Hey, everyone. I know it’s weird to be seeing two entries posted from me in a 24-hour period, but I couldn’t wait to get this one put up here. I’m just getting back home after a DYNAMITE meeting with two of my good friends who are also business/MBA/career bloggers, Jeremy Wilson and Jullien Gordon. I won’t go into much detail about how we ended up meeting (I mention it in the video below), but I think it is worth saying that we met today because it was a testament to the power of networking. The three of us are three young men with very different backgrounds who are linked through one common network, Stanford University (Jullien is a Stanford GSB alum and Jeremy is a Stanford undergrad alum). If it weren’t for being a part of the Stanford network, I probably wouldn’t have met either of these guys and would have never been able to learn from their perspectives on life and business.

I know that this may make me sound old, but I’m so incredibly proud of these guys. I first met Jullien when he was a 23-year old first-year MBA student at Stanford GSB right at start of my second year there five years and first connected with Jeremy online through my blog when he was going through the JD/MBA application process over a year ago. Now, Jullien is a successful writer, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur and Jeremy has just finished his first year in Northwestern’s JD/MBA and is working as a Summer Associate at a prestigious law firm. In addition to their “day-jobs”, both of these guys maintain highly popular blogs with large reader communities. In other words, these cats are real deal G’s when it comes to business and education. I read their websites regular and I would highly recommend that you do the same.

In the video below, I give a few comments on my meeting with Jullien and Jeremy and go further in giving some general tips that have helped me to be a successful networker. Networking has been a godsend to me in terms of creating a community of personal and professional contacts that have contributed to my life and career. You’d be surprised how much can come out of seemingly unconnected interactions with people over the course of a person’s life. Hopefully, the high-level tips shared in this video will help you to start on your own path to improving your networking skills.

As mentioned in the video, I’ll try to figure out a more detailed set of advice on networking to post as an entry sometime in the future. I just wanted to get this entry up as quickly as I could while I was still amped up from my meeting earlier today.

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My video commentary:

The power of networking from Marquis Parker on Vimeo.

Key points:
- Determine your networking goals
–> Giving
–> Getting
–> Connecting

- Establish your personal brand
–> Who are you and what do you bring to the table?
–> What tools can you use to create and develop your brand?

- Reach out and allow yourself to be reached