The Connector’s Advantage with Michelle Tillis Ledermen

Our guest today was named one of Forbes Top 25 Networking Experts. She’s the author of four books, including the internationally recognized, The 11 Laws of Likeability, and her latest, The Connector’s Advantage. She’s a regular in the media, speaking on leadership and workplace effectiveness, has appeared on CBS, NBC, NPR, and has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Working Mother and Forbes, among others. 

When not engaging audiences, she is an expert chauffeur to her kids, an average skier, and a skilled walker of her two rescue dogs. She’s known for helping people work better together and advance their individual impact. Welcome to the author, speaker and the woman who just learned how to ride a bike, Michelle Tillis Lederman. 

First of all, let me say how grateful I am to have you with us today. I am so excited and confident that our listeners are going to glean so much value from this interview to help them in their journey on becoming a better connector.  

I thought I was great at connecting and after reading your book, I was, oh my gosh!  I need to take it up to that next level.  It was such an eye opener for me.  I am excited to talk about your book, The Connectors Advantage, but first, share with our listeners a little bit about your journey and what brought you to becoming a connection creator. 

It definitely was a journey, because I actually am a recovering CPA. I came out of Finance and spent 10 years as a CPA. Growing up, I always thought I had a bit of a polarizing personality. I have the personality where people either love me, or they really, really don’t. That drove my initial research around the concept of likeability, and my first book, The 11 Laws of Likeability, what to do before, during, and after a conversation to enable somebody to see what is likable about you. You can’t make someone like you, but I couldn’t understand what I was doing to make them not like me. 

So the work evolved.  It started from working in Finance, and seeing the really ineffective, inefficient and inappropriate communications on the trading floor and within the Finance ranks.

I was the only woman on the floor. That was a whole other story.  While working for a bank, I said, “Hey, I can do all this other stuff”, and they said, “okay”. That’s kind of where things started, with the belief and the desire. 

So while still working full-time in Finance, I started to do work on the side and reeducate myself. I got appointed to NYU as an adjunct professor back in 2004. That’s the same year I started the business. So we’re celebrating 17 years. Congratulations to me!  Then I taught some training courses, one of my courses was called “The Natural Networker”.  It was for the MoMA in New York City. This gentleman came up to me after. I’ll never forget him. He said, “this should be a book”. I was, “yeah, yeah, I’ve been thinking about it”. He said “No, this should be a book”, and this book wrote itself three years later.

The book came out in 2011, and I released another in 2013, 2015, and my latest, The Connector’s Advantage in 2019. That book is a follow-up to the Likability book, because when I think about likability, it is really about this word “networking”, which I really hate, ‘cause it has the word “work” in it.  Say “connect” instead!

The Connector’s Advantage is actually a follow-up that builds on those concepts. It’s really more a way of being, than just what we do. So I saw a change in everything I did.  People started asking me, How did I get JP Morgan as my first client? How did I get Deutsche Bank as the second? Morgan Stanley was the third.  So I got name-brand clients. These concepts, these mindsets, this approach to people is how I did it.  I see what a difference it’s made in my life, and I’m happier and healthier. I have statistics that back-up this stuff, so why shouldn’t I share it? Right?

 

Absolutely. And I love how you focus on the word “connector” versus “networking”, because it seems that in the business world, the word “networking” is overused and negative. So The Connector’s Advantage title, and the fact that you are a connection creator, really spoke to me, it really resonated with me.

So glad you picked up on that. I know that you’re still reading the book, but you ended up with the last line of the book, “Networking is something you do, but a connector is who you are”. That’s the real shift that we need to make in our thinking, because often we’ll go out and network for a purpose, the need to connect to something that we do in all of our interactions.  No matter where we are, no matter what we’re thinking about, no matter who we’re with, we’re thinking about how do I connect with this other person, and everything else follows.

 

You are so right. So the first paragraph of your introduction began with, “I am not lucky”, and that first paragraph ended with, “I am not lucky. I am a connector”.  What inspired you to share your experience and write this book? I know you did a little bit, but let’s dive further in that.

After I wrote The 11 Laws of Likeability, the business and working world kind of got really big. I started doing keynotes and doing more training, and a lot of management and leadership work. What The Connector’s Advantage did was bring it all together. So this book does apply;  it’s kind of evergreen. Anybody can benefit from it.  Whether we are leaders, or people are reporting to us or not, we have people who follow the way we think and the way we act. It may be family, friends, children, parents, or employees, and coworkers. So this was bringing not just the concept of connection, but the concept of leadership. How do we take these concepts;  not just to our individual relationships, but the relationships with our company, with our brand.

 

Wow. Some good information here. So your book is actually filled with some examples, featuring people from different walks of life, members from your own family, high-powered CEOs.  Who do you feel will benefit the most from reading this book?

That’s an interesting question, and the publishers always hate it when you say it’s for everyone. But if you want to be happier and healthier, being more connected does apply universally. But I would say the people who would really adopt the mindsets and embrace the concept of this book are people who are high achievers, people who want and strive for success and for action, right? The doers of the world.

 

Yeah. You shared with me a few minutes ago, about an upcoming book club.  Would you please tell our listeners about it? 

You know, people have been nudging me for a while.  I always say the things that you do in life fall into four categories:  get to, want to, should do, and have to. The get to’s and the want to’s are really easy to be authentic and energized about, the should do’s and have to’s, not so much. So I always say, if you think you should, you shouldn’t, and everybody was telling me I should do this course. And I was like, I don’t want it. So instead I hired somebody else to help me do it.

So I want to have a book club, but I didn’t want to create all of the micro lessons. So I’ve partnered with High Tide and we will put a link right there for you. Our Inaugural session is July 1st. We will run more than one, but the first one’s going to be the best one. So join us on July 1st. You will be part of a community which is already helping you connect, that will work with you through these daily micro lessons. Each micro lesson each day is less than 15 minutes, and they come straight to you through the app. You get a live Q&A with the group, where I answer all the questions you have. So it’s really fun. It’s really exciting. Having read my work, you know I am actionable and practical. This isn’t just theoretical. Let’s put it into action.

 

Yes. You know, this past year has been very different for people, and in your book, you talk about how that social connection is so important to our wellbeing. Now, while restrictions are being lifted, people are still cautious. What can you share with our listeners to help them navigate through this until we get back to what we know as somewhat normal?

Yeah. You know, it’s actually been really interesting, because although we have been isolated, in some ways we have opened up our connections with others because people are more willing to do this and to get on and seek out those connections. We have a greater opportunity to form relationships when we’re in this remote situation, so it’s both an opportunity and a detriment, depending on how tech savvy you are. So, a few statistics that might help to understand the impact of health and happiness. Gallup does an engagement survey, 12 questions, and one of those questions is, “Do you have a best friend at work?”  When we have close work relationships, we improve our productivity by 50%, and it actually predicts our happiness on the job. So we are more engaged when we look forward to the relationships that we have at work.

When you think about social isolation and the epidemic, and it’s so much worse now, post-COVID, it actually affects your health and your mortality. It has a bigger impact on your mortality than obesity. It is as equal to your mortality as if you smoked 15 cigarettes a day for 10 years. So we really need those points of connection. And I get it. We might not be shaking hands yet or hugging and kissing; we’re still doing elbow bumps or fist bumps. And that’s fine, because connection doesn’t have to be physical touch. It also can be an emotional and mental connection with other people, feeling heard, feeling seen. And we’ll get to back to that touch at some point.

 

Yes. Let’s talk about your first book, The 11 Laws of Likeability. That book focused on networking. So how does The Connector’s Advantage build on this book?

The 11 Laws of Likeability talks about what to do before, during and after a conversation. So it is tactical how we get into the right mind frame. What do we do during that conversation? How do we move from conversation to extended connection?  We move through it and we look at the laws that enable connection, and that’s great, but it’s not thinking about who you want to be. If a connector is who you want to be, that’s a shift;  a shift to how we approach life and everything that we do, with a prioritization on people. When we think about that, a connector has seven mindsets;  I’ll list them and you can choose any ones you want to talk about.  Keep in mind, these mindsets are not linear. It’s not, I have to do one at a time, just as the laws of likeability are not linear. So the first, and everyone says the most important, is connectors are open and accepting. They have a clear vision. They trust. They come from a place of abundance. They believe in abundance, they’re social and curious. They’re conscientious and have a generous spirit and I think that those are really key bookends to the philosophy of a connector.

 

Very good; again, so much content. So if we want to be a connector, or maybe our listeners are already connectors, but maybe they’re stuck somewhere… What are the most common mistakes people make when it comes to networking and connecting?

I’m going to take that question in two directions. The first thing I’m going to say is what we said earlier, people network for need, and they network for now. They take a me-focused approach and a short-term approach. So when we think about networking, we want to shift at least to relationship networking. Right? And connecting. That means three major shifts. One is I’m going to talk about anything, not just about work. Right? So from the, “what do you do”? to the “what do you do for fun”? Just shifting that question, a little shift. 

Number two is from the short term to the long term. This person I’m connecting with might not have anything to do with my work right now. But if I’m enjoying that connection, who knows where that might lead, who knows who they know, who knows who.  Right?  So it’s a long-term view. The third is, it’s not about me. It’s also not about them. Right? Because that’s just about, it’s about me in reverse. It’s about the relationship and the interaction between the two of you.

So that’s one place. The other thing that you kind of alluded to, that I want to explain to your listeners, is the Connector Spectrum. One of the things I explained in chapter three of the book is that there is a Spectrum. I would say that probably all your listeners are on that Spectrum of Connector. When we think about a Non-Connector, that’s somebody who doesn’t think that relationships are even important. They don’t value them. They don’t prioritize them. They don’t think that they are relevant to their success. They’re like, “no, it’s just about my work product”. Or “it’s just about my intelligence”. Or “I do this all on my own”. There are none in your audience. 

Then we have what we call Emerging Connectors. Emerging Connectors are those that do believe in the value of relationships. They’re starting to do some of it, but they haven’t built their confidence or their consistency around the behaviors and the attributes of a connector.

We think about the levers that we can pull, okay? This kind of goes to the mistake of not stretching yourself, not trying, not putting yourself out there because of whatever the fear is. So the first lever that we pull to move up the spectrum is called Initiate versus Respond. 

The next kind of connector is a Responsive Connector. This is somebody who people will ask for a favor. They’ll say, yes. People ask for instruction. They’ll say, yes. They will respond to the requests that are incoming, but they’re not initiating the outgoing. They’re not bringing up the ideas themselves.

So a Responsive Connector is great, but it’s one-directional. One of the mistakes is not initiating, not having that mindset of “how can I help this person?” What might they be interested in? One of those mistakes is not asking that specific question. 

At some point in a conversation, you need to ask, “What are you working on?… How can I help you?… Who do you want to connect with? Any of those questions will help you start to figure out, “Is there something that I can do to help this person connect?” Right? 

As we start to initiate and respond, we are now an Acting Connector, and that’s great. That might be as far as you need to go up the Spectrum, but if you want to become a higher-level connector, a Super Connector or a Niche Connector, we need to think about the other lever, which is the breadth and depth of your connections. 

When we think about the depth, we’re thinking about, you know, when you’re somewhere and you say, “Oh, that guy knows everybody in town”, right?  Or, “My sister knows everybody in real estate, in New Jersey”, or “That lady knows everybody in social media”, that’s a Niche Connector. The niche might be a geographic area, an industry, or a job function, but it’s a niche where you know everybody. That is going deep when we go broad;  that’s a Niche Connector, right? When we go broad, then we can be a Super Connector. That breadth is about knowing people up and down the hierarchy, knowing people in different industries, across different geographies. If you cross your country’s borders, then you are a Global Super Connector or a Global Niche Connector. It is that depth and breadth that brings us together.  

For example…. I hear a puppy in the background. That makes me want to just talk about dogs, ‘cause I love dogs. That is me being a connector, because then I’d want to figure out the breed. This is how we connect over what we do. We connect over what we like to do, what we want, what we dream, what we share as visions or values, experiences or people or places or causes. One of my passions is dogs. I could just take the whole rest of our interview talking about dogs. But I won’t, because I know that’s not what your audience is interested in, but I just wanted to give that example.

 

A bit off topic here;  you actually have some rescue dogs, I believe.  My wife and I have two rescue dogs;  we too have a heart for animals. So thank you for sharing that. 

That’s when you feel more of a heart connection to somebody else, because you get me and I get you on that front. And that’s a place to start and to build from. I was in the middle of telling you about connectors or something else, but I lost my train of thought ‘cause I heard a dog bark.

 

That’s fine. Roll with it.  I have to tell you, I jumped on your website and took the quiz and found I am a Super Connector. So can you share with our listeners where to find this quiz? I would encourage our entire audience to jump over there and take it.

Absolutely. If you go to my website, Michelletillisletterman.com, click on the books and go to the book, you’ll see, “take quiz”. It’s a three minute quiz; 10 quick questions. To try to start to gauge where do you fall on that spectrum? What are the ideas for you to move up to that next level? Do you even need to write?

My sister doesn’t need to be a Global Super Connector. She’s a Niche Connector and it’s where she needs to be. It’s really about whatever it is you’re working on. 

Oh, I know what I was talking about. Why we want to go up that Connector Spectrum, is the idea of when we’re tapping into the idea of a generous spirit. When we know more people, when we have access to more people, we are able to better connect and make those matches happen.

So I was on a call yesterday with a fellow coach who said, ”I saw your website; it’s really good. Who was your web designer?” I asked her, “Would you like an intro?” She said, “yes”. So I made an intro because I know people outside of coaching. Somebody needed a video editor, and I’ve got somebody.  Somebody needed a recommendation for a hotel in a place that I’ve visited, and I’ve got it.  It’s really about thinking how you can add value to more people.

 

Yeah. My wife is an introvert. In your book, you wrote that introverts can be great connectors. That seems counterintuitive. Is it really possible for a wallflower to become a Super Super-connector?

Absolutely; 100%. I married an introvert as well. So look: we have even more in common.  They say opposites attract. In my book,  The 11 Laws of Likability, there is a section called “Good News for the Introverts”, and in The Connectors Advantage, it’s called “The Introvert’s Edge”, because one of the things I want introverts to understand is that you are actually innately and uniquely positioned to be a powerful Super Connector. Some of the best Connectors I know are introverts, and there are a few reasons for that.  First- and don’t worry extroverts- I’ll tell you all the good things about you too! First, introverts are natural listeners, right? They have a natural sense of curiosity, and being social and curious are two of the attributes of an introvert. And when I say social, I don’t mean social butterfly or life of the party.  I mean social as a way of interacting with another person, curiosity, and that’s where introverts are best in a one-on-one. They are good at asking questions and good at listening. They are not off-putting, unlike me, who can come across a little strong, and set people off.  Introverts don’t do that. 

Where introverts need to stretch is where extroverts have a skill. So the introverts want to stretch by thinking about what they’re willing to share. So you don’t want, as an introvert, to just interrogate and machine gun questions out of people. What you want is to kind of an exchange in a little dance. When you’re asking questions, be willing to share information as well, because when you share what you’re doing, you’re embodying the mindset of trust. You’re giving information, you’re giving trust, you’re being vulnerable and vulnerability is openness and it leads to credibility and connection. So that’s where the introverts have innate skills.

I promise, you extroverts, yes, you are great at making people feel comfortable. You can start a conversation, put people at ease, work the room, work the crowd and bring your energy. That’s fantastic, but where extroverts need to stretch is to be a better listener. You know, honestly, what my husband would say to me is “Shut up once in a while.” 

 

Right? I can relate to that. I’ve always thought that people are born good or not at connecting, but you describe a whole spectrum of connectors, which you have shared. 

I think that people might be born with certain communication preferences, but that doesn’t mean they’re born a connector or a non-connector. This is learned behavior. It was learned for me, as well. I always liked people, but I didn’t understand some of the things that I needed to do to enable those connections.  Trust wasn’t something that came naturally to me, nor was abundance.  Being social and curious: that came naturally, but having a clear vision, being open and accepting? We like to be right, and it’s very difficult to stay open and accepting when you want to be right. What happens with us, as human beings, is that… and I’m kind of following a train of thought here.  I have no idea if I answered your question, but you’ll come back and ask me if I didn’t.

But this made me think about when we meet somebody, we draw conclusions very quickly. That’s natural;  we’re smart people. We have to do it, but staying open and accepting is the core fundamental mindset of a connector. We must stay open to being wrong. We need to stay in a place of ‘curiosity versus conclusion’ to allow ourselves to bring in additional information. I give four questions in the book to help do that, so that you slow your thinking down.  You don’t have to ask all four questions, but any of those questions helps slow your thinking down, so that you can look for contrary information and stay open to this other person.

 

Lots of good nuggets there! I could converse with you all day, because for me, and many of our listeners, we love connecting. Sometimes, though,  I think we lack competence in our ability to connect the right way. There are other people who, like you’d mentioned earlier, look at it from a standpoint of “what’s in it for me”, versus “what can I do to help?” That was a skill that took me a while to learn. But if I look back over my ability to connect with people, one of the things that really impressed me was a meeting I had with a professional photographer. We met, and the entire time (and again, this was through trial and error),  I had a notepad out and was asking her questions about herself. You know, “How did you end up here?… Where were you before?” Just all kinds of questions looking for that connection. We talked for about 30 minutes, and at the end of that 30 minute conversation, she had tears in her eyes, because I ended that conversation with “What can I do to best serve you?” She looked at me through those tears and said, “I thought you wanted to meet with me to sell me something, but you really made me feel important”. 

Can you speak to that?… Why taking ourselves out of the picture and building on the relationship is so important, because you mentioned that a bit in your book about relationships.

Well, people remember more how you make them feel than anything that you say.  That’s the idea of mood memory. Mood memory is greatest at the start and at the end of a conversation, which is why I love ending a conversation with, “How can I help you?… What do you need?” 

I want to make sure I also talk about the flip side of that. So please make sure I come back to the concept of having a clear vision. People listen best when they feel they have been heard. So by asking questions, by showing interest, by showing that you’re listening, you make somebody feel valued and heard. Now, hopefully she was willing to ask questions of you as well, and to make an exchange because you don’t want it to all be one-sided.  Make sure you maybe intersperse a little bit of sharing as you do it, but don’t redirect all the way back on you, right? You kind of give a little and then go back to asking your questions. But that feeling of “do I want to meet with this person again?” If this person is not just after something,and therefore a connection, then there’s more to be had here, and I’m not afraid of it.  I’m not going to be like, no, that was it. That was 30 minutes that I’ll never get back in my life. Right? So the idea of reciprocity.  I don’t love the idea of reciprocity, but to be honest with you, it exists, and is relevant, but it’s not what I want you to be thinking about when you give, right? Because you have that spirit of generosity, people will want to reciprocate, but it might not be linear.  It might not be: I give to you, you give to me;  it might be, I gave to you, you give to somebody else, and that’s okay as well. You might tell the person that because of you, I did this.  I actually do that quite a bit. 

So I do want to come back to the end of that conversation, because at the end of that conversation, anybody who’s listening to this will ask the question.  Let’s say the person you talked to also listens to this, and then they ask you the question. I want to make sure you have an answer to the question, because that’s what the connector’s advantage is:  faster, easier, and better results, right? The advantage of being a connector is whatever it is you’re working on, you are going to get that result faster, easier, and better;  a better result than you could have expected. So in order to get that result, you actually have to have a clear vision of what you’re working on. Without that clarity, you won’t get the advantage. You can still be a Connector, but you won’t necessarily get as great an advantage of it.

 

Can you share with us a moment when you were connecting, where you might have had a shift which helped you understand the power of the connector’s advantage, even on a deeper level? 

I am not sure what you’re getting at. 

 

So you wrote this book, you’ve done a lot of research, and you have a wealth of experience connecting with other people.  I had an idea about what a connector is, and am thinking that I’m a great connector, but as I’m reading your book, I realized, “Wait, there’s an opportunity for me to level up!”

Now I got you. Okay. So yes. Actually, my first draft is not how the book ended up. I actually completely changed the last section of it to include being an Inclusive Connector;  to expanding and diversifying your connections, because I realized that I needed to level up. One of the things that I did while writing the book was reach out to some of my connections. I am connected to a lot of amazing authors, coaches, speakers, and CEOs. I asked them to donate their expertise to the book and contribute sidebars or concepts within the book. Robbie Samuels is one of them. He helped open my eyes about being an Inclusive Connector. 

I was at a conference.  After meeting him and watching him, he got up to introduce himself to a person who seemed a little out of place. I borrowed that from him. The idea is to be a host, right? So wherever you are, in whatever situation, have a host mindset, meaning it is your desire to make other people feel comfortable and reach out to the person who might feel out of place, who might be the unicorn in the room and invite them to sit with you. Now I do it all the time. 

I’ll tell you a fun story. I was at a huge conference, 1500 people and lots of speakers. I saw a woman sitting alone, eating lunch. I walked over to her, and said, “At this event, nobody should be eating alone. May I join you?” She said, “sure”. So I went and got my lunch,  sat down and we started chatting. We talked about kids, we talked about all kinds of stuff. Then she told me that she was the founder of TEDX.  I was like, “You mean TedX?” She’s like, “yeah”.  Embarrassed, I said, “So you wanted to eat alone.”  She smiled and took my hands. Somebody sitting at another table took a picture of this moment, ‘cause he was watching us. But she took my hands, and said, “No, because you sat down for me, not for you.  I didn’t know who she was. We’re still in touch, and she’s just an amazing, lovely woman. The person who took the picture knew who she was,  sent me this picture and said, “You’re unbelievable, Michelle”.

 

I got goosebumps as you were sharing that story, when she said, “you sat down for her”. Wow. That is such a good thing for our listeners to hear, because I think oftentimes we see that person, and that could easily be us. So we try to avoid them because it might be a little uncomfortable for us. Again, we’re putting our emotion into it and our feelings, but you saw that and made it happen. That’s such a good tip and a good nugget because as you mentioned earlier, you do not know where that connection may lead. It may never lead to any sort of business, but it could lead to a lifelong friendship, and there’s value in that. That’s awesome. Thank you, Michelle, for sharing that. 

So how did you discover the seven mindsets of connectors that you wrote about?

I partnered with a university to do research and ask questions on certain attributes. I had a theory about what I thought were the attributes and behaviors of the connector’s mindset. I got about a thousand people to take my survey, and actually found that the majority of these people were connectors. So then I partnered with some people who had introverted networks, to make sure that we got a more diverse sample setting. It was fascinating because I realized that I was totally wrong. My theory was totally wrong. I believed that we had innate tendencies, but the research showed that there weren’t huge differences.

One of the biggest differences I saw in the statistics, was that connectors get a sense of satisfaction from the act of connecting others. It was like off the charts; whereas non-connectors didn’t get that sense of satisfaction for that act. So there was a joy or a pleasure in that act that was fulfilling, and that was the biggest differentiator. When doing that research, we saw the ideas evolving, and that’s when we came up with the mindsets.

 

Do you have your next book already in mind?

No. I’m taking a break. I am focused on getting The Connector’s Advantage out there. I think we still have a lot of information to get out there and… (aside:  I’m on a podcast). My son is walking in my office right now. I don’t know what you want to….

 

He wants to see his mom. It’s all good. 

He’s still going to get it for that one later. 

 

You know what? It just shows that you’re real, you’re genuine. So we just go with it.  I don’t mind because the truth is, one of the benefits of working from home these days are those interruptions. That makes us more relatable and connectable.

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. 

 

So you have the book club coming up July 1st. Our listeners can find out more about you by visiting your website.

https://MichelleTillisLederman.com.  From there, you can find all of the social media platforms I’m on and my YouTube channel and my blog, and a free gift pack. If you’re joining the club, we have two book specials going on. You can grab a book and gift a book. I love giving the gifts of connection.   Make sure you tell me where you heard me, ‘cause I always love to figure out how we got connected. And there are lots of freebies in there. 

 

I love that you can get a free book on your website. That speaks to who you are and how you show up. 

I started over the holidays, because it was a really fun gift, especially for a group of employees or coworkers. When you purchased it online, I would write a personalized note, put a bookmark in it, put it in a pretty little package and ship it out. It was giving the gift of connection, you know, and became so popular, that we just kept going with it. 

 

Nice. So let’s end this podcast with a couple of questions. What do you love to do outside of connecting with people? I hear that you are an expert chauffeur for your sons.

I am, but it’s not necessarily what I like to do. I love to travel. I connect with loads of new and interesting people on my travels. I’m an adrenaline junkie. I have gone skydiving, scuba diving, swimming with sharks, zip lining. I love a little adventure!  I love anything with animals.

 

Did I read correctly that you just learned how to ride a bike? 

Yeah, I’m not so good at that. 

 

That’s awesome. So of course we want people to pick up a copy of your book.  I have, and am starting to dive into it.  It’s already a hot mess, because I’m highlighting stuff and having these “aha moments”.  I think any business person, anyone who wants to learn how to deepen their connection skills, should be reading this book. I’m so thrilled to hear about the book club coming up in July.  Outside of that, what other things can you recommend for our listeners, because many people in our audience want to build a solid referral-based network. It begins with relationships. So what can you add to help them do that?

Always have a conversation, whether you think there’s a reason for it or not.  Engage fully in that conversation.  Ask the question of “how can I help?” When you help people, they will want to stay connected to you, and the network grows. Don’t forget to make sure that you know what you’re working on and share it, because you will stay front of mind for them. It’s not necessarily having to ask, but it’s a share.

 

Thank you so much, Michelle. What an honor to have you with us today!  I am excited that our team reached out to you. I’m excited to read The Connector’s Advantage, and I’ve already queued up The 11 Laws Of Likeability.  Where can our listeners pick these books up at?

They’re in bookstores, on Amazon, on my website. Whatever’s easiest.  Honest Amazon reviews are always appreciated. I love a good review, an honest review. It was a pleasure being on, and I love that your book is all highlighted. That just makes my day.

Thank you. Have an outrageously productive, connecting day. Thank you again so much for joining us. I appreciate you. Thank you. 

Important Links:

The Connector Quiz: https://michelletillislederman.com/connector-quiz/

Michelle’s Books: https://michelletillislederman.com/books/

Website: http://www.michelletillislederman.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichelleTillisLederman

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/communicationexpertspeaker

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mtlederman

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MichelleLederman

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mtlederman/