This month’s Leadership Development Carnival is hosted by Jesse Lyn Stoner of Seapoint Center. Jesse recently celebrated her blog’s second anniversary with this great list of leadership quotes derived from her blog posts. Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Jesse better. One of the things I most appreciate…
Networking
6 Ways to Take the Dread Out of Writing Self-Appraisals
If your company conducts its performance appraisals on an annual calendar basis then the past month has likely had you knee-deep in the process. There’s an equally likely chance you are supposed to do a self-appraisal for your performance view as well. As a leader, do you dread this task because you’re so consumed with…
Planting Seeds, Growing Your Network
As a novice vegetable gardener, I often see parallels between gardening and networking. Below are some of the more common questions I get asked about networking, along with my answers, some of which use the gardening theme. Q: How important a role do you think social networking sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) play in…
The Mutuality Measuring Stick for Networking
Should you network with someone you don’t like? This question was put to me recently. My response was emphatic: “No, of course not!” Here’s why I say this with such conviction. My definition of networking is: The purpose of networking is to connect people who have a mutual interest in developing a professional relationship or assisting one…
What Tomatoes and Radishes Have in Common with Networking
My vegetable garden has taught me something about building business relationships: different types of vegetables, like business connections, require different types of care and yield different results. Consider two veggies* in my garden: radishes and tomatoes. Radishes are super-easy to grow. They sprout in a mere 2 – 3 days, are very hardy and are…