From the pages of Images Retail (June 2009)

Networking holds the key
By Brendan Dorrian, chief executive officer, Global Retail Network

In my experience, business successes will always be mirrored by successful networking. Moreover, successful networking, with a common bond of strong relationships, accelerates professional and personal growth strategies. This article addresses professional networking and sets out ten very simple steps to creating a world-class network, which everyone can adopt, today. I first created my network in 2002, in a restaurant in London; it was made up of six others, all male, who lived and worked in the UK. And now, my network is multi-national, multi-disciplined, multi-cultural and multi-faceted.

Step 1: Write down who is in your network.

Imagine yourself as an airline, with a central hub servicing many destinations, and code share partners servicing many more, usually those that that you can’t reach. This is an allegory for your network: You are the airline, and the hub is your network; the destinations you service are those people whom you know, and code share partners are those you know, who are well networked, and who can connect you with those that you don’t. To be sure, everyone knows someone else, but you’ll quickly recognise those who also see themselves as a hub.



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