EDITORIAL FEATURE
3 Things Every New College Graduate
Should Know About Relationship Management
By Mike Muhney
S
oon, a new flock of college graduates will enter the workforce. While
these fresh faces bring with them
new skill sets and knowledge, many
of them will no doubt arrive on the scene
with little expertise in the arena of relationship management. Unfortunately,
the era of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter has not equipped them particularly
well in that regard. These graduates are
about to enter a new stage of life and to
that end, I’d like to share some advice I
wish that I had been given at the start of
my own career.
The transition from college campus
to the work place represents one of the
most distinct changes in life. If one thing
is certain, college alone does NOT prepare students for its magnitude, not the
way one would hope anyway. College
life represents an insulated culture by
default. Nearly always surrounded by
others close to their own age, students
express themselves with their peers with
little thought to differences in perspectives or even principles gained from a
career’s worth of experience. But new
graduates will soon be required to mix
among several generations at once.
Even if you have long since graduated, perhaps you have a family member
or friend preparing to enter the workforce. Consider sharing this advice with
them. You might want to brush up on
your own relationship management
skills, too.
Avoid the Most Common Cause of Failure
Napoleon Hill, the famed author of the
longstanding and enormously successful book entitled “Think and Grow Rich”,
was commissioned by Dale Carnegie to
study the titans of industry like Ford and
Rockefeller as to what they attributed
their success and failures. Through his
research, Hill was able to identify the
three things that consistently led to failure. In reverse order, they were procrastination, quitting when the going gets
tough, and the inability to get along with
others.
That’s right; the greatest cause of failure is the inability to get along with other
people! It’s such a simple principle that it
doesn’t make sense that it’s the greatest
reason people fail. Coming out of college, freely able to speak your mind, and
identify with those in your network, the
work world is quite a different playing
field. The dimensions of personality, experience, bias, attitude, and perspectives
create a variety of ways in which intended communication may be interpreted.
If failure is the result of one’s inability to get along with others, success
comes from the opposite—developing
quality relationships with those around
you. True and lasting success is achieved
through the quality, strength, sustainability, and references that only a strong
network can provide. Developing and
maintaining both your business and personal networks will be a lifelong endeavor. Balance humility with confidence, be
determined yet open-minded, and keep
in mind that friendliness, respect, and
courtesy will always trump knowledge.
Work Harder Than Your Competition
Let me present you with a simple scenario using the analogy of the sport
of football. Let’s say that during high
school and college you were a gifted
athlete. Sure, you worked hard for your
28 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ JUNE / JULY 2015 ]
That’s right; the greatest cause of
failure is the inability to get along
with other people! It’s such a simple
principle that it do \۸