Revisit your contacts

“Study the past, if you would divine the future.” ~~Confucius

Four weeks ago we took inventory of who’s who and considered the way we move as a bubble of closer relationships inside the current of more distant swirling ones.  The river of time, if you will.

Relationships are strengthened as a function of frequency and recency. (That’s not a word, I know, but rhymes well and helps remind of the concept.)  I told you about my grammar school class.  Frequency was what cemented the relationship as we were together for eight years every school day.  None are recent as grammar school was long ago.  JFK died while I was in second grade.  His opponent, Richard Nixon, had resigned from politics the year before and yet five years after Kennedy’s assassination Nixon won the presidency.  Before completing high school Tricky Dick was disgraced from office.

As children world events swirled around the bubble of our relationships.

I turn your mind to this so you can also consider your past briefly.  There are people you were inseparable from in relationships forged by intense frequency. If you were to reconnect the bond can be quickly reestablished at a very deep level.

For master networkers the Internet in general and Facebook™ in particular makes it very easy to reconnect with these important people in our lives.

Take a few moments to draw out the names of those you cared about in the past.  They felt the same way and, given an opportunity to help you would do so willingly.  Networking with the willing is far more effective than networking with strangers, by the way. Many of us never take advantage of this powerful resource, though.

Once you have a list of people you would like to reconnect with consider what to offer them.  Maybe it is simply to reconnect.  They will likely celebrate your business success or new grandchild just as excitedly as you.  These are simple places to start and should lead quickly to areas of more significant value.  Some of your old friends may be in the same field as you with brighter credentials.  If so, they may want to mentor you.  Others may be starting on a path you have already walked and you can mentor them.  More likely they are in different fields and can become connectors into new networks.  Again, consider your intent.  You are there to reconnect and add value to their lives, as well.

Enjoy this walk down memory lane.

© 2011 by Stephen Hand of Triangle BNI.
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