THE POWER OF MEETING PEOPLE BY CHANCE

We are all in constant search of new business connections.  Hundreds of articles have been written on expanding your professional network, getting to the right people and Linkedin tricks.

Yet we rarely pay attention to connections or meetings that are nor premeditated. How often do we have a casual run in with a friend of a friend or a colleagues’ relative? Yet, because these potential contacts come to us pretty easily, we tend to ignore them or dismiss as invaluable.

Why should we?

Last week I was having dinner with a friend of mine when her cousin walked by and joined us. Me and my friend had a lot to talk about, but I decided to break the routine and just listen. In under 20 minutes, I’ve learnt that Maggie, my friend’s cousin, was in the same business as I, running her own successful company in Singapore and looking for partners in other Asian countries.

Now if I knew a person like that existed, I would have invested time and resources into reaching out to her. Yet when she simply walked into my life on a weekend afternoon, I was very close to ignoring her and going about my day.

What I learnt form that was very simple: every connection is valuable, no matter how easy or difficult it was to get it.

So now, every time I run into somebody I don’t know, I never  ignore a chance to know them!

Have you had any fortunate meetings lately?