Be a Relationship Catalyst

Be a Relationship Catalyst

I bet you already know the saying “what goes around comes around.” Now, on this post, what I plan to share is nothing else but an application of the “give to get” theory to stimulates your relationships. In other words be a catalyst.

People who know me know that I take time when I eat but more important, I hate eating alone. To me the eating time is that rare occasion I have to reconnect with an old friend, strengthen my relationship with an actual friend or colleague, or even create a new relationship. I strongly believe relationships are at the heart of any success. However, the main reason I do not like to eat alone is because is the one opportunity I have to be a catalyst.

To be a catalyst basically means that I cause a change in someone else life. In relationship, to be a catalyst would mean I’d at the source of new connection between people. I’d possibly connect a sales person to his potential client, I would connect a friend to his future wife, I would connect an unemployed to his future boss and as the karma says the good things I do will come back to me. In other words by being a catalyst I create opportunity that people in return will also introduce me to others and therefore expose my offer. Have you heard that business is a win to win philosophy? That’s what I am talking about.  That is why I love this quote of Zig Ziglar saying: You can have anything in life you want if you can help others get what they want. Life is all about connections. If you introduce people to your valuable contacts, they will introduce you to their valuable contacts in return.

My second year at the university in Paris (France), I had to make an internship out of France and I was stuck because I hated searching for position online and had no direct connection that would facilitate my internship research. Fortunately, one day when getting out of a stressful exam, a classmate from Ethiopia offered me to go and have a drink with him. That was they way to relax. As soon as we sat down and started complaining about the just finished exam, I  started complaining about the constraints of finding an international internships. That’s how he let me know about the Southwestern Company that gives college students opportunities to go experience what it takes to live and work in the US putting in practice what we’ve learned in theory at school. I then asked him if he knew someone I could call to have more info and then get the job. In fact, he knew the Company’s corporate recruiter in France and straight proposed that we go and meet up with him. The recruiter was in the campus, I got introduced to him, went through the 3 days in a row interviews and got the job. I then worked withing the company for the next seven years spending 8 months in Paris (France) and the other four months in the US.

Did you get the message? If not, here it is: NEVER EAT ALONE, and ALWAYS BE A RELATIONSHIP CATALYST.