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Network – Connect – Collaborate – Succeed

How many times have you been told that ‘you really have to network', that networking is ‘essential for your growth and personal success'?

Do you jump up and down with joy at this idea, eager to get out there and meet new people? Or do you cringe with horror, thinking you'd much rather be spending your time doing something you actually enjoy or something that seems more productive than notching up a couple more friends on your Facebook page?

The truth is, the adage ‘It's not what you know, it's who you know' has more weight now than ever.

Today ‘busy' is a status update and everyone is your ‘friend', so it's harder to make connections that really count, beyond adding to the number of followers on your Twitter account.

Job vacancies are filled before they are advertised and previously unthought-of collaborations appear out of nowhere to create new and competitive markets and steal market share. Add to this the constant pressure of coming up with new ideas to help us remain relevant and influential in a saturated business landscape and it's no wonder most of us hide behind our computers and feel paralysed with fear.

Sure, networking still matters, but your network matters more.

So who is in your network and how much input or influence do they have on what you're doing or trying to achieve? How well do they really, truly know you? How much can they help you?

There is no doubt that building a sales lead generation list is critical for the growth of many a business endeavour, and the explosion of social media has made finding particular networks easier, but has it made your network any better?

There is much more to networking than collecting likes, friends, connections or old-school business cards. To really succeed, and break out beyond the online realm, you must become the master of your network both at work and in life generally.

The right network is about having the right people and the right relationships in your professional and personal life.

Without any network at all, opportunities are missed, new possibilities aren't spotted, your thinking stagnates, and the dreams and career aspirations you once had become unreachable. You change jobs, move location – and suddenly you have to start out all over again. You find it hard to push through tough times, to get that job or promotion, to sell that idea, to get noticed.

Over the past couple of decades I've worked in the corporate and entrepreneurial space with people across geographical regions, functions and industries, people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experience. I've had the opportunity to interview master networkers such as Emergent CEO Holly Ransom and seven-time world surf champion Layne Beachley. I've studied leaders and entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Bloomberg to figure out how they achieve their goals and what makes them tick. Who are the people they surround themselves with and how much do these choices influence their success?

Every one of the people I have worked with, spoken to or studied attests to the fact that true success lies in surrounding yourself with a small yet strong, trusted and tight network – a network that works with you and for you.

I spent the first 10 years of my corporate career in the UK. After leaving the relative safety of my protected Yorkshire childhood and graduating from Aston University, Birmingham, I moved to London to take up my first job, my new life packed in a bag and only my university friends for support. I learned very early on of the importance of a network both in life and at work. I experienced the impact of major company shake-ups, new CEOs forming new leadership teams that swiftly took over from former colleagues. Strategic direction, company values and day-to-day culture changed at what seemed like a whim. Nothing and no-one felt safe.

At the age of 29 I moved to Australia, once more with dreams of a new life packed in a bag, forced to build up another network of trusted colleagues, clients and friends. As I moved up the corporate ranks, I witnessed first-hand how seniority attracts more influence and means greater impact, how an elevated job title and a bigger budget can magically open doors and make things happen. Yet as connected as I was from a business point of view, without a true, authentic network to turn to I felt increasingly isolated.

In 2011, I struck out on my own, launching the LBDGroup, a niche community of like-minded, results-oriented businesswomen, female corporate leaders and entrepreneurs who connect, contribute and collaborate to drive commercial success for each other. Over the years, this network has come to represent so much more than generating business leads for ourselves and one another. The cross-functional, cross-industry nature of this collective stretches people's thinking, propels goals and plans, and creates more new opportunities at both a personal and professional level than would ever have been possible had we all gone it alone.

As the LBDGroup has grown in size, mini networks have evolved as individuals have created strategically appropriate networks for themselves within the broader network. I have built my own network of Promoters, Teachers, Pit Crew and Butt-kickers. They are the people who see more in me than I do myself, people who make me better, push me further and encourage me to do more. I have experienced the power of true connection, support and encouragement. Together we share learnings and insights, open doors for each other, push each other to go for it, to achieve more, because ‘I know you can'. My personal network is small, it's tight, it's uber-connected and it's absolutely the pit crew of smarts that helps me achieve my goals.

This book is a culmination of all of my experience and insights. It challenges the status quo of what we've come to learn and believe about networking. You'll read real interviews and case studies, and find examples of real people (with some names changed for privacy) who have struggled with networking but have learned to make a small, strategic network work for them.

Here's the bottom line: It's about quality not quantity. We don't need more contacts, we don't need more ‘friends' and we don't necessarily need to spend more time connecting online. If this was all we needed, then every one of us would be enjoying unparalleled success through the sheer number of opportunities we have to connect.

Leadership expert John C. Maxwell says,

Those closest to you determine your level of success, so choosing the right companions as partners in pursuit of your vision is an important decision. My advice is to surround yourself with talented people who will challenge you, help you grow and inspire you to maximize your potential.

It's time to create a new plan of action – one that puts you in control, identifies the right people for you and creates the right behaviours that will nurture your network for mutual success.

Everyone needs a network, whether you are a recent graduate hunting for your first job, a manager who has just scored a promotion, a parent planning on running your first marathon, a philanthropist, leader, consultant, entrepreneur, speaker, freelancer or writer – it doesn't matter what you do, what level you operate on, what industry you are in and whether you work for an organisation or out on your own.

So this book is for you. It will encourage you to throw out society's expectations and what you feel you ‘should' be doing, and instead start to think smart and strategically.

You'll review your network as it is now to determine:

■ what you are doing that is and isn't working

■ who is in your network now and who should be

■ who is adding value and who is draining your energy

■ how to leverage a key network – a Nexus – of only 12 key people and personalities.

You'll find the tools and skills you need to:

■ take control of your network

■ master the art of real and influential networking in a noisy and disconnected online world

■ build a transformational network of 12 key people to fast-track your success

■ leverage and use your skills to your advantage

■ nurture and maintain these relationships on an ongoing basis.

As you read, you'll have plenty of opportunities to workshop your own personal situation through checklists, worksheets and other resources available in this book and online at my website (janinegarner.com.au/resources). You can also review your network using my online diagnostic tool (at janinegarner.com.au/nexus).

I encourage you to use these resources at every opportunity to reassess your own network and create new success, not just now but into the future as your circumstances change.

I wrote It's Who You Know because I believe we all need to get back in control by building a ‘Network of Me' where we are smack bang in the centre of critical connections with real influence and real impact, connections capable of transforming our thinking, challenging our behaviours and working collectively to build our positioning, elevate our profile and push us to achieve more.