In the second edition of COMM107's Group Speaker Series, we had the pleasure of inviting Ernesto Gluecksmann into our classroom for a very informative presentation. Gluecksmann, who runs a web development company called Infamia, is in charge of finding new projects for his company, with numbers that tend to get to at least five new projects, if not many more. In this line of work, relationships are very important, and Gluecksmann was able to convey how to develop these relationships, and also some tips on interviewing, very clearly.
Gluecksmann began his presentation with a personal anecdote involving a conversation that he had had with a client. After some discussion, the client stated that he had gone to a different web development company prior to contacting Infamia. What Gluecksmann then did was make a mental note of the company that was rebuffed, and after the meeting went online and looked up the head of client relations. He found his name, looked him up on LinkedIn, and found they had one connection. Gluecksmann contacted this connection and requested he make an intro to this competitor. His connection was able to make the intro, and from there Gluecksmann was able to effectively contact the client relations manager.
The point of this interaction, as Gluecksmann pointed out, was to learn about the policies at the competitor's company, in order to evaluate not only their strategies, but also evaluate Infamia's strategies. It is important to be in touch with the large number of people involved in your own profession in order for you to be successful in your line of work. The main way to do this is to constantly make connections and to reach out to past connections who may be able to connect you with future connections.
Gluecksmann explained that in today's day and age, brick-and-mortar is no longer the way in which businesspeople communicate and connect. Almost all business communication is done over the internet through social networking sites. The most prominently used networks used for business purposes, according to Gluecksmann, appear to be LinkedIn and Twitter.
LinkedIn is a lot like Facebook in that people set up profiles and then connect with people they know. However, on a LinkedIn profile, the information is geared exclusively towards education and career experience. This information allows you to effectively build an online resume that can be easily shared with future employers, colleagues, and the like. Twitter is used, for business purposes, as an instantly updated news outlet, not just for breaking news stories, but any sort of information update that a business person would want to communicate to a large group of people.
According to Gluecksmann, these websites are very important to building strong relationships in the world of business. Putting out who you are, based on your work experience, extracurricular interests, and career aspirations is crucial, because it allows you to find people who would like to talk to you about things that you like talking about. Once you find these people, there is an official "Gluecksmann Guide" to making the best on these connections.
According to Gluecksmann:
1. Don't be needy. It is important to not go up to people and talk about what you want, or what you need. First find out what they want or need, and then tell them what you could possibly offer them to help them satisfy that want or need.
2. When setting up a connection or interview with someone who may be above your network level, offer to write or publish the conversation on your blog or in some other medium. Many people may be more willing to sit down with you if they see they can get some free publicity out of it.
3. This, to Gluecksmann, is the 'trick of the trade': When conversing or interviewing, do not allow the interviewee to simply answer your questions with yes or no answers. Ask open ended questions, and after the question is asked, simply sit in silence. While many interviewees may try to answer every question as succinctly as possible in the fewest words, by leaving awkward silences after they finish speaking, they will feel psychologically obligated to fill that space, and most likely go into more detail of the topic of your posed question. This helps you acquire the most possible data without having to resort to multiple loaded questions to get the information you want.
Overall, Gluecksmann's presentation was very informative and presented a lot of very practically useful information that I have already began to implement, as I have set up both a LinkedIn and Twitter account and am trying to make the best use of them as I can to get a head start on my own professional career.
Thank you Mr. Gluecksmann!
Picture Credits
GREAT post Tom. Loves the title, solid content, great structure (the "Gluecksmann Guide" was a nice touch) -- very well written too. So glad you were able to take so much away from Ernesto's visit!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post that really summed up a lot of the stuff I took away from Ernesto's presentation. I also thought that LinkedIn was a very big part of how Ernesto is able to carryout his job. I haven't set up a LinkedIn account yet but I will be doing it soon after Ernesto's talk.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post, it was super informative. One of the most important and practical things I took away from Ernesto's talk is the importance Twitter-ing and the LinkedIn account. These are two tools I can certainly see myself using down the road, especially as a business major pursuing connections in know "not what you know, but who you know" world. Thanks again for the post.
ReplyDelete