Choosing Relationships in the Business World

Researching for a presentation on networking several years ago, I read that given similar abilities, people choose to do business with those they like.   My opinion is much stronger.   Being around people who truly support and encourage you because they appreciate you will make a huge difference to your success in the business world and in life.   Be sure to have those supporters, encouragers, challengers, and cheerleaders in your life.

They say it’s just business, it’s not personal.   Think of how many hours we spend working.   Good reason to believe that relationships in business are important.   Daily I spend more hours interacting at work than I do with my family and close friends.   I care about those work relationships.   When situations and seasons of life change, I won’t likely continue to see some (or most) of those relationships that have developed in business.   But that doesn’t change how important they are to me.

Pay attention to your relationships.   Do they bring out the best in you?   Are you just trying to please them?    Can you honestly say you can trust them?     Are they holding you back or sabotaging what you are trying to do?   Do they inspire you to take chances?   How do they treat you when you fail?  (And if you aren’t failing at times, you are playing it too safe!)   Do they want the best for you as far as succeeding in your role in business?

Believe having some good relationships in our everyday life in the business world greatly improves our ability to deal with the challenging ones.   So instead of focusing of those that are frustrating, maybe we should increase our focus and be thankful for all the ones that build us up!