Comments on: Networking a Soft Science? Only to College Professors!

By: Networking in India » Networking as part of your university course…

Networking in India » Networking as part of your university course… — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:36:23 +0000

[...] year ago, I posted a blog called: “Networking, a Soft Science? Only to College Professors!” OK, I’ll admit it–I was on a rant about how we don’t teach networking [...]

By: pureum

pureum — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:22:34 +0000

Fantastic article! As a to be PhD student, the thought of professors aloof about reality always scared me. Soft science….gee…networking can be easily quantified just by breaking down to actions and keeping track of their results as much as possible. If networking is such a soft science I guess lots of social sciences should be not taught as well. Thank you for the great article!

By: Beth Sobiloff

Beth Sobiloff — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:45:02 +0000

It’s frightening that our institutions of higher education are so far behind the real world! Is it any wonder that so many entrepreneurs fail within the first five years? What can we do to change this? I would love to get your article into the hands of the business school at the University of Massachusetts. I have built my business on networking. It’s been five years since I started, and there’s no doubt in my mind that I would be working for someone else today if I had to rely on print advertising to get new clients. Students are paying high tuition to learn saleable skills. They deserve to know how to network effectively.

Beth Sobiloff

By: Sue Henry

Sue Henry — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:24:14 +0000

Great article, Ivan. I’m sure many would agree that even when colleges do recognize and begin teaching basic networking skills, they will be unable to provide an environment for students to practice and hone those skills. How effective is education without results-driven systematic application?

Networking companies, like BNI, will continue to flourish because their goal is to educate members AND provide a friendly environment to practice and perfect those skills.

By: Angela Goring--

Angela Goring-- — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:40:33 +0000

Great article Dr. Misner! After reading this article, It is fair to say that ” those who can do, and those who can’t teach”

By: Tom Fleming

Tom Fleming — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:56:43 +0000

WELL SAID!!! With an undergraduate degree and an MBA in Business I have had to unlearn much of what I was taught in order to be a successfull small business owner. In business schools, students are taught how to run multi million/billion dollar companies through the “case method”. Small businesses do not have the same resources available to them and when people come out of school to start a business they begin to run their zero revenue company like a multimillion dollar company and obviously the resources are not there and thus… The staggering failure rate of start up companies. How you grow a fledgling company with a limited or non-existent advertising budget is via Word of Mouth not by investing thousands of dollars in Marketing and Advertising. Let’s generate some word-of-mouth around teaching word of mouth to those who are responsible for paying the largest percentage of taxes in the country – Small Business!!!

By: Dora Corby

Dora Corby — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:59:29 +0000

It is such a shame that it is not taught because in business and in life, you only function through communication. I find it facinating that courses are taught on body language, yet that is not a “soft-science.”

The ability to interact with individuals whether it be through networking or another face-to-face platform is essential for any individual to succeed in business and in life. Learning how to ask for what you want and overcoming the awkwardness of “small talk” is things I believe most individuals wanting to succeed are looking for. They are essential tools in your buisness arsenal.

Great article and again showing there is a need for such programs.

By: Lynnette Embree

Lynnette Embree — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:43:35 +0000

Just recently I had a very similar conversation with the Dean of the Business School where I earned my Master of Business Administration degree. The Dean asked me what I thought the Business School could be doing to give the graduating students a competitive advantage. When I said include “networking and word-of-mouth marketing” as a component of the courses being taught, I received a less-than-enthusiastic response. Being both a BNI Executive Director for the Shenandoah Valley in VA and an adjunct instructor at our local Community College, I know the importance of networking and word-of-mouth marketing and I teach it to my students in my Small Business Management classes. I left with the Dean a copy of Dr. Misner’s book Business by Referral. It is my hope that the Dean has read or will read this book and begin to bring the Business School courses into the 21st century. My community college students are already there!

By: John Leach

John Leach — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 20:06:17 +0000

This article by Ivan hits at the absolute heart of why so many business owners fail in their first two years. They beieve, probably because their university professor has told them, that they are accademically qualified to run a business without actually understanding any of the fundamental personal skills that are required. “Soft ” they may be , but they are absolutely essential and any business person believing that they do not need to master these is doomed to failure.

The reality is,that even in this advanced technological age that we live in, people still do business with people, and more importantly, with people that they like.Often , building a relationship takes time and again some people seem reluctant to invest the neccessary effort to establish a meaningful base on which to build. Again they are missing the point, looking for a quick fix will rarely bear fruit and will seldom reap long term benefits which are generally the most profitable for any business.

I recently read a terrific article by Sir Ken Robinson suggesting that schools were killing creativity in children, I also believe like Ivan , that they are also doing a great disservice to our children by not teaching them the importance of developing strong networking skills.

The upside of all this is, of course, that BNI will continue to flourish around the world, wherever people want to develop and grow their businesses.

By: Vince Golder

Vince Golder — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 07:41:34 +0000

Hi Ivan, The best article I have yet read on the subject of networking, word of mouth and referral marketing. You are right on the mark with your statements on some of the most important aspects of business and social communication.

I believe you cannot start early enough teaching networking, people and leader skills in children’s development, from very soft teachings at a primary stage, to a more comprehensive professional level for students.

I was commissioned some years ago to conduct a workshop on networking and people skills to unemployed senior IT executives and managers, who were seeking to get new jobs or starting their own consultancies and going into other businesses. I was very shocked that most the delegates, many of whom had several degrees to their name, were so poor in their basic people skills and professional and social networking.

There was a general great reluctance with most delegates to see the need in proactively meeting people and building relationships. The classic mistakes were also being made by delegates on talking about themselves too much with minimum interest in the people they were meeting.

It was interesting that in the workshop feed back, ALL delegates stated that the subject matter on networking and people skills was a MUST factor that had to be included in all school and university courses.

I was very gratified to hear from many delegates that their new founded networking and people skills had helped them to win new jobs, successful start in business, with many of them also stating it also greatly improved their family and social relationships.

Not bad from sharing basic, common sense ideas that should have been taught many years ago.

This article is a “Mini Classic�? Ivan and I will copy and retain it for future best reference.