March 15, 2017
Interview with Alan Gregerman, author of the book The Necessity Of Strangers
Mike Carruthers: You’re more likely to think that your friends, colleagues, and connections are the ones that will help you up the ladder of success.
Alan Gregerman: And I believe it’s actually in a significant way the opposite. That it’s who you could know that matters because the folks we know are an awful lot like us and they rarely push us to reach our potential.
Alan Gregerman, author of the book The Necessity Of Strangers, says it’s people who you don’t know who could be much more helpful to you. So ask yourself…
Who in any industry or walk of life might be particularly brilliant at what I’m trying to do? Improve customer service, get more people to come to an event, whatever the case is and actually find those people and reach out and try to make a connection with them. Either through somebody we know or through directly going to those folks and trying to challenge ourselves to be open and connect even if they say no.
And while some people will say no you’ll be surprised who says yes.
I generally have found that people are open to connecting with people if you kind of reach out to them in a positive way.
Alan says in addition to identifying and reaching out to specific people…
We need to just be open to new people. We need to say hello to people, connect with people when we’re waiting in line. Because there’s a bit of serendipity that’s going to allow us just by connecting with people to meet people who are by their nature going to have part of what we need to be more successful.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS