Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to make better introductions, ones
Speaker 1: that put awesome people together and help nurture your relationships too.
Speaker 1: The first part of this tip is to realize that
Speaker 1: you should make introductions. I know some people listening to
Speaker 1: this are natural connectors, and they spend their entire lives
Speaker 1: thinking about which far flung corners of their networks should
Speaker 1: be brought closer. But for many of us, this is
Speaker 1: a far more acquired skill. It's taken me a long
Speaker 1: time to realize that if I like an admire person
Speaker 1: A and I like an admire person B, there's a
Speaker 1: pretty good chance that person A and person B would
Speaker 1: get along, or at least have enough in common to
Speaker 1: have a productive phone call. Some people don't have space
Speaker 1: in their lives for any more connections, but those people
Speaker 1: are relatively rare. This game of introducing people is one
Speaker 1: in which you can bat eight hundred or so pretty easily.
Speaker 1: That is, if you take the second part of this
Speaker 1: tip to heart. For an introduction to work, you need
Speaker 1: to ask both people if they want to be introduced Now,
Speaker 1: this might seem like an unnecessary step, given if you
Speaker 1: know both parties well enough to be making an introduction,
Speaker 1: they are likely to say yes. But sending each of
Speaker 1: them a note or calling them ahead of time to
Speaker 1: get permission does a few things. First, it gives you
Speaker 1: a chance to explain who the other person is without
Speaker 1: that person being part of the audience, so you can
Speaker 1: be a bit more straightforward about why the introduction will
Speaker 1: be useful to each person. This also means that when
Speaker 1: you do send a note introducing both parties, each will
Speaker 1: know who the other person is and why they should
Speaker 1: be connecting. When people fail to do this, it can
Speaker 1: just be confusing. I've gotten in doctory notes for people
Speaker 1: that just say you two are awesome and you should connect.
Speaker 1: And while I have no doubt that the other person,
Speaker 1: let's call her Bath, is awesome, I'm doing some frantic
Speaker 1: Google searching to figure out who she is before responding
Speaker 1: to the email, and then I guess totally wrong about
Speaker 1: why we should be connecting right now. Beth might want
Speaker 1: to talk because she's also into podcasting, but my Google
Speaker 1: searching turns up that she wrote for a publication I
Speaker 1: used to write for, and so I think it's maybe
Speaker 1: something about that both of us will waste time trying
Speaker 1: to figure this out. There's always the chance that you'll
Speaker 1: find out an introduction isn't a good idea right this
Speaker 1: second too. Maybe one person is about to depart for
Speaker 1: an offline month long retreat, or you were about to
Speaker 1: suggest someone sending her resume to the other party's company,
Speaker 1: and you find out that Party B just got fired
Speaker 1: and it's a bit of a sore subject. Again, these
Speaker 1: are unlikely scenarios, but finding this out ahead of time
Speaker 1: saves you all from wondering why Party B is and
Speaker 1: responding and if you did something offensive, Party A might
Speaker 1: not be happy to be introduced and reach out and
Speaker 1: get crickets in return. I'm sure she'll forgive you eventually,
Speaker 1: but why take the risk. Double opt in introductions are
Speaker 1: the way to go. But when you do these, you
Speaker 1: can make all sorts of wonderful things happen. People get
Speaker 1: hired and get new long term clients, They make new
Speaker 1: friends and meet new lovers. You change the world for
Speaker 1: the better, and that is a great use of time.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me in email at Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: At iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.