How to Win Business and Influence People

1. Knowledge
2. Your network
3. Compassion

The vast majority of people stop learning after high school or their post-secondary education. Those who make reading a life-long habit, and especially those who intentionally retain the lessons they’ve learned and share them with others, yield more power and influence in their business network than those who don’t.

Sanders believes that when you consistently focus on your knowledge bank, you have access to more information to help others. When you use that information to help the people in your network, your network grows because of this form of generosity.

He shares that we should all be consciously building our networks every day in authentic ways. We should help other people by sharing what we know and by connecting people to each other when we identify relationships that we believe can result in win/win outcomes.

When you connect people in your network and help them solve problems, people think highly of you for helping them. You’re seen as a connector who can be trusted. This strengthens your network and the relationships you have with others.

Finally, he believes we should have compassion for ourselves and other people. To paraphrase what he says in the book, “Be a lovecat. That means: Offer your wisdom freely. Give away your address book to everyone who wants it. And always be human.”

Last week, at our first meeting of The Brain Trust, we spent time talking about this, and I added one more step: effort.

You have to put in the effort on a regular basis. 

Effort is underrated these days when instant gratification comes from the next notification you get on your mobile phone instead of the long-term satisfaction you could get from reading a book, getting to know someone better in real life, and/or showing up and demonstrating empathy and support when someone is struggling.

While social media can be a great place to build your network, if your connections are the wrong ones, it can be a dangerous place to hang out, too.

Dangerous in terms of consuming knowledge that isn’t useful, factual, or helpful, as well as wasting your precious time.

As you look to the future, consider these questions:

• How are you increasing your knowledge on a daily basis?
• How are you sharing what you know and are learning with others?
• How are you building and strengthening your network both online and in person?
• Where can you be more compassionate (aka human) in terms of how you show up?

At The Brain Trust meeting, we had a great time interacting in person, sharing our knowledge, and compassionately supporting each other’s goals and dreams.

If you’re not getting into a room (and not a Zoom room) with other like-minded people on a regular basis, you’re missing out.

Consider how you might change this and enrich your life and business in a more meaningful way.

Remember, effort is the magic sauce. It takes effort to do all of this, and it requires effort to show up.