It
Has Not Been Too Long
It has not been too
long to
reconnect with people with whom you've lost contact. One of the biggest
mistakes we all make is assuming that there are only two types of
relationships: current and dead. That's not so, and Mark's recent
experience with Google Voice proves it.
Mark recently started
using
Google Voice. He got a new phone number to help him with call volume.
Wendii can access his voicemail more easily and Mark gets an email and
a text with a transcript of any voicemails within 30 seconds. We
notified several hundred friends and associates of the new number. Of
course, we got fifty plus email returns indicating that, like you, Mark
hasn't updated his contacts as frequently as he would like. (Maybe
there are only two types of relationships. ;-) )
The real surprise was
the number
of friends and associates with whom he hadn't been in touch in the last
1, 2, 3 years who were thrilled to hear from him.
Take the example of
John
Hoffman. John was Mark's first roommate at West Point in 1978. He is a
lifelong friend. He was Mark's first corporate client when he became a
consultant. Mark sent christmas cards to John's assistant Eileen
Stigelleti. He hosted John at the US Open 10 years ago.
And they hadn't spoken
in 18
months. Most of us would have written off the relationship, or assumed
that John would get the note, and would make note of it and do nothing
more. On the contrary, John wrote immediately, sharing his new contact
information, and encouraging Mark to call. Mark, who has built his
latter professional life on relationships, was stunned at the response
from so many.
Relationships you think
are dead
... are not dead.
Your
friends and associates want to hear
from you. We
just read an article about someone who got a job only after expanding
their network to everyone they had ever been in contact with. We
underestimate our friend's willingness to help and
their pleasure
at
being contacted.
Rather than telling you
not to
let relationships die, we're telling you to rekindle the ones you had.
The other lesson was that Mark wasn't asking for anything. (We still
believe that attempting to restart a relationship by asking for
something is generally ineffective.)
Reconnect now. Reach
out now.
You don't need Google Voice. You can send an email saying "Hi, I just
thought I'd let you know nothing's changed. Here's my email, address,
and cell phone number. Hope all is well".
More about building
your network here.
Podcast
Awards
We're pleased to
announce that
Career Tools has been successfully
nominated for the business category for the Podcast Awards 2009. Only
your votes could make this happen, and we are thankful for each and
every one.
Daily voting on
nominated casts
has started and will finish
on November 30th. You will be able to vote once per day in each
category, and obviously, we'd like you to vote for Career Tools in the
business category!
To vote go here.
Book
Reviews
We recently published a
number
of new book reviews Mark has written. Let us know what you think of
these books here.
Distribution
Those of you who have
premium
content know that use of that content is only for that particular
member. This newsletter is not premium content, and we'd love for you
to forward it to anyone who would find it interesting and useful.
If someone forwarded it
to you,
and you'd like your own copy in future, become a Manager Tools member here.
It's free!
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