A continuation of Danny Tinsdale’s interview with Juliette Mayers, author of “A Black Woman’s Guide to Networking, Advance Your Career. Grow Your Business!”
You talk about strategic networking. How does that play out from a practical standpoint? First, let me start by defining what I mean. In my book, I refer to strategic and productive networking. Strategic networking entails development of a plan with clear objectives, versus randomly connecting with people with no clear objective in mind. Part of that plan includes the process of managing your relationships. As it relates to your plan, not all contacts have equal value and therefore, you need to manage your network to yield the highest level of productivity. In the book, I’ve outlined a three-tiered Strategic Networking Model for inner-circle contacts, high-value contacts and moderate-value contacts. In this instance, value tiering is relative to alignment with your goals and objectives, degree of trust and the allocation of your time. In short, you want to spend the most time with the people who have a high degree of alignment with your goals and people you trust.
What makes your book unique? In addition to addressing professional networking, my book acknowledges and addresses the realities of gender, race and class in