A non-obvious way to gain more power

Big Thinking

My kid loved her 3rd grade teacher so much that she threatened to repeat 3rd grade.

When I informed her that, if she tanked the last bit of the year so she could repeat, there would be no way she would have the same teacher.

“They’ll assume he failed you, sweetie. Just don’t do it.”

Of course, she wasn’t serious…
…but she was completely serious about her love for her teacher.

A non-obvious way to gain more power

At her school, they get “tickets” for certain behavior and achievements. These tickets act like currency for certain prizes (pencil erasers and such) or experiences.
(I have mixed thoughts.)

My kid saved up her whole year’s worth of tickets so she could have a private lunch with the teacher.

I’m not going to lie, I would have done the same thing at her age!

When she cashed in on her lunch, she was allowed to invite two friends to dine with her. She invited one of her little besties and she also invited the newest girl in the class.

I teared up a little when she told me.

It was such a kind thing to do.

She had plenty of other friends she could have invited but she chose a girl she barely knew.

I can imagine that that girl will become one of my daughter’s close friends. She’ll be there for her when things get rough and she’ll cheer her on when she’s working toward a big goal (like becoming a mathematician—her current career aspiration).

This girl will also, no doubt, remember that kindness for a long while, possibly for the rest of her life.

Now, this isn’t a story about kindness on its own. It’s really a story about power.

Power, as Dacher Keltner defines it in his book The Power Paradox, is “our capacity to make a difference in the world.”

Sure, you can make a bad difference…

But I love how this definition of power puts us in the mind of doing good. We can rise to power—as leaders, business owners, change-makers—in order to make a positive in the world and the lives of the people in our networks.

My daughter gained a little power the day she decided to reach out to someone new. And I have a lot of confidence she’ll use that power for good.

Now what does this have to do with running your business?
Quite a bit.

Especially if you want to use your business to further your mission and improve people’s lives (and I know you do).

Every day is a new opportunity to gain power for yourself and your business by reaching out to others, share your experiences through stories, offering some help, or simply collaborating on a project.

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But first, I have a new podcast episode that’s a great corollary to this idea. I interviewed Jordan Harbinger, host & co-founder of The Art of Charm, for Profit. Power. Pursuit. this week.

The Art of Charm is one of the top podcasts on all of iTunes.

I’ll admit: I was very, very nervous before this interview.

But Jordan put me at ease right away and assured me that he wanted to give me the best interview he could.

His take on the benefits of reaching out & developing new relationships?
“The only way to maximize your return on your networking is to help everyone you can without actually expecting anything in return.”

Listen On iTunes & Subscribe!

So if the idea of reaching out makes you nervous, or you’ve had bad experiences with networking in the past, or you just don’t even know what networking looks like beyond bad cocktail hours, this interview is for you.

The Ins & Outs of Authentic Networking with Art of Charm Co-founder Jordan Harbinger

Interviews, Show Notes

The Ins & Outs of Authentic Networking with Art of Charm Co-founder Jordan Harbinger

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The Nitty Gritty:

  • What a day in the life looks like for Jordan as an entrepreneur
  • What he does to manage his email and not waste time
  • How to maximize your return when you network
Listen On iTunes & Subscribe!

Networking guru Jordan Harbinger, co-founder of the Art of Charm podcast and franchise is my guest on this week’s episode of the Profit. Power. Pursuit. podcast. In this episode, we dig into his daily routine as an entrepreneur, he shared some email management tips I’m excited to implement and lots of valuable insight on the best way to network—we can all use that, right?

Jordan and his business partner AJ didn’t start out with the intention of creating a business together. What became the Art of Charm podcast started out as just conversations about nonverbal communication, persuasion, influence and even dating and attraction. Their friends found these conversations valuable and would join AJ and Jordan at restaurants and bars before any of us knew the term podcast. Soon, the team ventured online and even had air time on SiriusXM satellite radio. Their business continues to grow since having a weekly broadcast since 2006.

A Day In the Life of an Entrepreneur

I like to make damn sure that I’m engaging with people and practicing what we preach here at the Art of Charm and not just sitting up here writing books about networking and then never doing it.

– Jordan Harbinger

As he would advise any business owner, Jordan checks email first thing every morning to be sure to jump on any issues or negativity before it has a chance to get out of hand. He also spends a bit of time every morning on personal development; right now he’s learning Chinese! In addition, he studies his craft and will watch other interviewers each day to get his creative juices flowing. Following that, he works his network by checking in with friends and colleagues and then does extensive show prep for the podcast.

Jordan is also responsible for engaging his audience on Twitter and Facebook. Although he delegates regularly posting, he personally handles responses to posts as “it’s a little disingenuous to say, tweet at me, and some person in the Philippines is pretending to be you.”

He schedules all admin duties and meetings on Monday, so he can spend the rest of the week on creative pursuits. And to avoid micromanaging, he checks in on the work his employees are doing just once per week. A lot of his responsibilities are scheduled and regular which is great because it makes it predictable. If there is ever any sort of emergency, he can plan to be flexible for that because he’s not just flying by the seat of his pants all day every day.

Email Management

Jordan triages his email every morning with the assistance of Spark, an app that helps him quickly see the important messages and organize the rest. If there is anything that needs done immediately, he delegates those tasks. He suggests that every time you look at an email you need to make a decision about its level of importance and what to do with it. If you don’t have the time to make a decision, don’t look at the email at all. It’s just a waste of time, because you’ll have to re-read it later when you are going to make a decision about it.

Networking Is Usually about a Serendipitous Relationship

The only way to maximize your return on your networking is to help everyone you can without actually expecting anything in return.

– Jordan Harbinger

Most people network with a specific target in mind and want to meet a particular person because they think that person will deliver opportunities. In Jordan’s experience, they rarely do, even though hobnobbing with celebrities or powerful people does make for good cocktail party conversation.

You usually can’t see the opportunities that you end up getting because they are over the horizon. So, the way that you get them is by helping other people without expecting anything in return. Those are the same types of people that will then later on reciprocate.

Check out the entire podcast to learn more about networking, how to avoid a major faux pas of networking, what’s next for Art of Charm including The Art of Networking, a new course on CreativeLive, and more!

Each week I interview today’s brilliant entrepreneurs who offer listeners nuggets of wisdom for anyone building a business. I hope you will join me and subscribe in iTunes so you never miss out!