Summary: This is a rebroadcast of Episode 172. Synopsis When Dr. Misner and his wife Beth were on safari in South Africa, there was a suspension bridge between the main lodge and the guest suites. When they didn’t walk in sync, the flexing of the bridge jarred them, but if they walked in sync, with the same stride, it was much easier to cross. The same is true of networking. You need to walk in sync with your referral partners. You need to cooperate and to collaborate, and that requires two things: Proximity: you have to stay in contact with each other. Have one-to-one meetings. Stay focused on how you can help each other in business. Keep looking for things you can do for your networking partners. If you do these things, you’ll build deep relationships and trust, and everyone’s business will benefit. Brought to you by Ask Ivan Misner. Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 172 - Priscilla: Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com, which is a Web site where you can ask Ivan any question you have about networking. I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you? Ivan: Hi, Priscilla. I am doing great, and today I’m actually at the University of La Verne. I sit on their Board of Trustees. And one of the things I talk about in networking is the importance of diversifying your networks, and one type of network that I recommend that people participate in are community service organizations, service clubs like Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, non-profit organizations. And this is one of those kinds of organizations that I participate in that I think fits that mold. It’s a private university in Southern California, University of La Verne, and I’ve gotten to be very good friends with the president of the university. And I’ve been sitting on their Board of Trustees now for a year or so. It’s a great way to meet other business people. Unfortunately, the president of the university is stepping down after 25 years as president. That’s really rare. And so I’m on their selection committee to select their new president. And this is a university that I’ve talked about in some of my blogs and how their starting to teach – they have a really good dean in business, and they’re starting to teach more social capital and emotional intelligence. That’s where I’m at today, but today I want to talk about something that happened on my recent trip to South Africa. Priscilla: Oh, great! Ivan: And the title of this podcast is Being in Sync With Your Networking Partners. And I’ll tell you how we came up with this. My wife, Beth, and I, we were in South Africa recently on a safari at Camp Jabulani, which is in the Kapama Reserve – and by the way, unbelievable place. Their favorite words are, “Whatever you want.” You’ve got to love someplace like that. You know, “What time is dinner?” “Whenever you want.” “When are we going to go out on safari?” “Whenever you want.” I mean, it was just an amazing – “What’s for dinner?” “Whatever you want.” It was just an amazing place to go. We really enjoyed it. And they have a beautiful suspension bridge between the main lodge and the guest suites. And if you’ve ever walked over a suspension bridge, you know that the feeling of the springiness, especially if it’s a long suspension bridge, the feeling of the springiness under your feet as you walk. It’s almost like wearing those moon boots that I got for Christmas as a boy many years ago, very bouncy. And I’m talking about a walking suspension bridge, obviously, not a driving one. Priscilla: Right. Ivan: So as we made our way across that suspension bridge, we noticed really quickly that when we didn’t walk in sync, the bridge’s flexing and bending kind of jarred us both.
