The Art of Marketing: Relationships and Metrics
If you weren't there, you missed something special. But I'm not just gloating. Read on if you weren't there, for I'm going to share what I captured and what inspired me in all the sessions. You're welcome!
Keith Ferrazzi on "Relationships for Revenue Growth"
Relationships are critical to success but we don't know if demographics relate to relationship styles. Your "circography" was locked by about age three and it revolves around a basic question: are people safe? Another consideration is whether you are conflict-avoidant or confrontational. From that age on, we are basically looking for examples to reinforce what we thought was true back then.
What overrides this psychology is the fact that we are all human and long to be connected and tribal—to belong. We also need to influence and our relationships are an indication of our ability to do this.
When someone else gets a promotion, we often think that the boss likes him or her better. That is likely to be true because "likes better" translates to the boss seeing the person as being vision-aligned with him or her, getting to the point quicker, having the boss's back, telling the truth, being better engaged in dialog and so on.
When there is a good relationship between you and a colleague, there is 30% more employee engagement and 17% more productivity. If you are the leader of others, these numbers double. Employees need to feel you care about their success. Relationships are a part of your job.
Ironically, we have to-do lists but no people plans, yet relationships are the greatest lever for success. We should have a list of the 25 most important people to our lives, hopes and aspirations this year. Then we should evaluate what we are doing to enhance these relationships.