Welcome to the Midday Nugget. The purpose of the Midday Nugget or its mission is to communicate to you about what is on my mind today. The one thing that weighs heavily with me today and we will go from there.
Today's Topic: Relevance (Being Relevant)
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines relevance as "1. a: relation to the matter at hand
b: practical and especially social applicability : pertinence
2: the ability (as of an information retrieval system) to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the user.
It seems that in 2014, well into the 21st Century, there are still people that believe that there has to be "CERTAIN" people that matter. They truly believe that only a few people that matter. They can't comprehend that there are more than a couple of people that are relevant. They truly believe everyone else is irrelevant or do not matter. Incomprehensible I know.
Völlig UNFASSBAR! / Totally Incomprehensible
Why am I talking about today's subject. Well, there are two reasons. The first, was at a recent function at my daughter's middle school I was witness to something most disturbing. A set of parents approached the school principal and interrupted his conversation with the school's lead custodian to say Hello and shake the principal's hand. The principal then proceeded to introduce the man to the parents however, they wanted nothing to do with him. The parents then looked at the custodian as if he was leper and completely dismissed him. The man had obviously had this happen to him before shrugged it off and went about his business.
A little bit later the parents were working the room. Stopping at the tables of the parents that were in their opinion "people that mattered" and were introducing their daughter to the other parents. Sure, there is nothing wrong with meeting new people and introducing them to your family. However, how they went about it was not something that I want to teach my children to do. I know that everyone has their own way of doing things. However, try behaving this way in the business world and see how far it get you in 2014 and beyond.
Also I was shocked when I saw this video of a Gary Vaynerchuk Q&A session at South by Southwest earlier this year in Austin, Texas. When you watch the video you can see that even Gary Vaynerchuk was taken back by the question.
I like Gary's response and he hits the nail right on the head with it. His answer is spot on. Everyone is relevant and if you stop to figure out who has relevance and who doesn't then in the 21st Century you can rest assured that you are not going to get what you want because you are not getting with the right people.
The right people?
Yes, I wrote "the right people" and they are everyone involved with the people that were once perceived as the the "relevant" people. In 2014, the right people are the gatekeepers, the next door neighbor, the bank clerk, the receptionist, the janitor, the high school security guard, EVERYONE. Those are the relevant people and EVERYONE IS RELEVANT!
Trust me, those are the people that can do more for you than the the lawyer, the doctor, the high school principal, or any "top dog" can. The thing is that everyone else will work with you, vouch for you, and ultimately be in your corner while the lawyer, doctor, principal or "top dog" is too busy, too self-important to give you any time or attention. Thus defeating your original intent.
A word of warning: if you are using someone just to get to that "top dog" then rest assured that the individual you were schmoozing will not work with you, not vouch for you, and most certainly they will leave you standing in your corner by yourself.
Be genuine and authentic with any one and everyone you deal with and things will work themselves out. Fail to see everyone as relevant then you get what you deserve: Nothing.
Thank you,
Dave Guerra
P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.
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