asking you one question do you know the
well I’m going to tell you my story of
how I feel felt rejected as a child but
to do that let me take you back 25 years
back to my hometown Kolkata I was five
years old and my father tried to get me
to the top schools of Kolkata and guess
what I was rejected for the first years
they were into abuse but after that I
couldn’t even make it to the interviews
my father tried to contact every contact
that he had to get me to a good school
and guess what the result was negative I
would cry
I would weep but I did not know what to
do so I went to my father and I asked
him why is it so hard to get into a
school and he applied to me to get to a
good school you need connections
connections what we call today network
or networking I heard this term for
three years and after that one fine day
I went to my father and I asked him dad
when will we finally have connections he
didn’t have an answer for me and I knew
I have to find my own answers my life
took major turns and for the last six
years I’m living in this city any idea
where this is Saddam now I to Amsterdam
in 2009-2010 and the peak of financial
crisis where there were hardly jobs
available where the financial market was
crashing I saw all my peers trying to
network and the best available resource
for them was adding everybody on social
medias like LinkedIn add them and the
moment they accepted send a message dear
sir will you help me find a job do you
think they got any response
almost no and the other thing I saw all
my peers do where attend networking
events now I’m not against networking
events but can you imagine you are in a
room with 50 people and you want to talk
to all of them and you have only two
hours would you be able to give any form
of individual attention to anybody or
would anything anybody be able to give
you any individual attention I refused
to be part of this aggressive and
impersonal methods of networking however
I often got this compliment that I am
good at networking and I did not know
what am I doing that I’m good at
networking so I sat down and wrote down
in piece of paper what could be the
things that I’m doing that are good at
there are good qualities of a networker
and today I’m here to tell you those
stories what are the secrets and art of
networking that will give you the edge
when you try to network with your
networks now the first thing for
networking you may have to remember is
you have to know your self-worth
now you have to remember nobody will
network with you because you’re a nice
person they will want to network with
you because these they see of value add
in you you might be wondering I’m a
student and what a value add can I do to
the CEO of a company well trust me
friends you can networking is like a
forum handshake between two equals when
you network with anybody you need to
feel confident proud and passionate but
not arrogant your ambition your 24-karat
ambition your fire in Europe in your
belly will make you stand out and people
will see the added value of having you
in their network if you still don’t know
what is the value add that you have that
makes you stand out from your peers
then you can never be a good networker
the first step to everything starts with
understanding your own self-worth once
you have understood and identified your
self-worth and you are ready to take on
the world let me tell you there are
three golden rules on how you can
approach a person when you meet them and
make them your network the first one
make an impression when you meet people
outside your work outside your college
do you think when they go home they will
remember you have you done anything that
will make them remember you after seven
days even if you have then you have
created that impression that your neck
that you should do to your network now
let me take tell you about one of my
favorite movie the movie name is love by
chance have you all seen it now there is
a particular scene in that movie where
this aspiring actor for an actor meets
the yesteryear actress dimple kapadia
now when you meet an act such a
beautiful actress you tend to say that
splishy eight that how beautiful you are
I’m a big fan instead he goes and says
I’m in this world because of you she is
puzzled what do you mean and he further
continues my parents on their first date
saw your movie and it was so romantic
that they fell in love they got married
and had me now the story unfolds in way
that after months and weeks
this particular actress is responsible
for shortlisting actors for a particular
movie and she sees this photograph of
this guy she doesn’t remember this guy
she doesn’t remember this conversation
but there was something about this guy
that makes her shortlist this guy he
made that impression even if it was 5
seconds he made that impression now in
real life it up to a CEO of a company
and tell her that I’m in this world
because of you might not be the most
effective way however I recommend you to
talk about your passion about your
ambition
your aspiration these are your true
feelings that will make you stand out
that will make you unique
all we see making impression as imagine
yourself in a big McDonald’s queue where
everybody is ordering the same hamburger
everybody is ordering the same hamburger
they get a receipt and five minutes
later the burger is ready when your
burger is ready you have lost the
receipt when the lady at the counter
still remember you did you make an
impression when you bought the hamburger
you had 30 seconds could you have said
something to the her something funny
something catchy that she remembered you
after in the in this big queue and she
would remember that you are the guy who
ordered the hamburger and hand it over
to you without even looking at the
receipt if you can do that yes you know
how to make that first impression or
make that impression
the second golden rule of networking is
it’s okay to make mistakes now I think
we all come across people who pretend
that they have never made any mistakes
in their lives right now do you like
those people then why pretend to be one
nobody likes people who claim that they
have never ever made mistakes in their
lives when you admit your mistakes when
you show your vulnerability you are
actually creating you’re creating trust
it shows few things about you that this
man or this woman is human enough to
make a mistake it’s firm enough to admit
it
and it’s confident that he or she will
not repeat it that’s what’s presenting
it to us in speaking we have a golden
rule which says tragedy plus time is
equal to comedy so if something bad has
happened to you or you made a mistake
and you can present it to the or to the
person in front of you you can actually
make a joke out of that and trust me
that will make your impression even
stronger the power of vulnerability is
people connect with each other’s
struggle and failures much more than any
thing else people find it easier to
trust somebody who makes mistakes admits
it and is willing to correct it so when
you are at a networking event don’t just
talk about all the highs in your life
but believe me we feel confident to
bring your underbelly’s show your
vulnerability to the person in front of
you imagine the same McDonald’s queue if
you went when you ordered the hamburger
and you tell the lady I’m looking
forward to it because last time I
ordered the burger I dropped it on the
floor and couldn’t eat it now she laughs
at it you’ll have a giggling moment and
she’ll probably remember you because you
are the guy who dropped the hamburger
yesterday the third thing is listening
now you may be the world’s best
storyteller you may be an excellent
verbose person however if you’re a poor
listener you are not a good networker
networking is a two-way street it’s it’s
a platform where two people give their
exchange ideas and thoughts but if you
are only talking and not listening to
the other person you are not making a
good impression listening has many as
good aspects first thing you are
building trust with the person when
you’re hearing his story and the second
thing is you can get new ideas new
inspiration when you hear somebody
else’s story how do you prove to your
network that you have been listening to
the story very attentively and not just
hearing it one simple rule when you
listen to somebody’s story ask them two
good questions from the story and answer
one good answer what it shows is you are
interested enough to ask the question
and when you answer it it shows you are
able to connect and identify with that
person’s story but when you have
established these golden rules I am sure
you will be great at networking you will
be able to invite and Vuh your networks
to collaborate with
however there’s one last thing that I
want to tell you about networking and
that is the desired outcome networking
is like planting a tree you have to
throw the seed you have to water it you
have to take care of it
and when it’s big enough it will bear
its fruits but you need to have patience
for that in the meantime you need to
invest trust you need to invest honesty
if you don’t do that your tree will
never grow if you want quick fruits from
that tree
will you be able to get it know if an
only look that you are still juvenile or
you’re greedy
another thing you need to remember is
not every tree will give you a mango
right different trees have different
purposes but you need them all a lot of
people say networking is not a good
thing because I’m not able to find a job
networking in my opinion is not just
stipulated to finding a job there will
be 2 to 5% people in your network who
have the potential or the capability to
help you find a new job or career
opportunity however there are other
people in your network who will inspire
you who will give you new ideas new
dimensions that you didn’t even know I
always keep 30% people people in my
network outside my immediate horizon I
have been working for a bank for 8 years
and I did not know that there is a life
that exists outside banking industry
only when I had networks outside that
when I networked with people who do
things like speaking they know it that
can be a profession I was able to
identify my passion and rekindle this
hobby into passion when you have people
outside your immediate horizon you
broaden your horizon and you paint in
today’s times when two different walls
are coming together to form a new idea
you never know this might be the most
valuable network that you have today
my request do not use networking just
for a job change or immediate business
requirement it’s much broader than that
so friends to sum it up networking is
being the right guy at the right place
at the right time and do the right thing
the first step starts with identifying
your own self-worth what makes you stand
out when you’re ready for that you ready
to take on the world by showing your
vulnerability showing your listening
skills and most importantly making that
cracker of an impression that makes you
remembered by everybody that you touch
the last thing you remember is the
outcome have patience you look beyond
narrow perspective look beyond immediate
requirement of your job or career change
networking is more than that and friends
whether it’s networking whether it’s
your life remember one thing it’s your
attitude not your aptitude that define
your altitude
thank you [Applause]