Summer is a great time to network! Chances are that you are touring, at a festival or engaged in a new teaching or performance venues where you are likely to be meeting a lot of new people. Yet for so many people, networking brings up a lot of negativity. I have heard the following:
Networking feels sleazy activity but musicians have to do it if we want to get ahead. I’ll never be able to do it perfectly so why bother? It's too hard anyway and I'm not a people person so what's the point?
How true are those thoughts? It’s a matter of your mindset! And the good news is that mindsets can be changed.
A recent article in the Harvard Business Review summarizes the research, which shows that changing your mindset can change the way you approach networking and confirms that it is possible to overcome an aversion to networking. In fact, I spend time every summer teaching musicians and arts leaders how to network.
My starting point is to reframe networking with my favorite definition:
Connecting with people with whom you are in sync so that you can share and remain relevant to each other.
Share
Connect
Remain Relevant
How can you embrace this definition and change your mindset around networking?
Start by adopting the Growth Mindset of Success.
Here’s how.
