We are all born with an innate human need to be in relationships. I look at my children and can easily see how this need manifested itself early in life, primarily concentrated on the need for relationships within our family structure. As they have grown, I have seen how this need for relationships has influenced their decisions both for good and for bad. What has been constant throughout their lives and mine is the need for relationships.

Your innate human self wants to network

Almost 100% of people that I speak with agree that networking is about relationships. So how is it then that if we are all born with a need for relationships, most people feel networking is difficult or even painful? It is because we have incorrectly defined networking as part of the sales process. Yes, it can produce sales, and it can even find you a new job, but that doesn’t mean that it is part of the sales process.

Not everyone is made to be in sales, just like not everyone was made to be an engineer, but everyone was made for relationships. So why not leverage who you are to your advantage? Remember, networking is nothing less than helping other people with the end goal of building mutually beneficial relationships. Networking is something that you can do with others from your existing company, with others outside of your company, or preferably both. It isn’t about attending the right networking event, it is about relationships, something that all of us were designed to do in the first place. When you stop selling and start truly networking you will find the joy of strong relationships built out of selflessness.