Today’s guest has been recognized as one of Europe’s Leading Business Networking Strategists by The Financial Times and as a master of networking by The Independent.

He believes networking is a vital tool in business, from sales generation to career development, but that it is not treated with the same strategic consideration as other business methods.

As a business networking strategist, his solution is to help companies understand why they are networking, what they want to achieve, and how to use those answers to plan accordingly and get great, measurable responses.

He is an experienced international speaker, the author of three books on networking (with another to be published next year), and has been quoted in a number of other business books. He is a Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association and one of just 23 recipients of their ‘Award of Excellence’. He is also a Fellow of the Learning and Performance Institute and a Master of the Institute of Sales Management.

Please join me in welcoming Andy Lopata.

In this episode we discuss:

• his thoughts on leadership: “Leadership means making a very clear distinction between managing people, teams, or projects and leading people by giving them inspiration and guidance.”
• how he learned the importance of knowing when and how to ask for help.
• his method for determining what kind of help to give other people.
• how he has made it a point to give feedback when he appreciates the things he learns from others.
• his 24-7-30 rule for connecting with people after he first meets them.
• how he values diversity for learning new ideas and meeting new people.

Listen, subscribe and read show notes at www.OnTheSchmooze.com – episode 106