on the power of collaborative networking

A great piece of advice for aspiring leaders from Belén Garijo the ceo of the $22.8 billion science and technology company Merck KGaA. Her key takeaway? Network, and make sure people know you’re a bar raiser and a collaborator.

So forget any concept of networking being an activity where you press as many business cards into as many reluctant hands as possible, or accumulate as many online connections as possible, even if you don’t know the contacts or can’t remember where you met.

For Garijo, who was interviewed by LinkedIn’s editor in chief Daniel Roth, networking is about working with as many people as possible on or around your own level, so you create a far-reaching and diverse network of people who want to work with you and may take you with them if they climb first.

And forget any grandstanding  or trying to pop up when the main boss is around. Networking for Garijo is about being humble, seeking advice from others and contributing to outcomes that benefit everyone involved.

“The best way to network is to have a mindset of collaboration,” she said. “…aim to make an impact working as part of a team.”

This is solid advice. Certainly in my experience, if we want to create networks that are valuable to us, and valued by others, the best outcomes are when they are founded on the principle of what goes round, comes round. Sharing, without any expectation of anything in return, creates trust, and trust builds meaningful relationships.

I’ve seen this in the communities I have developed in the past, whether designed to support regional economic development objectives, or to encourage female entrepreneurship. Working from the ground up, it’s about creating the right environment for trust to grow. It’s the principle at the heart of the LUMIN community we are building now, for women to share their experiences, knowledge and networks to mentor, inform and encourage each other in their working lives.