All girls together: women in business networks, by Tara Craig, Personnel Today. In the on-going struggle to reach the top in the male-centric workplace, women's networks are helping them break new ground Open link...

Networking tips those who have been affected by redundancy An article by Heather White on We are the City web site - information for today's City Women. Open Link...

Networking - how to do it, Elizabeth Harrins' interview with Heather White for A Girl's Guide to Project Management Open Link... or subscribe to PM4Girls monthly newsletter and get free copy of the 32-page eBook, Ten Experts Talk, which contains words of wisdom from ten management experts at Open Link...

Assertiveness and self-confidence: How to help build, boost, and develop self-confidence and assertiveness, Businessballs.com Building self-confidence and assertiveness is probably a lot easier than you think. 'Non-assertive' people (in other words 'normal people') do not generally want to transform into excessively dominant people. When most people talk about wanting to be more assertive, what they usually really mean is .....Open Link...

Read and listen to McKinsey & Company's on-going Women Matter Research..Open Link...

The Networking Style Questionnaire™ was developed by Smarter Networking to help everyone who needs to network with greater confidence & effectiveness. It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete and gives you immediate access to a comprehensive personal report.  Smarter Networking's extensive research into the differing approaches people use when networking have highlighted four distinct networking styles. The NSQ™ will identify which of these styles you prefer and offer approaches to help you. Link to NSQ...
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How Leaders Create and Use Networks by Herminia Ibarra and Mark Hunter, Harvard Business Review. Successful leaders have a nose for opportunity and a knack for knowing whom to tap to get things done. These qualities depend on a set of strategic networking skills that nonleaders rarely possess. Open link...

What does a network leader do? by The National College for School Leadership. As part of the Networked Learning Communities (NLC) programme, the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) has been conducting research amongst network leaders and others in leadership and support roles in school networks to find out how they have interpreted their roles. Open link...

Personality theories, types and tests - Businessball.com Motivation, management, communications, relationships - focused on yourself or others - are a lot more effective when you understand yourself, and the people you seek to motivate, manage, develop or help. When it comes to networking, understanding how to read others is vital. This is great article to understand how the difference preference models work. Open Link...

LinkedIn v Freemasons - Joining the club, Ecomonist.com: French business may be particularly full of networks, but every country has its cliques, whether based on education, social background or spiritual beliefs. In Spain, Italy and Latin America as well as France, businesspeople speak of the influence of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic lay order which supports a number of business schools. America has its Ivy League alumni groups and Rotary clubs. Chinese businesspeople often rely on guanxi, or personal connections. Open Link...
               
The Networking Style Questionnaire™ was developed by Smarter Networking to help everyone who needs to network with greater confidence & effectiveness. It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete and gives you immediate access to a comprehensive personal report.  Smarter Networking's extensive research into the differing approaches people use when networking have highlighted four distinct networking styles. The NSQ™ will identify which of these styles you prefer and offer approaches to help you. Link to NSQ...                          
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Social Networks in Silicon Valley by Mark Granovetter et al, Pp. 218-247 in The Silicon Valley Edge. Stanford University Press, Stanford.: "The most crucial aspect of Silicon Valley is its networks." There is no proposition so universally agreed upon and so little studied. We see two main reasons for this. The first is ....  Open link...
Mark Granovetter is the Joan Butler Ford Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University. Open link......

Social Networks: Evolution of the Marketing Paradigm by Tony Mackelworth, AMac Ltd. The internet has developed to provide new platforms of interaction and enabled communication between individuals on an unprecedented scale. The online social networks that now connect consumers have provided the individual with extraordinary access to content and information Open link...

Insider out, fusty old cliques v high-tech communities: it is a closer contest than you think, Economist.com: Old-fashioned networks - alumni associations, social cliques and religious groups-continue to exert a surprisingly powerful influence on business around the world (see article). In French firms, where networks are particularly widespread, outsiders can find themselves struggling to navigate their way among the énarques and polytechniciens from the elite schools, not to mention all those masons. Open Link...

Losing face - a tale of two airlines and their Facebook fiascos, Economist.com: as well as embracing blogs, firms have been exploiting social networks such as Facebook and MySpace to get their messages to a broader audience. Although they have the potential to be useful marketing tools, such networks can also be a source of damaging publicity, as British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic have discovered to their cost. Open Link...
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Open Doors with B2B Social Networking, by Tom Aley, SVP and Managing Director, Business & Relationship Intelligence, Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group. Find out how social networking technology is changing the business landscape. Discover how you can spot profitable opportunities without endless hours of research and quickly locate the path to the best prospects. As big businesses tighten their belts, sales professionals are finding it harder to close large deals. This report reveals how B2B social networking can open doors and lead to new opportunities. To download the Free E Book visit: Open link... 

How to stay in touch, the follow-up. Ten years later you are having coffee with a close contact of yours and talking about how fortunate it was to have met. Your now friend says, ‘Do you remember that chap who was in our group; you know, the one that was salivating at your feet - horrible sight' You reply, ‘Oh good grief, yes. He took my card; didn't think quickly enough to say I had run out. Anyway, he got in touch the next day, and the next and the next. In fact he's sent me a brochure and a Christmas card every year for the last ten years. I hate that.' Is that what you want people to say about you? What should he have done this other chap? Read on....

Assertiveness and self-confidence: How to help build, boost, and develop self-confidence and assertiveness, Businessballs.com Building self-confidence and assertiveness is probably a lot easier than you think. 'Non-assertive' people (in other words 'normal people') do not generally want to transform into excessively dominant people. When most people talk about wanting to be more assertive, what they usually really mean is ..... Link...

The Networking Style Questionnaire™ was developed by Smarter Networking to help everyone who needs to network with greater confidence & effectiveness. It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete and gives you immediate access to a comprehensive personal report.  Smarter Networking's extensive research into the differing approaches people use when networking have highlighted four distinct networking styles. The NSQ™ will identify which of these styles you prefer and offer approaches to help you. Link to NSQ...

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Assertiveness and self-confidence: How to help build, boost, and develop self-confidence and assertiveness, Businessballs.com . Building self-confidence and assertiveness is probably a lot easier than you think. 'Non-assertive' people (in other words 'normal people') do not generally want to transform into excessively dominant people. When most people talk about wanting to be more assertive, what they usually really mean is ..... Link...

The Networking Style Questionnaire™ was developed by Smarter Networking to help everyone who needs to network with greater confidence & effectiveness. It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete and gives you immediate access to a comprehensive personal report.  Smarter Networking's extensive research into the differing approaches people use when networking have highlighted four distinct networking styles. The NSQ™ will identify which of these styles you prefer and offer approaches to help you. Link to NSQ...

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Networking Tip for HR Professionals, London HR Connection, a networking forum for HR professionals. Heather White, ex Chair of London HR Connections Link...

A collection of great articles on talent development: While finding quality talent for your team is an arduous task, keeping them happy and developing their skills is a far more challenging endeavour. Here's a collection of FastCompany best articles on getting the most out of your people and your organization. Link...

The Reflexive Generation: Young Professionals' Perspectives on Work, Career and Gender, London Business School, Centre for Women in Business: Organisations know they do not yet understand the needs and perspectives of Generation Y and need to know how this generation can be managed. In a time when old structures like jobs for life are breaking down or disappearing for good the individual is increasingly in charge of shaping his or her own career, skill set and financial planning. In this research we find that Generation Y are in a 'feedback loop' where their past influences their present and future experiences. The 'feedback loop' allows them to re-invent themselves. Consequently we have called them the "Reflexive Generation". Link...
For more details: Link... 

The Networking Style Questionnaire™ was developed by Smarter Networking to help everyone who needs to network with greater confidence & effectiveness. It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete and gives you immediate access to a comprehensive personal report.  Smarter Networking's extensive research into the differing approaches people use when networking have highlighted four distinct networking styles. The NSQ™ will identify which of these styles you prefer and offer approaches to help you. Link to NSQ...

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The acronym for Working a Room is WaR! and for many people it feels like that. They put on their face mask, head down and jump into a crowded room. How to Work a Room is one of the biggest concerns people have when it comes to networking. Companies require their employees to be able to host and attend events professionally. These events are big investments aimed at raising visibility and building the right relationships and thereby increasing business. However these objectives can be thwarted if their employees are shy, introverted, too busy, lack confidence with senior executives, huddle together rather than circulate effectively or are simply unable to create or engage in conversation. Link to eBook.

The Networking Style Questionnaire™ was developed by Smarter Networking to help everyone who needs to network with greater confidence & effectiveness. It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete and gives you immediate access to a comprehensive personal report.  Smarter Networking's extensive research into the differing approaches people use when networking have highlighted four distinct networking styles. The NSQ™ will identify which of these styles you prefer and offer approaches to help you. Link to NSQ...
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How to stay in touch, the follow-up. Ten years later you are having coffee with a close contact of yours and talking about how fortunate it was to have met. Your now friend says, ‘Do you remember that chap who was in our group; you know, the one that was salivating at your feet - horrible sight' You reply, ‘Oh good grief, yes. He took my card; didn't think quickly enough to say I had run out. Anyway, he got in touch the next day, and the next and the next. In fact he's sent me a brochure and a Christmas card every year for the last ten years. I hate that.' Is that what you want people to say about you? What should he have done this other chap? Read on....
Smarter Networking is a subject author for a specialist web site called People Alchemy.

Marketing Donut

This is brilliant site for anyone who is running their own business and needs advise and thoughts on everything to do with Sales & Marketing...and it is totally FREE. You will find a lot of advice on how to network - just follow the links below:

 1. Networking is important for small businesses. Face-to-face communication can help you forge productive relationships with key people. Over time, these contacts can become powerful advocates that actively support and promote your business. Link...

 2. What is networking? Heather White of Smarter Networking explains what networking is - and isn't - and how to set the foundations to success. Let's define networking in a nutshell: it's a business and personal marketing tool that will deliver your overall business and marketing strategy. Link...

 3. Create a team networking culture. Good networking generates sales leads and contacts who can help you develop your business. But how do you get your employees to network effectively? Link...

  4. Improve your soft skills for better networking. The idea of networking fills some people with fear while others think they're great at working a room. But what are the skills you need to be a good networker? And how can you improve your performance? Link... 

 5. Benefit from networking. Networking is the art of forming and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with others who are linked to your career, sector, market, region or specific interest. To maximise your benefits you need to be active in sharing your experience, knowledge and contacts with other network members. In the same way you gain from your relationship with them. Link...

 6. What's your personal brand? An essential part of networking is to be memorable - for the right reasons. This means recognising and developing your 'personal brand' so that you can network effectively, says Stephanie Peckham, of business relationship experts Smarter Networking. Link...

How to Build a Network for Entrepreneurs, Growing Business - Online interviews Heather White Networking Architect, author and speaker about.  Link...

The Networking Style Questionnaire™ was developed by Smarter Networking to help everyone who needs to network with greater confidence & effectiveness. It takes no more than 10 minutes to complete and gives you immediate access to a comprehensive personal report.  Smarter Networking's extensive research into the differing approaches people use when networking have highlighted four distinct networking styles. The NSQ™ will identify which of these styles you prefer and offer approaches to help you. Link to NSQ...

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