NETWORKING

In one of his several mentorship and life advice, this winter break my uncle gave me a book titled “The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrow's Employees Today” by Jeanne C. Meister and Karie Willyerd, to read. I will recommend if you like this blog post take some time and read it. This book reawakens my thoughts and gives foundation to some of my beliefs about the relationships I build with the people I meet every day. Let’s explore that.

Networking……now depending on how you define it or use it, in this blog post we are talking about the relationship we build with people we don’t know, those we are going to meet and how we maintain those we already have. With the dawn of the computer age and the technology future I believe the value and importance of networking has become more important than most prospects. I want to think a lot of us are taking it for granted because we do not have to work for it as hard as we would have if not for these social network sites. I mean it is easy to find an old roommate or classmate on Facebook or delete and add friends anytime we want. Let’s take some time and look into the value and importance of networking.

For the non-believers allow me to use this logic; if you do not believe in befriending new people and getting to know strangers then we must respect that. Well consider that there is 6 billion and one person on earth, YOU are unique because you have a special quality that nobody on earth has, and YOU are special and have a purpose! Now with all your special qualities there are 6 billion other people who share similar traits give or take! Wouldn’t you want to get to know these wonderful people just like you? Don’t you think as much as you are too big or careless about these people they might have something you don’t have? Well the answer is YES, 6 billion people have something you don’t have and whether you don’t care you are already pursuing these qualities by living in the same planet as them, your alternative is DYING! Living on earth means you have to coexist, situationally we are born into families but when you think of networking consider the whole world your family! We sure do want different things in life but it’s homologous to assume whatever our pursuit is, building a relationship with a stranger is part of it. There is something you need and you do not have! The way you go about acquiring it then that might be debatable.

Networking has existed since the beginning of time; I think it has been the fundamental in building every great empire, nation and family. We are only emphasizing it now because with the technology age it’s importance and value has never been this high. Gosh! Smart young men have made a 50 billion dollars profit overnight using the concept and there’s still more to be done and improve on. Traditionally people have bonded with their ethnics groups and family, matter of fact these kinds of bondage has led to grave ills in our past history like the well-known RACIAL DISCRIMINATION and wars!! I want to encourage such bonds but promote networking; that is the inter-bonding between cultures or ethnic groups. In every blog post I have made declarations about things based on my thoughts and on this post I will do the same.

If you stay within your ethnicity or culture or family, you will NOT progress in this new era and things will only get worse for you and your community. In this era I don’t have to be a member of the African association, Latino group to know what they are about, what their projects are, what they share among them…..etc. NO! I don’t have to be one of them I can just “Google it” and their whole agenda is on my computer screen. See in the past communities who dominated succeeded because inter-communications with other groups where non-existent, it was treason to tell somebody the agenda of your nation, today it is all too common (Wikileaks!!), it was impossible to know what a country or group was up to today I can even see the visual on YouTube. So if you have an idea or a project and you think you will conquer and dominate by staying within a particular group you are mistaken! In this age the best way to accomplish this idea, project is to identify and cooperate with the best minds, search the best solutions and use the best people you can find. It is okay to stay within your community or group but at some point you must diversify your portfolio you must NETWORK! Yes you can network vertically (within your community) or horizontally (diversifying with other groups) but if you want to achieve measurable success you must network, by accepting and considering broadening your scope.

Let me explain; see in the past we have stayed within our OWN people and lacked behind some might argue different but in terms of measure those who have considerably succeed are those groups, nations, communities who have crossed cultural and ethnic bounds. I think China has always had the potential to be a great power they just did not know how to embrace other cultures or open up to different demographics, CHINA’s rise to power regardless of how you look at it is because they are now doing  NETWORKING!!! China has learned to expand beyond their communist ideology and now the world can witness them unveil their true power and they are not still doing enough and in my opinion will never truly be a world power!

In every new friend I have made in the last year I have seen them as gold mine regardless of who they are or what they do! You know it is amazing seeing people in this light, I have been networking and the treasures have been pouring in, I wish I could tell you my personal testimony on this blog post but I would not want to offend some people who helped me achieved it. When you see value in yourself then you are accepting the first principle of networking. If you see value in yourself then think of the billions of people out there that may have similar values or even better. Engage, engage, engage with other people there is no loss in investing in relationships, like most optimist even if some people let you down the experience will propagate you to move forward wisely! I might have over 1000 friends on Facebook, in a year I communicate with over 20% of these friends and in two or three years over 70%! With my networking believe I think someday our Facebook friendship might yield mutual benefits of any form. I am not obligated to these people but I value every one of them because believe it or not we are all USERS in this world, you might not know it but as much as you might have felt used, you are reciprocating it daily on somebody else. In my part I see value even in the least among us (which by the way is ME!) that’s just my opinion. Look even the people you despised may have some of the most valuable traits that if you can unravel will be your everlasting jewel. There is no success story or a successful man without a partner whether wife or friend.

The book I mentioned above reveals the treasures of networking although specifically to the workplace. You see employers have already grasped this concept of networking. By 2020 applying for a job will come with your qualifications and something called your “network portfolio”. Your membership in Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Hi5, LinkedIn, Ubuntu etc. plus if you have a blog, website, discussion group..... these things will be evaluated when you apply for a job and will be top priority! Among other things the theme of the book might be describing the nature of the workplace in 2020 but it basically display the importance of networking! Attend networking meetings, travel and above all be sociable!!

Six years ago I always use to hear people say the world will become one small global village. I believe that time is already here. People who still only mingle with their own kind might not get it but it’s just a matter of time before all what we knew about our difference becomes reduce to ashes with the dawn of the new era of technology and no country will be a great power but every nation will be good enough because it will be a mutual power share, where we all depend on each other for something! If you don’t believe this then consider this, not paying attention to networking now, will greatly affect you in less than five years remember you read it on this BLOG!!

I feel like there’s much to say but I will let your comments bring out the rest. Please feel free to comment about this post and as always I will be more than grateful to hear your own thoughts!

CAREERS

I want to start by acknowledging those who have requested I write more and wondered why the hiatus. I had a two weeks’ vacation to attend my sister's wedding and took a road trip across mid western and eastern America.

A career is not a job. To me a career is a lifestyle; a career is doing what you are best in and earning a living out of it. In the western world we start with hourly paychecks and sort of defined a career when we start earning a salary plus benefits. Why am I blogging about this? I don't knowhow but it is just something that crosses my mind every time I get into conversations with friends. A career starts with a goal, an ambition to accomplish. A career comes from within, only you can determined your strengths and weaknesses no matter how much others may conclude or prejudiced.

I think our aspirations change from time to time as we encounter different circumstances in life but ambitions set on a solid initial principle will always prevail. I come from a society of very determined people, Africans or other foreign nationals that come to the United States; I do not believe becoming a nurse was their priority growing up but due to circumstances faced, they have been forced to set this career path as their goals. They say "do not talk about things you do not know about", am not going to do that.

I think ambition is something that you build on and most of my foreign peers, maybe due to culture shock, financial stress, and family and peer pressure have neglected their original values and ambitions and taken up these careers. See I'm of the opinion that if you choose a career which is not your passion, you will eventually get tired of it and live the rest of your life in regret always trying to change fields in the latter stages of your life, when it is too late. You might not see it now because the paychecks are coming enabling you to purchase that first car and pay your mortgage but let’s do this; take a look within your local community or within people you know well, those that always have a melancholic look in life in their 50s and 60s are your examples, those that even with comparable success feel very empty and unfulfilled are your examples. We might have different examples but these are the people that are influencing this blog post for me.

Orientation is the key. I think that even when you cannot determined what it is you want to do as a career, look back to your childhood or teenage years there must have been something that kept grabbing your attention, something you became a master of without really trying, a place that you get an overwhelming sense of contentment when you are there; these are all indicators of what you can become and eventually make a career out of. Look I'm not saying caving to become a nurse due certain circumstances it's a bad thing but like I said orientation is the key. The problem is when we get to the US or when we get our visas to get here, somebody will pitched this nursing idea to you or some other career choice to you with the greatest zest they have. That is your orientation right there. Soon you then convince yourself so much about this idea that even when it becomes obvious that it is not your preferred career choice you look for comfort phrases to cop out or console yourself!

If this is a land of opportunity why limit yourself? A friend of mine told me a story of his uncle who was a janitor when he got into the US back in the early 90s. He worked with other minorities and cleaned houses and colleges. Today he owns a sanitary company in Ohio with county contracts to clean schools and apartment complexes with a six figure income a year! See that is what I call a career! we may have similar stories but the fundamental truth is when I look within my foreign peers everyone of them studying to become a nurse it makes me conclude that our orientation is limited, inspiration is not there and although we are in a land of opportunity we have funnel all our abilities through a very narrow sphere. Look within you people! We had so much to think about when we were in less fortunate situations (Africa) why come here and caved. Certain careers are a trend within a certain ethnic groups I can understand that too. 

I think we need to open up! I'm talking about inspiration, and let me just say inspiration is very tricky, I can finished this paragraph with something very inspirational or a Barack Obama-like story that will inspire you but if it is not within you, you need to put in some extra work! Let me explain this. It’s sort of like "talk the talk but not walk the walk". I do not know how you all remain inspired but am going to share some of my secrets that help me always stay inspired and focus. first and foremost I surround myself with friends and things that I can get inspiration from, I like to surround myself with dreamers people who dream big and make the efforts to achieve these dreams (Zizou waddup boi!!). Secondly I pivot around my family, keep your family close they will always tell you the truth and advice from them can be very vital. I also read a lot of books; Hey black people, the secret of white people success is all in literature" LOL read! read! read! and am not talking about novels, read books that will inspire you, books about billionaires, Christian figures and people who failed in their lives, these will inspire you or maintain your focus. I also use the Internet to meet people in the field I want to be a part of (Networking), I have joined engineering associations and organizations to remain updated and knowledgeable about my future my career, the list go on...the point is don't just say Obama is the first African president, act on it!

There is this saying that and I paraphrase if your job is something you have a great deal of passion for then it is no longer a job it is a lifestyle of fulfillment.

Thanks for reading people please let me read your comments it really helps.