Growing up as a zealous motivational speaker, I was very perturbed about the issue of \u201cwhom you know\u201d. For the benefit of my global audience let me put up a definition for \u201cwhom you know\u201d before I ride along.<\/p>\n
The term is a local parlance for the belief that one cannot make progress on the career![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cdncache-a.akamaihd.net\/items\/it\/img\/arrow-10x10.png\"){kind=icon}
or business ladder regardless of their education, training or experience unless they know someone at the top of the food chain who can facilitate that.\u00a0 My discomfort with it laid largely in the fact it, if indeed it was true, it discouraged personal development and the need to continually strive for excellence or so I thought.<\/p>\n
I was passionately inspiring people to improve themselves, expand their knowledge-base, enhance their skills sets and be great at what they do. But if all that didn\u2019t matter in their career progression if they didn\u2019t \u201cknow someone\u201d then what was the point in making all that effort?\u00a0 If ultimately the only way to get a job, a contract, sponsorship or opportunity of any kind is to have a connection to a person of prominence somewhere in the organization then why should anyone pay the price of personal development?<\/p>\n
So with all these thoughts going through my head vis-\u00e0-vis my own passion to inspire people for personal growth, I aggressively argued against \u201cwhom you know\u201d.<\/p>\n
I insisted that it didn\u2019t exist, that serious companies and organizations don\u2019t promote or give opportunities to people that way. I felt compelled to do that because if I did accept it to be true then there will be no point in challenging people to excel, I erroneously thought.<\/p>\n
Now, several years after, as I keep climbing my own ladder of success, I have realized that there is some truth in the \u201cgospel of whom you know\u201d but with an added twist that its preachers do not seem to realize.<\/p>\n
After a decade of working my own gift and developing other ancillary ideas or projects, I have discovered that \u201cwhom you know\u201d is real. It is a reality that you cannot make your way to the top if you don\u2019t deliberately build relationships and network with people who matter. And it is not just a Ghanaian thing. It is a worldwide phenomenon.<\/p>\n
All of over the world, people are more inclined to give opportunities or support to people they have a previous relationship with than those they don\u2019t. In the business world, getting opportunities through referrals and recommendations is an important rule in the game.<\/p>\n
People recommend business to people they know. However, whereas there are some cases of such doors being opened for people who don\u2019t merit it, most of the time they are given to people who have the right background or expertise but who have the added advantage of \u201cknowing someone\u201d who could vouch for them. That sounds unfair right? Well, life is not fair.<\/p>\n
It may be dark, yellow or any other color but fair isn\u2019t one of them. LOL. Grumbling and protesting about the unfairness of it is an unproductive use of time and energy. It is not the appropriate response. If this is the reality, what must be the appropriate response of every person of ambition? How must a budding entrepreneur, young professional, graduate or student who wants to make their way in the world and achieve greatness respond to this?<\/p>\n
Embrace It.<\/strong><\/p>\n Embrace the fact that in business In order to rise in your field of endeavor, you must deliberately network with relevant people. Don\u2019t be satisfied with merely being gifted. Don\u2019t settle just because you have a great idea and you expect people to beat a path to your door. It\u2019s not enough to be excellent. Also be connected. Network with the right people!<\/p>\n Change Your Posture<\/strong><\/p>\n The reality of \u201cwhom you know\u201d means that you need to change your posture towards life. There are people who sit in a class or lecture hall for years but never network with anyone besides their lecture notes. They are intelligent, ambitious but na\u00efve. They are under the illusion that getting good grades alone is not enough to guarantee them success in the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am persuaded that the quality of relationships you build in life is more important than the quality of certificate you get from school. You can have a great degree but live a small life because you don\u2019t have the strategic connections needed to promote your dreams. In school, don\u2019t focus on your notes alone, make friends. Do deliberate networking even with the poor students you don\u2019t respect. Whether your mate is poor academically or financially, network with them.\u00a0 Some of those students end up becoming major game changers in the world.<\/p>\n It also means that if you have been running from church right after the preacher says the benediction, you must put a stop to it. Don\u2019t close from church and scurry away with your bible right after service. Stay around for a few minutes. Say hello to someone. Make a friend. Get to know people. Deliberately network with people who have the power and means to help you move up the corporate ladder or in the business world. If you attend a seminar, don\u2019t just walk away after the session. Network with people. Wherever you find yourself, make a connection. Don\u2019t walk through your neighborhood without greeting people you meet. That man you have been passing by every day without so much as a hello could be the CEO of the company, you are looking for a job However, starting a relationship is not enough. When you make a connection to a network, you must cultivate it. Call regularly to say hello. Find out what they are doing and offer support. Show an interest in The writer, Jeremiah Buabeng, \u00a0is a motivational speaker, author and corporate trainer. You can read more of his writings from www.jeremiahbuabeng.com or contact him at jeremiahbuabeng@ymail.com\/ +233 246 88 26 32.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: Jeremiah Buabeng<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Growing up as a zealous motivational speaker, I was very perturbed about the issue of \u201cwhom you know\u201d. For the benefit of my global audience let me put up a definition for \u201cwhom you know\u201d before I ride along. The term is a local parlance for the belief that one cannot make progress on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":149920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-149798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-togbe-afede"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} or many other fields having strategic connections is crucial to building your business or deploying your gift or talent. It is possible to be gifted, well-trained or competent and not have opportunity to perform because you lack relevant relationships. \u00a0Permit me to throw away in my bid make an important illustration. I\u2019m a great speaker.\u00a0 When the Motivational Speakers Network did a poll recently, I was privileged to be named Ghana\u2019s No.1 Young Speaker. That surely says something about how good I am at what I do. However, being good at what I do has not been singularly responsible for my success as a speaker. There are great platforms I have been privileged to speak on that I didn\u2019t get merely because I was good. I got them because I had a relationship with someone in the organization who knew<\/em> I was good and therefore made a referral <\/em>that got me the job. Being good at what you do is not enough. You must deliberately build social capital. You must network with people who can vouch for you and recommend you for opportunities.\u00a0 \u201cWhom you know\u201d is real but not in the way that people think it is. Knowing people doesn\u2019t mean that you will get opportunities or promotion even if you are shoddy, mediocre and lackluster in your performance.\u00a0 Certainly not. What it does mean is that networking with the right people ensures that you have people who will recommend or make referrals to you so you can receive an opportunity that you are prepared<\/em> for.<\/p>\n with. Every day you walk past the door to your promotion without knowing it. Being nice pays.<\/p>\n the things that matter to them; their special events, birthdays, weddings, bereavement, book launches etc. By constantly connecting and offering support, you engrave your name on their minds and position yourself to be remembered on the day of opportunity. \u201cWhom you know\u201d is real and you can leverage it to your advantage.<\/p>\n