Connections and their Endless Power

[Deleted61970]

Hello,

This time I will give my thoughts on how connections impact the business world and that it is not always black and white when it comes to the helpfulness of them. As always, criticism is always welcome no matter how harsh. Now lets get busy.

Intro

Connections are an integral part of the political, social and business environments. Most people think that having a lot of connections in the business world is solely, a good thing without realizing the dangers that it can pose both in the present and in the future. What are connections? What are the good aspects of connections? What are the bad aspects of connections? How to use connections to the utmost efficiency without suffering drawbacks? This article will answer these questions.

What are connections?

“Connections” is a term used to describe individuals or groups of people that one has a positive relationship with, that is willing to help and provide support in some way or another. Friends and family can be considered connections but it mainly refers to recently acquainted or, in rare cases, newly met people. When people use connections, its mainly to call in some sort of favor whether it be financial aid, information, setting up meetings and acquiring other connections are all common uses of a connection. Not all connections are considered completely positive in that the only purpose is for mutual gain and no actual trust exists between the 2 parties. This mainly happens in political cases but can sometimes happen in business as well.

Connections in the business world are a tool, a tool that varies in difficulty to obtain but is easily lost for a number of reasons. Humans are hard to use because they themselves are random.

What are the good aspects of connections?

Connections have a large amount of positive uses in them: financial aid, information, advice, setting up meetings, helping to get new connections, reputation increases because it is known that they are a connection of yours, considers you and your business first in deals by influencing the business they are part of, helps to dismiss bad rumors about you or your company, acquire resources easier and through different means, find opportunities for you in different or your current market and the list goes on. However, connections are not a one way street, if you’re expecting favors from them they will expect favors from you and if favors aren’t met or are ignored, problems will start to arise.

Reliability and trust help in getting more use out of your connection.

What are the bad aspects of connections?

On the surface it doesn’t seem like connections have any negative impacts, there is no legal contract binding you and if you do want to go separate ways then the process is simple right? Well connections are some of the most dangerous double edged swords in the business world and if your not careful, they can cost you more than just simple social rumors. As I said, connections are not a one way street so your just as much a threat as they are to you. Connections are positive relationships to start off with but aspects like: reluctance to do favors, ignoring requests, giving away information about them to others, breaking promises and doing things that go against their morals or preferences help to deteriorate your mutualistic relationship. Now just as there are many good things a connection can do for you there are as many bad, even worse, things as well. Some of these include: giving away personal information about you, spreading bad rumors about you and your business, knowing the most desirable investments for you and taking them first, targeting your client base, causing distrust between you and your other connections, ruining your reputation just by being known as someone who was a connection that left, helping your direct competitors and so on. Most of these are just ethical issues that can be called fowl play, usually a person would never take it to the legal level of destruction. Of course you can do so as well but you will suffer the same if not worse risks and consequences that they would. After all it is not only smart and more business savvy to be both good ethically and socially.

Sometimes others may just use you to gain an edge without you even knowing but little do they know, that will be the very thing that causes their downfall. No one can escape the consequences no matter how hard they try. If the guilt doesn’t crush them first, society will in a much more cruel way.



How to use connections to the utmost efficiency without suffering drawbacks?

Connections, even though they are people, are a resource that can be very beneficial is used right. You may think its immoral to think of others as tools for benefit but it’s a mutualistic relationship where both of you benefit from using each other. The business world is a machine, not a world and will not wait for you to sought out your own moral dilemmas. Now I will describe this process in steps (reason being that it’s a cumulative process that gets better as you build it up):

Step 1: Choose your connections wisely.

Finding trustworthy and competent people makes using connections immensely easier and also lowers the risk of negative effects. People who trust each other will rarely betray each other or purposefully go behind their backs, someone who has similar morals to you is a great choice as a connection and them being competent increases the efficiency and frequency of the use of their skills.

Step 2: Build a strong positive relationship.

By building a strong relationship with your connections, how often you can ask for favors and the type of favors you can ask for will increase. Obviously, you should expect them to ask the same of you and even doing more than they ask will benefit you in the long term. Your reputation will also improve with you completing the favors you ask for.

Step 3: Repeat step 1 and 2 on multiple people.

It is always best to have multiple options when it comes to connections, having one will make you solely reliant on one connection and thus giving them power of you in terms of them asking for more and harder favors back for each subsequent one you ask for. The more people that trust you and like you, the fewer the number of people who will actively try to stop you and your businesses progress. Everyone uses each other in the business world, our morals and consciences is what separates us from machines who only seek advantages.

Step 4: Choose several of your connections to rely on more.

Even with having a wide variety of connections to choose from, it is always best to have the few that you deeply trust and rely on. Not only will they have your back and be completely honest with you most of the time, they will also be willing to tell you if someone is cheating you and will actively help you with any problems. These connections are usually close friends or family that you have known for years.

Step 5: Getting rid of a connection/connections.(Optional)

Unfortunately not all relationships remain positive and sometimes its best to cut ties with certain people, but this does not always have to be completely negative. You can still cut ties with a connections while still maintaining their respect and yours to them. It is always best to have a discussion with you and the connection that you want to cut, talking our and clarifying reasons for the cut, rules around both corporate and personal information for both parties is essential for there not to be toxicity. Sadly, there are a lot of times where this isn’t an option, either because backstabbing or outing has occurred and thus, needs to be dealt with in either a more legal or personal format. This is where your closest connections come into play to help you deal with this problem as quickly and safely as possible.

Outro

I hope you have enjoyed and learned something while reading this article. I know referring to humans as “tools” is considered an inhuman thing but you have got to remember that this world is cruel, different and unforgiving. Not everyone thinks the same, has the same morals, has the same likes and same opinions but I believe there can be positive benefits from treating each other likes tools because our emotional bond towards each other helps keep us from completely seeing each other as tools.

I wish you all the best for all your future entrepreneurial endeavors and remember, you can only truly lose once you give up, the last person that should admit defeat is yourself.

Thank you for reading.

 

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