Signature Leaders Blog
Reminders to Inspire

Why should I network? I hardly have enough time to do my job as it is.

What comes to mind when I say the word “network”?

Responses I have received run the gamut from “I know I need to build a network, but I don’t have time” to “I hate walking into a room of people I don’t know and trying to generate superficial conversations.” In many cases, the adjectives used are self-serving, inauthentic, uncomfortable, and downright overwhelming. But that’s not what I mean when I say “network”.

Network is not a verb. Network is a NOUN.

The back of my business card reads: Signature is more than business excellence. It’s leading life intentionally.

I often say that if we lead life intentionally, we will be better business leaders, and likely better managers, colleagues, friends, and family members. Intentionality doesn’t always have to be pre-planned. Often, the most powerful actions we take are the ones we do in the moment.

This week, we kicked off the first Signature program for 2019 in Charlotte, where I met 40 unique colors of the rainbow.

I took this photo when I was in Amsterdam because the message struck me. I thought it could be a tag line for Signature.

I recently returned from a week in Nicaragua, my first of many this year. I go to see my daughter and son-in-law twice a year, spaced between their two visits to the US. Visiting the small city of Chinandega, Nicaragua is difficult both logistically and emotionally. The bumpy, 2.5-hour drive from the airport is certainly uncomfortable, and the amount of poverty I’m exposed to is not something I will ever get used to.

 “Stop right there,” she said. “I’m in.”

I was dumbfounded that Ronee Hagen, CEO of PGI, Inc. (a Blackstone Company), had just agreed to join us as our CEO guest at a Signature Program. It was 2013. I had been introduced to her only a few weeks before by a mutual contact who thought we might hit it off with a joint passion for developing more women leaders. But I was just a new entrepreneur starting to gather some momentum and Ronee was the CEO of a company with over $7B in revenue.

But her response wasn’t luck.

The foundation for this successful conversation had started years before that call.