I am always
reminded of two important themes each holiday
season: Giving and Receiving.
It also reminds me of the ultimate paradox
in life;in order to receive, you must give. It
starts with giving; receiving follows
afterwards.
There are many applications to this paradox in
life, but it is especially relevant in business and in
the
workplace.
Unfortunately
in business, we often have the order of this paradox
wrong. We think first about "receiving" and later
about "giving."
I made this mistake when I first started in my own
business.
I was initially very focused on receiving by
"making the connections in order to get the
business." I remember meeting this woman who had
all of the right connections within a large corporation
that I wanted to do business with. I immediately
stepped into telling her all of the reasons I was the
right consultant to help deliver on her company's needs.
I asked her to give me the necessary
leads in order to make inroads. I walked away
feeling hopeful. But, she never delivered the
leads.
Why? What went wrong?
I started off with receiving, not
giving.
If I had applied the paradox correctly
and focused first on giving, I may have been able to
open this door and develop this customer into a long
term, loyal customer.
Next time I applied my learning and got entirely
different results.
Months later I met another woman whose business is
in creating public seminars. Her reach into my
target market of corporations and the business community
is very large. My first thought was: "I want to be
hired by her as a speaker so that I can broaden my
exposure." This thought was a receiving
thought. I quickly caught myself and stopped going
down this path since I remembered my past
experience. I decided to step forward with a
giving idea. I approached her and offered to help
her draw more people into her seminar by using my
network of contacts. She was thrilled and
receptive to my offer.
By applying the paradox correctly, my giving action
formed the basis of a business relationship with a long
term potential of receiving.
Sounds logical, but so often in business we do the
opposite.
In your eagerness to build your business or
career in the short term, you may unknowingly start
first with "receiving" actions that actually hinder both
your short and long term business
growth.
Today I received an e-book from Seth Godin
called "What Matters Now." One of the first
pages written by Seth is about Generosity (giving), here
is what Seth says about it:
"When the economy tanks, it's natural to think of
yourself first. You have a family to feed a
mortgage to pay. Getting more appears to
be the order of business. It turns out
that the connected economy doesn't respect this natural
instinct. Instead, we're rewarded for being
generous. Generous with our time and money but
most important without our art. If you make a
difference, people will gravitate to you. They
want to engage, to interact and to get you more
involved. In a digital world, the gift I give you
almost always benefits me more than it costs. If
you make a difference, you also make a connection.
You interact with people who want to be interacted with
and you make changes that people respect and yearn
for. Art can't happen without someone who seeks to
make a difference. This is your art, it's what you
do. You touch people or projects and change them
for the better. This year, you'll certainly find
that the more you give the more you get."
What "receiving" actions are you taking that
are hindering you from advancing your career or growing
your business? How can you turn these around into
"giving" actions?
So if you are finding yourself on the
negative side of this economic downturn and are out
searching for new customers or a potential
employer, don't make the mistake of
focusing first on receiving, instead ask yourself how
you might assist and give to them. These giving
actions will form the foundation of a business
relationship that will bear fruit now and in the
future.
Happy Holidays!
