectful way. This differs from the way that current message boards and social platforms are configured, where trolls and anonymous negativity reign.

The platform would solicit experts from various fields to be able to share their bona fides in a profile, and then they’d be selected by the client who wants to put their idea through the wringer.

The client decides what expertise is invited to weigh in and submits their idea for review.

Each expert reviews the idea, gives their feedback, and is compensated for doing so. The platform then returns the recombobulated idea to the original submitter, and the client is off to the races to apply the new thinking in whatever way they see fit.

Where is money flowing?

The person wanting to recombobulate their idea pays a fee for the service. The experts submit to a vetting process (for a fee).

Of course, the experts who are selected for recombobulating are given a fee for their participation.

And on the platform, the data from tracking the original idea turned into recombobulated idea can be captured as intellectual property for understanding the creative process.

At the very least, I realize I need to spend more time with poets. I highly recommend you do, too.

SCROLL: This Week’s Quick Hits

• The legendary car salesman Joe Girard was considered one of the best in history. His secret? Building relationships by genuinely liking people and telling them. Selling: The Crucial Skill Nobody Taught You (FS blog)

• Fully 60% of companies who offer etiquette classes say they will require etiquette classes for all employees. These classes teach employees how to network, engage in business deals and generally be more effective in face-to-face situations. (VIDEO by The Young Turks)

• Seven questions can clarify what really matters to you. (HBR)

That’s all for this week. See you next Thursday!

— Thomas

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