Guest Post written by: Dorothy Dalton
Gender and Networking At 1.25 a.m. CET, on Tuesday 28th June,
I sat flexing my fingers at my keyboard, power napped and double espresso at my side, waiting with eager anticipation for my debut tweet chat with the #leadfromwithin community. Hosted by the ever generous Lolly Daskal it was a topic dear to my heart, Networking and Gender.
Northern Europe had just been struck by storms of biblical proportions. The first calamity was my TV was knocked out of action. For anyone who knows me, this is the second week of Wimbledon, the night before the men’ quarter finals! The second was about to come. My internet connection slowed down to the pace of a drugged snail. The Skype signal disappeared and with it Lolly and after 1 introductory tweet the #leadfromwithin stream drifted into cyber space.
I tried everything I could think of and finally, after 30 minutes, regained some sort of contact. Instead of there being hundreds of tweets whizzing through the stream, a few plopped gently into my line of vision. The tweets I could engage with showed me what I was missing! It was too bad! I was gutted!
This was the new networking at work and I was missing out. Building relationships with total strangers from all over the globe, reaching out and simply getting to know people better. Making connections.
I saw phrases that totally tapped into my own philosophy: be a source, not a resource, be open, give before receiving, behave with integrity, create a dialogue, listen attentively, don’t be afraid of failure and show a generosity of spirit. All of these are key to successful networking. It was great to see to my own thoughts coinciding with the #leadfromwithin values.
But what of the gender difference? Women are generally great relationship builders and tend to be social animals. Research shows, that although both men and women prefer to network with people they already know, men show a stronger willingness to network professionally.
Ladies, this is a lesson we can learn from our male colleagues and connections. We should not be afraid to make the “ask” that scares us!
The #leadfromwithin community is a wonderful place to hone these skills. It is warm, welcoming and inclusive. Lolly is leading by example to create an open community in which we can all get to know each other, regardless of background, profession, and geographic location.
Who knows what will come of these connections?
So what are you waiting for?
Spread the #leadfromwithin word!
Find the ever brilliant Dorothy on twitter and Read Dorothy
Of Lolly’s many awards and accolades, Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc. magazine. Huffington Post honored Lolly with the title of The Most Inspiring Woman in the World. Her writing has appeared in HBR, Inc.com, Fast Company (Ask The Expert), Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, and others. Her newest book, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness has become a national bestseller.
Bret Simmons
29. Jun, 2011
I felt bad for you and Lolly last night, Dorothy! I know how hard Lolly works on these to make her guest shine and deliver value to the #leadfromwithin community. But at least we got you for 30 minutes!!
Bret
lollydaskal
29. Jun, 2011
Dorothy is amazing. I felt bad by her frustration not to be able to express herself last night.
But Follow her now.
She is one brilliant lady!
Helen Antholis
29. Jun, 2011
Dear Dorothy,
I’m sorry we didn’t get to see more of your comments. It must have been so frustrating to meet us and not be able to share your insights. However, we are now connected and that’s the value of the #leadfromwithin community. We meet so many interesting people each week. It’s a tribute to Lolly’s vision.
Onward to Wimbledon!
lollydaskal
29. Jun, 2011
Dorothy is now part of our family.
LFW is a special community. Were we care for each other.
Helen it is always great to see you.
Next week is Dr Greg Waddell on foresight will be most interesting.
Lolly
Dorothy Dalton
30. Jun, 2011
Thanks all! You can’t change nature and the show went on!. I was thrilled to see the level of engagement and super content centred around the structure that Lolly and I had designed together. Everyone’s consideration for my frustration was appreciated.
This type of networking is just one new way where people can connect , in a fast changing world. Lolly is doing a wonderfuljob of making that happen. It’s also a great process for introverts – I didn’t see that mentioned. For those who hate to go to big live events, interacting with people first on line, to build relationships and confidence is a huge boost!
Good luck everyone! Happy networking!
Cherry Woodburn
30. Jun, 2011
Now I understand why I saw your “hello” tweet and then nothing. I had to leave chat after 30+ minutes so completely missed you. Bummer about that.
There were powerful comments, as you noted Dorothy. I had some difficulty with following it all, as that’s the first twitter chat I’ve attended with a high # of people. Continuing to attend will keep my brain from aging in many different ways.
Thanks #leadfromwithin and Lolly.
Sweetie Berry
30. Jun, 2011
So very glad to hear your voice here. The joy of the LFW community is we show up to celebrate as well as to shoulder difficult events. Glad it was just a storm, and it’s good to see you shine!
Edward Colozzi
01. Jul, 2011
Dorothy,
Not to worry, You WERE connected to ALL of us throughout the chat, more than you know, through the LOVE that truly bonds all of Lolly’s family; a love that is much stronger than even those “Biblical Storms”, a love network that doesn’t have to rely on technology, and is always connecting us via the same spiritual energy that binds us all, whether our technology is on or off. EdC
Simon Harvey
04. Jul, 2011
Dear Dorothy,
I think Edward is right, your were connected,and I totally get the ‘introverts’ comment, me being one. The flow of the tweetchat gives me time to think and then type, or when I see a post that I MUST respond to, there is no struggle to get my voice heard. Just his that button.
I look forward to your comments on future #leadfromwithin tues night chats with great anticipation.
Great to have people from the other side of the pond as well. ✔ As always a HUGE Thanks to you Lolly for bringing such great people together.
Dorothy Dalton
10. Aug, 2011
Sorry everyone for not responding sooner – have been travelling.
Lolly does such a great job of opening up her network and bringing people together in a spirit of genorosity and inclusiveness.
Getting to know people we have never met before ( in modernspeak networking) can be daunting for so many – but this is a really safe and comfortable environment to start. What I love about this medium is that SOKnowing (SOcial networking connections) do become IRL (In Real Life) contacts. It really can be a brave new world!
Thanks Lolly and thanks to all of you for your patience!