Connections Really DO Matter

When I was young I never liked the expression, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”  I was determined to prove that theory wrong.  I was going to graduate with top grades and get ahead thanks to my smarts.

While I’m still proud to this day to have graduated college cum laude, and feel that I’ve got some level of intelligence, I have realized over the years that, yes, it’s still going to boil down to who you know.

In fact, I’m (almost too) often heard saying how important it is to make and keep connections.  “You can never have too many contacts,” I write regularly in this blog and say on “Now Hear This Entertainment.”

Two days ago I was the guest on a long interview on FM radio, talking about the music business, podcasting, and NHTE.  That was a direct result of a contact I’d made because of a contact I already had.  And now I plan to continue this new relationship.

Late last week I interviewed someone for an upcoming episode of NHTE and after pressing the Stop button asked if they knew a particular past guest of mine.  When the answer was, “I don’t think so,” I immediately suggested that I connect the two of them.  It just seemed like it was going to be a good connection for them.

Tomorrow morning I fly to Los Angeles for a week.  While yes, at the heart of the trip is another speaking engagement for me, thanks to the Outlier Podcast Festival, and of course I’ll spend significant time with a Hollywood-based client, I will also have lots of entries on my schedule getting face time with – yup, you guessed it – lots of contacts I have out there.

In other words, I’m practicing what I preach.

Today’s blog is not meant to be boastful or self-serving.  On the contrary, leading by example can be an effective approach.  When Jimmy Johnson coached the Dallas Cowboys he famously said, “If you’re gonna talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk.”  So, how could I write in this blog each week and state over and over on “Now Hear This Entertainment” that connections really do matter if I’m not living that out?

Now, it’s probably best that I also remind you that it’s not a, “What can you do for me” attitude that should run through these relationships.  Case in point, you might’ve read above where I talked about connecting two people because I thought they’d be a good fit for one another and thought, “But what’s in that for Bruce?”  Nothing!  It’s just the right thing to do.  Think of it as “pay it forward.”  I’m sure there have been times when someone connected me to someone else in a similar fashion.

Collaboration has become so common nowadays (at least in the music business, that is) that the buzzword “collab” has been formulated.  It’s not a coincidence, it’s a sign.

Get out there and connect!

Share your success stories about the contacts you’ve nurtured.  Talk about this blog in our Facebook group!