November 2008
Art of Networking |
A Culture of Learning
The importance of investing in ongoing education.
Most business people pay lip service to education.
Maybe not you—you're actually taking time to read an article on business development. I'm talking about the average business professional.
Ask a group of business people if they'd be willing to attend a seminar on networking, and ¾ of the people in the room say yes. Give them a specific date and time, and only a handful will actually sign up!
It used to surprise me when I heard that 50% of all businesses fail in their first three years. Now that I've been in business for several decades and have seen many entrepreneurs come and go, I'm somewhat surprised that 50% actually make it past three years!
Maybe I'm being a little harsh—but not much. One thing I've learned is that most successful business professionals embrace a "culture of learning." This is especially true during difficult financial times.
Personal and professional self-development is a journey—not a destination. It is something that is always a work-in-progress. Often, business people get so caught up working "in" their business that they forget to spend time working "on" their business. Part of working "on" a business is devoting time to professional development.
Benjamin Franklin once said, "If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the highest return."
With that in mind, here's an action item for this week. Look at your financials (e.g. check book, credit card statements) for the last year. Have you spent anything on some type of on-going business education?
If you aren't "emptying some of your purse into your head," take a few minutes to think about what you want to learn to help you build your business—and sign up for something this week! Don't put it off any longer.
If you want to earn more, you need to learn more! Oh, and reading these articles from time to time won't hurt either.
Called the father of modern networking by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the founder and chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization. His latest New York Times best selling book, The 29% Solution, can be viewed at 29PercentSolution.com. Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company. He can be reached at misner@bni.com.
Have you listened to BNI's weekly internet recording, also known as the BNI Podcast?