Want to Succeed? Be Kind, Respect Others

Members of my career mentoring site will tell you that I am a big believer in the power of networking.  Strong networks help you find your dream job and then succeed once you’ve landed it.  When it comes to finding a job, especially by creating a strong network using LinkedIn, you can’t beat the advice that you’ll find from my friends at Careerealism.

As much as I like LinkedIn, I’m still and up close and personal kind of guy.  So I have built my network by building strong personal relationships.  A recent article in SUCCESS Magazine listed seven keys to creating and maintaining strong relationships:

  1. Trust
  2. Openness
  3. Kindness
  4. Teamwork
  5. Joy
  6. Respect
  7. Forgiveness

All seven of these are important.  But I think that kindness and respect are the two most important ones in this list.  They go hand in hand.  Kind people respect others’ thoughts and ideas.  They listen to, and are open to, hearing ideas that are different from their own.  I always tell my career coaching clients that they should listen really hard when they disagree with something being said, because they are likely to learn something.

We’re big on developing ethical leaders at the University of Denver Daniels College of Business where I teach MBA courses.  We engage our students in discussion of the eight ethical principles laid out by the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative.  The sixth principle: “Honor the rights, freedoms, views and property of others,” goes directly to the ideas of kindness and respect.

The dictionary defines the word “kind” as “considerate, helpful, humane,” and “respect” as “an understanding that someone or something is important and serious and should be treated in an appropriate way.”

You can build strong relationships by being considerate and helpful and treating others and their ideas as important and serious.  Everybody needs a little help now and then.  That’s what paying it forward is all about.  When you do for others without expecting anything in return, they’ll be there for you when the time comes.  When you take the time to listen to others, to make an effort to understand their thoughts and ideas, they’ll return the favor.  Do this with enough people, and you’ll end up with a strong network – and more important, a successful life and career.

Your career mentor,

Bud

PS: I write this blog to help people create the life and career success they want and deserve. Now I’m going one step further. I’ve created a membership site in which I’ve pulled together my best thoughts on success. And, as a reader of this blog, you can become a member for free. Just go to https://budbilanich.com/join to claim your free membership. You’ll be joining a vibrant and growing community of success minded professionals. I hope to see you there.

 

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