Career progression isn’t just about your skills or experience—it's about who you know. Networking plays a crucial role in shaping your career, and it’s often said that you're only one connection away from your next big opportunity. In this post, we’ll explore why networking is vital, the systems you can build to maximize its potential, and a few practical hacks that can transform your approach to career networking.

The Big Why: Why Networking is Crucial for Career Growth

Networking is more than just socializing; it’s about creating meaningful connections that can propel your career forward. The truth is, many career advancements don’t happen through traditional job applications but through relationships. Personally, I’ve never secured a job by applying through LinkedIn or other platforms—except for my very first job. Every subsequent role came through networking, highlighting the importance of connecting with the right people.

Moreover, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. This concept is evident in both personal and professional life. Surround yourself with individuals who inspire and challenge you, and you'll find yourself leveling up. In contrast, if you associate with people who lack ambition or drive, you may find yourself stagnating. Therefore, consciously choosing your circle is vital for career growth.

Networking is About Giving, Not Taking

One of the most important aspects of networking is the mindset with which you approach it. Networking shouldn’t be about what others can do for you but about how you can contribute to others. This approach not only makes networking feel more natural but also builds genuine relationships. People are more likely to help and support those who have consistently provided value without expecting anything in return.

Building Your Networking System

A successful networking strategy begins with a clear understanding of who you want to connect with. Whether you’re looking to move up within your current organization or exploring opportunities elsewhere, identifying the key people you want to associate with is essential. Over my nearly 30-year career, I have consistently and consciously connected with individuals who could influence my career trajectory. This approach has led to promotions and new opportunities time and again.

Mapping Your Ecosystem

Think of your network as an ecosystem, with varying degrees of closeness. Your immediate circle—family and close friends—is your foundational network. As you move outward, you encounter acquaintances, connections, and strangers. The goal is to bring people from the outer circles closer into your “friendly zone,” where genuine, mutually beneficial relationships can flourish.

When considering career advancement, it’s crucial to map out your ecosystem within your organization. Identify the people who have the influence to impact your career and determine how you can build relationships with them. This could involve working on projects together, offering to help with initiatives, or simply engaging with them regularly to stay top-of-mind.

Practical Networking Hacks

Now that you understand the importance of networking and how to build a system, here are some practical hacks to help you maximize your efforts:

1. The 24-Hour Rule

Whenever you meet someone new, make it a point to connect with them within 24 hours. This could be through LinkedIn, email, or even a simple text message. The idea is to stay fresh in their memory, making it easier to build a relationship moving forward.

2. The Phone Hack

Your phone is a powerful tool for networking. Whenever you meet someone, jot down important details about them—spouse’s name, children’s names, hobbies, or any other personal tidbits they share. This information can be invaluable for future conversations, helping you build rapport and show that you care.

For instance, if a colleague mentioned they enjoy hiking in Barcelona, you could bring it up in a future conversation, which demonstrates attentiveness and strengthens your connection.

3. The Birthday Hack

A simple but effective way to maintain your network is to remember birthdays. Set reminders in your phone’s calendar for the birthdays of your key contacts. A quick birthday message can go a long way in keeping your relationships warm and showing that you value the person.

4. The Selfie Hack

In a physical environment, this hack is both fun and effective. After meeting someone, suggest taking a selfie together. Once you’ve taken the photo, offer to send it to them, which will naturally require exchanging phone numbers. This is a non-intrusive way to get someone’s contact details and create a memorable connection.

Networking is an art and a science, blending the right mindset with strategic actions. By understanding the importance of networking, building a structured system, and using practical hacks, you can significantly boost your career growth. Remember, it’s not just about who you know but about how you can help others. With these strategies, you can develop a strong, supportive network that propels you toward your career goals.

Start applying these tips today, and watch how your professional relationships and opportunities flourish.

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Transcript:

[00:00:00] Career networking, we talk about the big why, the system, and then I give you a couple of networking hacks so that you can actually really do something with that afterwards.

The big why. So why is networking helpful to grow your career. You're just one connection away from your next career. I have seen this over and over and over again. You just need to connect to the right people and then you can make a career like get promoted, get in front of the right person and get into conversations.

And this is super powerful. And I have, maybe I should not say that, but I have never. gotten a job through the normal process, like applying through LinkedIn or whatever in the old days. Um, so in, in my, let's [00:01:00] say in the career, except maybe my first job there, I needed to do a normal application, but after that, never.

So another thing, why networking is important. You're the average of the five people you spend most time with. And we see that specifically with kids. If you put a well behaving kid and into a group of other kids that are not well behaving that this kid well behaving will not be well behaving a second after.

I've seen that with my daughter even. So that's, that's one. And what, what I like about this, and I have used it for myself in the past when I wanted to level up, I try to connect to people that are a little bit ahead of me. So I try to stay connected to them so that I get vibe of what they're doing, how they're doing things and really get a little bit kind of the energy of, of what they're after.

And that's of course the same if you want to make a [00:02:00] career step, if you are inside of a company, how do you connect to the people you want to be connected to? And then the last part of this is networking is. about how you can help other people, not about how other people can help you. And that's, I want to set this from the beginning, the whole networking and everyone who knows me, I'm rarely, maybe once in a lifetime, asking someone for help.

Most of the time, I'm just helping people all the time. And that's just, I want to get you into that mindset as well, because I think it's a more healthier mindset than going into something where it's like sales, where you just do the relationship because of that. And I think specifically when we look into career development, it's even more important that you look into how do you contribute to something bigger than yourself?

And how do you get into a company where [00:03:00] you want to work in, not just having a job and a salary though, that of course that's needed. So from the system, again, super, super simple. First step is whom do you want to, to, to be connected to? So starting with the understanding of What are the five people, what are the people you would like to get closer to is, is a key part and I, I did this and I will go more into that how I did it consciously over and over and over again, every career step I've had over the last now already almost 30 years, I decided consciously to whom I want to connect.

So that we together change things and through that then I get promoted over a long period of time and doing the same now as a business owner, I want to be associated with certain people, I want to connect to certain people, and I do the steps into their [00:04:00] direction. And one very, very simple view of that is getting people in an ecosystem.

So you have an ecosystem of. Very, very close people, which is family and friends. And then you have on the opposite strangers, like that don't know you. And then from strangers, I call it the next step to towards you is acquaintances. Like, yeah, you know each other, but you don't really know each other. And then you are getting connections and connections more aware to which we use in a digital environment.

But in the end, it's the same. Like we all now kind of our connections, we know each other a little bit. And. But not super deep. Like, we're not super well connected. Maybe Frank and I, because we know each other a couple of years already, and Hulut and I, because we talk to each other every day the last couple of weeks.

But in the end, it's like, we're still on the [00:05:00] level of connections too friendly. What I like to call this piece is, how do you Get people that you want to hang out with, that you want to be associated with, that you want to network with into the friendly zone. And that's what it is all about. So, you consciously take decisions to what are the group of people.

You want to be connected to and then how do you get into their environment? How do you get connected to them and how do you then get into the friendly zone with them? And some of them are getting to be friends and some of them are not getting to be friends and will be friendly forever or Go back towards the connection zones, which is all fine because things are changing in our lives And not everyone needs to be in the friendly zone or in the family zone, but people can, of course, come from stranger and go to family as well.

So there are many opportunities. Important [00:06:00] is that this is a, is a conscious step. When you look towards your career development, you can do this completely unconscious where you say you apply to every job that is out on LinkedIn, if it fits or not. And then it's kind of, you're just shooting out into the blind.

There's no real goal. What, what you want to achieve. And we are now not only going in applying for a job, but specifically, if you are already inside of an organization, you, you know, who are the people you want to connect to, maybe you want to switch to a different department, maybe you want to switch to a different team, or you want to get to the next level in the management hierarchy, wherever you are.

Or if you think about like, you, you want to find a new job and, um, I've shared that already in one of the other calls, it's, it's quite hard. applying for jobs for some people and then getting as well selected because now with LinkedIn and all the other platforms, they're not like when it [00:07:00] was in the old days when I was applying to my first job, I'm asked maybe one of five.

Now I think, Every job gets like, I did a job posting a couple of weeks ago and I got 75 applicants in less than four hours. Uh, and like I'm a nobody with what I'm doing. So imagine if you are an interesting company that is well known, they get thousands of people applying. And then the algorithm, the system is sorting people out.

So getting yourself. outside of that system. That's what I'm all about. Like how do you, to step outside of the norm and get connections and use that for yourself is what we're talking about. So the friendly zone is, is the, the, the zone we want to get people in. What I always do is mapping out ecosystems.

So that's like a holistic perspective of all the different ecosystem. We all are in different ecosystems and we are in different networks all the time. [00:08:00] One example is family and friends. Like family is the closest or at least blood wise, the closest network you have. And then you have family and friends that are kind of intertwined quite, quite a lot, depending on, on how you are set up in, in, in which culture you live.

But that's kind of one network. Understanding this network will help you to be successful. If you understand that inside of your family, you have people that you want to spend time with, you want to get closer to, um, And there will be others that you don't want to be close to all the time. I have had this over the last year, especially when we moved out of Germany.

I've experienced that my closest friends and the whole ecosystem is changing because i'm Developing so rapidly That I don't fit to some of them anymore. And still, like, my best buddies are my best buddies, that's not going to change. But some, like, not best buddy, but good friends have changed [00:09:00] dramatically over the last years.

That's, that's kind of, just being aware of that and mapping that out for yourself will help you to understand, okay, what are the people I want to spend more time with. Because, again, it's a conscious decision, because you want to do a career move. You want to build a network that helps you to get to the next level.

That means you need to take decisions whom you want to be connected to. Another thing is companies like what are the different companies you want to work in? If you're looking for exploring different companies. Uh, working in different companies, what are the companies that fits to your values? What are the things where you, you believe you would be a good fit as well?

Because in the end we have all the choice where we work and now in a global economy when it comes to workforce I think we have all the chances on our our our end then of course you have On the top right like hobbies and different other networks that are kind of friends, but not real friends. Maybe you play football.

Maybe you play chess. Maybe you do music. So [00:10:00] there are a lot of things I give you very, very cool example. So when I was living in Sweden, I was swimming in a pool every morning, training for my Ironman. And in this pool was the former Olympic squad. Of Sweden and the former Olympic squad of Sweden was 60 something old already.

So it's not like it's the Uber at least it's the old at least, but they were swimming every morning. They, they, they come, they swim half an hour and then they're chitchatting. So I somehow got into this group because I was there every day as well. So we got to know each other and we, we got friendly with each other.

And over time, then I moved outside of Ikea and. They got to know that I move outside of the IKEA. So they asked me what I'm doing. And that was one of my first paying clients. He said, Hey, you can help me do this. And in the end through this connection, he actually paid me quite a lot of money to help them with what, what I was offering at that time.

Um, and then of course, if [00:11:00] you're inside of one company, and that's one thing I did with my mentor, when I was in Ikea, I was still working in Germany, which was kind of still the beginning of my career in Ikea. Before I did the big moves, we mapped out the total company. So inside of the company, we looked into what are the different business units?

What are the different, um, Oh, it's called business units, but also areas of the business, because Ikea goes from the whole, like throughout the whole value chain from the tree to selling it in the store, everything in between. So there's a logistic part, which some people don't know. So we met all of that out and then we looked into how does that relate to where I want to be all the different positions that are interesting for me.

And then we looked as well, how does that fit to my goal perspective? So one of the things which we don't go into details today is. mapping out your goals and where you want to be and being very, very [00:12:00] clear what is important to you in life. So we did that before. And then we, we, we overlapped that with the company.

And then we said, so for you, which in my case was, okay, for me, there are like five different areas where we could see myself succeeding in with the value stack, with the knowledge I have built out with the experience I have and with what I have done in the business and before Ikea. And then. Then we went one level deeper, which was then really going into, so we mapped all the executive position, because my goal was to get into an executive position in Ikea and we met out, okay, where do they come from?

So this HR manager started in this door, this whatever area manager started there. So we looked into what were their career steps and how did they get to, to, to the position where they are? And then we found out there are a couple of easy ways That you can do if you are with the values and with the, let's say, experience I have had in [00:13:00] that time.

And then we literally built like two possibilities for me to get to a certain level. And that's how I ended up being worldwide responsible for innovation at IKEA. So it's really, it started with basic mind map. So that's a huge part which I And I really recommend everyone to do if you look into progressing your career inside of an organization, and I do the same, of course, for my business.

And that is really how do you, how do you work with this different zones? I always, when I do a mind mapping in this, then I always start with like, who is closest to me already. So closest is family and friends. And then you expand from that. And then you look, how do I get this specific stakeholder closer to me?

And there are then always different strategies you can use to get that stakeholder, um, closer to you and, and get them into the friendly zone. Because if, let's [00:14:00] say, you are working in finance somewhere as a finance administrator, and you want to get towards a business navigation position, knowing, um, The different people that are above that level that could easily take you out from your position and put you on top is a huge career booster.

That's one of the examples how I got promoted in before Ikea. So I was working in, in, in a small department in Bielefeld, which nobody knows. Um, and I had the chance to work with, with the managing director of that company as part of And what I did was I was relating with, with his group and peer group and I was being visible to them.

So I got them closer into my friendly zone. And one day this big manager just took me out of the business and said, now you're jumping two steps without any. Negotiations without any application, without [00:15:00] anything. And that was just because I'm was more visible, which then goes back to the personal branding, which we have had last week.

So all of this is, is working together. So it's really, how do you get people into your friendly zone? So that they know about you, that they enjoy what you're doing and they're really in tune with what you're doing. As more you have that, as better it is for you. So now that's like high level fluff. We now, now go really details.

And this is like, we were just on 10, 000 foot level. Now we are going on two centimeter, um, for eggs. So the 24 hour rule, any, any one of you heard about the 24 hour rule? No, I have learned this when I was in Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley, at least that's what the guys told me. I have no idea it's true, but I, I since then say it always, you, when you meet someone, you need to connect to them within 24 hours, which like you meet with [00:16:00] someone and you reach out to each other within 24 hours so that the person it let's say that was a physical.

Environment, you meet someone in physical environment and you connect to each other within 24 hours, because then you still remember the face of the other person. Let's say if you connect on LinkedIn, and I think a good example from this group is Christian and I, we have met at an event in Amsterdam. And I think within 24 hours, we connected to each other and stayed connected ever since.

So that's, that's something I, it's so basic that, that we, we sometimes forget this. What I always try to do is either you do it straight away in the event, and we'll show you later a trick how to do that, or you try to do it afterwards as fast as possible. In the old days, we have business cards, which you give to each other and then you, well, like you do this straight away with the phone or like, depending where you are, if you're in a physical environment, [00:17:00] sometimes you have a list.

Like right now, if I would be you on this call, I would just check out who are the others, take their name and put them into LinkedIn and connect to them. Like I've seen some of you doing already, which is awesome. So that's an easy way to say, Hey, Frank was amazing to see you in the call would love to stay connected.

And over time, you get to know each other and over time, you're networking with each other. And if you're, if you're in the same direction, and if you are in the same vibe, and you want to hang out with each other, then you're connected, and then it's an easy way. And that's, that's why this whole community is so powerful.

Like, there are people, and maybe, like, we just crossed the hundred today, we are going towards thousands, and at least that's our goal. There will be people you want to hang out with and there will be people you maybe don't want to hang out with and that's always an opportunity to connect. So, another easy networking hack is the phone hack.[00:18:00]

So, the most simple way is, and I always, when I'm on stage, I'm always or sometimes sharing that hack. My phone is the most valuable thing in this house right now and I'm in a house. Like there's TVs and there's other shit and cars and whatever outside that are first view more valuable than this. But in the end, it's my phone because my phone has all the connections from my whole life.

Like every person I want to stay in contact with is in my phone. Like if I take just also us on the phone call, like all of you are on in my phone, all of you are in my contacts. Which means I have your number, which means I have your email. I have the possibility to connect to you. And that is so important [00:19:00] because I can now look, I can give you the example.

I hope Frank, you don't mind what I, what I do. When I met Frank first time, what I did, I'm just hanging out with him. We met in Spain and got to know each other. And then he told me, Hey, my, my wife is Cindy. So what, uh, what did I write wife Cindy? And then he, he, he, he talked about Martina and how beautiful she is and our daughters played together.

So what I have daughter is Martina. These are small things. And then you can have dark names, whatever it is. We think about this like in sales, but this is like, if I'm not now talking to with Frank, it's easy because I know his wife and his daughter, but let's say I would have not met them. And he just shared this randomly on the call.

And then I would say, Hey, how is Martina going? A year after we have talked last time, he would be impressed. He didn't know that I just wrote it [00:20:00] down when we met two years ago. Other thing, like another topic, I will not read everything, but another topic, he played basketball in the German Basketball Bundesliga.

Like this, these are random things I'm picking up when you tell it to me, and I'm putting that into my phone. So it's the power. Full tool if you use it and it's, it's only the things that are, that are interesting to you that, that you pick up, but it's like the doc name is, is the things that are random stuff because you, if you, if you bring that up in a conversation, it's super powerful.

And why is this now so valuable? I have this, I have done this since years. So I have a lot of people where I have this. Um, this is valuable to me and it would be valuable maybe to hackers as well. I don't know, but that's another discussion. But it's, it's, it's just a super powerful networking opportunity when you connect with someone and you use, I mean, obviously their name, I hope at least, [00:21:00] but as well, like, Whatever they did, whatever they shared over, over the time.

Now, imagine we think about courier, you are talking to a manager that is, if you're in an organization that's two or three levels above you, if it's a big organization, and this person has shared something a year ago, when you had like, when you bumped into each other on the toilet. And you come back, Hey, you, you, you told me last time that you are going to do the hiking trip.

I was there. It was, it was like Barcelona or wasn't it? So you just drop, drop these things and people will be like, Holy cow. He really remembers something. And it's just in the phone because you always have your phone with you. So it's super powerful. I've used that quite a lot. The third networking hack.

It's the birthday hat. Also an obvious one, [00:22:00] have the birthdays of the people that, where you can get it, like, try to get their birthday in the phone. This is one of the things I always do whenever, I mean, I'm, of course, sometimes I'm forgetting, but I have this in my phone, I have this in my calendar, and then it's popping up on the day they have birthday, and it's, you know, It's nothing better than just sending a quick text message.

Hey, Frank, happy birthday. Especially, I mean, especially if you're not connected so often, if you don't see each other for half a year or a year, it's still a possibility to connect to people. I do. I try to do this on LinkedIn. Now I have too many connections and too, too many people. I'm not able to do this because it's like 50 times per day is maybe a little bit much.

Say happy birthday, at least with the people that are in my phone. I try to do that with some people. I, it takes a while to get the birthday, [00:23:00] but I try to always get the birthday. And then just sending a nice message. I just did it today with a manager I've had years ago in corporate, just saying, Hey, how are you doing?

We haven't talked for at least two years. Happy birthday. Just, just thought about you.

And now imagine she would look for someone, I mean, I'm not looking for a job, but imagine she would look for someone with my skill set again, she was like, Hey Jens, maybe you would be interesting. Um, do you know someone who would be interested? And boom, as a conversation bonus egg, last one, the selfie hack.

So physical environment, that's one of the best tricks and I've stolen it from Instagram. So it's, it's not my idea, but it, it, It's awesome. And it works. I've done it. [00:24:00] So to, to the, to the, like you get to know someone and you want to get their phone number, but you don't want to be kind of sales, you just say, it doesn't matter which environment it works everywhere, even in the most corporate setting, Hey, let's do selfie.

Do you do the selfie? Then you have the selfie and then I send it to you. And then you get the phone number

and then you have the phone number. Then if you give them your phone, then they put the name properly. And if you, if you don't remember their name properly, then you have the name and the phone number, and then you send them the selfie via WhatsApp text message or whatever. And now they're very, very fun, simple trick.

But I mean, if, and, and there are people like Frank and I, we would share that then on, on LinkedIn somewhere that we just met, how awesome is that in five years, you will remember. It's just a super, super easy trick, which normally [00:25:00] only salespeople will do. But I think from a networking aspect, it's super helpful.

Yes. Yeah. Can I say something? Because I have a funny history about the selfie hack. And the last week I got an invitation to meet, uh, with a manager of a company in it. And then I went to the meeting and I realized that the guy is on holidays. And I was speaking with the, with us, a nice lady over there.

And she told me, no, he's on holidays. Okay, no problem. And then I took the picture on, on the door of the company and I sent the email to the guy in CC with other people. Hey, I'm so sorry, I hope you enjoy the holidays. The next day, text me the CEO of the company. Hey, Mr. Peralta, I'm so sorry, please. Come, we can take a look about the, the open issue we have, we have yesterday.

So I'm sorry, but I don't know. And that was the only way to get in touch with the CEO of the company. It was [00:26:00] suddenly a good opportunity to meet the right guy after missing, uh, a meeting with, with the other, um, Mr. On the company. And that is great because I was showing him, Hey guys, I'm here. I came as we, uh, agreed four weeks ago.

I hope you are okay and here's the picture easy way. Amazing. Yeah, it works. They, of course, this are super basic tricks, but I have used this things over and over again, over my career and it works. Cause in the end, if you, especially if you, like I worked in very large corporate, as more you use your network, as easier it is to navigate.

As bigger the companies get, as more important it is to know who, who knows what and so on. Definitely. And it's so funny because it's a lot, everything like reminds me of dating tricks. This is the kind of [00:27:00] thing that, yeah, I mean, if you want to get a phone number, you'll say, Oh yeah, just, yeah. Uh, like you can leave it on my phone.

So it's just funny. All of these are dating tricks. Yeah. When, when I was still dating, there was like no smartphones. So that's before my time or after.