By Sven Larsen (@zemoga)
August means vacation – especially in the global world of pharma, many of our colleagues and clients are in Europe, where August holidays are even more common. But if a tight budget means youre finding yourself on the clock while your colleagues and clients are on holiday, weve got a week full of ideas that can put you a step ahead.
Todays installment: networking.
Networking is something we know well at Pixels & Pills – surely you’ve been to one of our tweetups! This isnt the awful kind of networking youre thinking about, where you go to “networking events wearing uncomfortable suits to exchange business cards and dead-fish handshakes.
This is true networking. This is about surrounding yourself with people that you know and like and the ones that know and like you. Its about people whove seen you work, people that youve helped. Its about being yourself: True networking is not phony. You cannot be a good networker if you youre faking it.
True networking…whens the last time you did some? Here are some tips to help you jump in:
- Start with your best bets. You cant sit here and tell me you dont know anyone cool. You do so. Just start by talking to them.
- Be interested. Again, really interested. This isnt about polite interest. This is about finding people who fascinate you with their ideas and their work, and then…
- Hearing their stories. Its human nature; people love to talk about themselves. When youve found fascinating people, it couldnt be more fun to learn from them, learn about them, learn how they see the world. Sit and really listen. Its the most fun youll ever have in the name of work. And once you do that enough, its easy to start…
- Making connections. Once youve surrounded yourself with fascinating people, you might start to wonder what you can offer, if theyre all so cool. Heres the thing: You know all of them. But they dont know each other. Youre the common thread. Start sewing.
Because we straddle the divide between the tech industry and the pharma industry, what we enjoy most is making those connections. Showing tech people that the pharma industry isnt averse to new, cool ideas? Showing our friends in pharma that tech ideas are possible, even within their regulated industry? Nothing is more satisfying.
For proof, here are a few pics from a tweetup we held last year – come join us for more Pharma fun this fall (full schedule coming soon)!
