Tag Archives: currency

The Greenlight Highlight: How a Seasoned Project Manager Uses Relationship Mastery to Foster Teamwork

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Joseph Katucki
Wallingford, CT
Greenlight Member Since: June 2010

Elevator Pitch: “I’m not afraid of trouble, I like solving problems. I am a Project Manager specializing in turning around troubled projects. Currently I’m creating a leadership development program. I also mentor small businesses through the SBA’s SCORE program.”

What experience in your past marked the moment you recognized how important relationships are to your success? 

About five years into my professional career, I remember looking around the office and noticing who were getting fun assignments and promoted the fastest. It was those individuals who were personally and/or socially connected with the management chain.

What’s the coolest things you’re working on at home or at work right now?

I am leading the charge on an innovative leadership development program for the nearly 1,800 members of the Southern New England Project Management Institute (SNEC-PMI). It’s a program that includes a 360 leadership skills assessment, one-on-one feedback and coaching by a Center for Creative Leadership accredited leadership coach, three 3-day workshops facilitated by a hired consultant, and two 1-day events that will be open to the larger SNEC-PMI community.

The lessons I’ve learned about working with a volunteer organization have been invaluable. It’s taken a lot more time to get things moving and I have to approach every interaction with extreme generosity as every individual I rely on is there on a gifted basis. Continue reading →

Heidi Roizen: Getting the Door Slammed in Your Face Means You are Doing it Right

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In the investment world there is an accepted relationship between risk and return. In order to get a big return, you generally have to accept a significant level of risk. In her Social Capitalist interview, legendary networker Heidi Roizen shared her thoughts on the relationship between risk and return in relationships – and why, if doors aren’t getting slammed in your face from time to time, you probably aren’t risking enough.

Heidi says:

“I think you have to have a certain amount of tenacity and belief in yourself and what you’re trying to accomplish. Sometimes it takes a while to get other people on the same page with you. Sometimes, they’re never going to get on the same page. I think there’s a fine line between appropriate persistence to just beating a dead horse and becoming an annoying presence to the other person. Again I think you have to have the approach of asking yourself, What’s in it for them?

When you approach someone, sometimes there are clear “no’s,” but sometimes there are people who are a little skeptical and maybe need to be convinced. Maybe you need to do more homework…Sometimes there’s a longer process to building relationships and getting people on the same page with you. Continue reading →

Heidi Roizen Tells You How to Mint Your Own Currency

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Social Capitalist Heidi Roizen is known as Silicon Valley’s most legendary networker, but she had to build those relationships from the ground up just like anyone else. In this week’s tip she shares advice about finding and creating the currency you can offer to build a generosity-based relationship with anyone.

Heidi says:

“I do think there’s something truthful in asking the questions of any relationship you build, what do you bring to the table for that other person? What is the context of the relationship? What can you offer? Everyone has something to offer, but I think that people don’t realize it, particularly those who are just starting out.

Let’s take a situation where you want to get to know someone in your community who runs a company. Maybe you can’t do something directly for them, but maybe they’re involved in a charitable organization and you can go volunteer, work to death, and help with membership. You can go and do something. And eventually, as I find in many charitable organizations, it’s pretty easy to work your way up the ranks, if you devote some time and energy to doing it. And eventually, you will end up in a circle with that person or have an opportunity to talk to them. Continue reading →

Heidi Roizen’s Top Tip for Getting Emails Answered

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This week’s Social Capitalist Tip is from Heidi Roizen, the venture capitalist and Stanford professor who is known as Silicon Valley’s most legendary networker. She is also the subject of a Harvard Business Review case study. During the interview, Tahl Raz asked Heidi about the key takeaways from that case.

Heidi said:

“If you want to boil this case down to one fundamental takeaway, it’s this: Don’t approach someone because you want something from them. Approach someone because you have something to offer.

Now there’s no reason that this can’t be a win-win for you as well. But think in terms of what value you’ll be bringing to other people. Ultimately, that’s why they’re going to continue to connect with you. It’s why they’re going to answer your phone calls and your emails and your whatever. They’ll see you as someone who can be helpful to them. I think that’s a very easy thing to learn, and it’s a very easy thing to test and to check as you go and carry out your life. When you intend to form a relationship with someone, the first thing you should think is, What value am I to them?”

Read a full transcript of the interview with Heidi, filled with other great tips and insights, by clicking here.

Relationship Roundup

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Three things we’re buzzing about this week.

What do Seth Godin, “Rich Dad” Robert Kiyosaki, and PayPal co-founder and Facebook angel investor, billionaire Peter Thiel all have in common? They lent their expertise to our friend Michael Ellsberg’s new book The Education of Millionaires. A must read for the next generation of entrepreneurs who’d rather invest in their business ideas than an education.  Get a free chapter here.

The New Currency. I was inspired by this New York Times blog post on Time Banks and how their providing solutions for thousands in the Big Apple. Excellent example of how your talents can be valuable currency to others and vice versus.

Face lift at Facebook. Everyone’s buzzing about the implications of the new Facebook changes so we thought we’d be generous and break down the top 6 things you must know, so you can continue to friend without fear.  Check it out!

Kibibi Springs is the myGreenlight Community Manager