"Smart Networking and the Art of the Ask"

Today, the Personal Branding Blog has an interesting article on networking by Liz Lynch entitled "Smart Networking and the Art of the Ask." It's a great piece about how to confidently network with peers and ask for their assistance with success.

"Knowing how to build your network is crucial, but knowing how to tap into your network for help is even more important. After all, if you can’t get the help you need for yourself or for others from the people you know, where will you get it?

Some people are reluctant to ask for help out of fear of looking helpless or a fear of rejection. But giving help is actually very natural. As Daniel Goleman wrote in Social Intelligence, “Our brain has been preset for kindness. We automatically go to the aid of a child who is screaming in terror; we automatically hug a smiling baby. Such emotional impulses…elicit reactions in us that are unpremeditated and instantaneous.”

So when someone sees us in need at a primal level, they react automatically to ease our suffering. With a higher-order need like finding a job, however, we’re less likely to get help for it by screaming like a five-year old."

To read the rest of the article, go here.