Introduction

Networking can help you in every aspect of your life - it is not just for job changers, sales people and consultants. Everyone from high school students to retired grandparents can and should be networking. Safety Professionals can benefit especially from networking regardless of their specialty or position within a company.

In this presentation you will learn why you should network and more importantly, how you should network. These discussions will be specific to the safety professional whenever possible. A study on social anxiety reported by the New York Times in the 1980's stated that a party with strangers is the number 1 social fear (public speaking ranked second). Once you know the basics of networking and the benefits you can achieve from it, this "social fear" will hopefully become a thing of the past.

What is Networking?

Networking is exchanging ideas and information for mutual benefit in professional and personal lives. The key word here is mutual benefit. Networking is one big circle. What you put into it you will get out. It may take some time to reap the rewards but the rewards will eventually come. As with many things in life, what goes around comes around and networking is no exception.

Who Should Network?

Everyone! Who should you network with? Everybody! There is no need to struggle in life. There are thousands of people out there just waiting to help you. You have probably been networking for years and don't even realize it. When you were in High School and needed help with History, you probably used your contacts to find help. When you moved into a new neighborhood and needed to find a family doctor, you probably used networking skills you didn't even know you had. If you asked a neighbor or friend or even another doctor for a referral, you were networking. Many people associate networking only with business life but networking outside of the office or plant holds equal importance.

Consider the following movies:

  • Silence of the Lambs

  • Godfather

  • The Fugitive

  • Wizard of Oz

What do these movies have in common? Networking was an important part of the success of the main characters. In Silence of the Lambs, Jody Foster needs a contact that can help her catch a serial killer. Without Hannibal Lecter's help, she probably would not have reached her goal. In the Godfather, there are several examples of someone needing a favor. The godfather has the connections and makes the desired actions happen. In the Fugitive, Harrison Ford needs help from his friends and colleagues in order to prove that he is innocent. His contacts are there when he needs them. Finally, Dorothy and her friends wouldn't have normally been able to get past the gate to see the Wizard once she reached Oz. Only because the gatekeeper was also from Kansas was she and her friends allowed in.

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