5 Strategies for Standing Out and Making Lifelong Connections

This article comes from Entrepreneur.

5 Strategies for Standing Out and Making Lifelong Connections

When making any connection, use the following five steps.

1. Be aware.

In business, lift your head from reports and spreadsheets and go all-in on every conversation you have. Be conscious of those around you as human beings first and as employees, managers, and colleagues second.

2. Practice gratitude.

Make it a practice to feel gratitude every day. Feel gratitude for your company, your team and your ability to influence and be influenced by others. This step alone will likely inspire your highest productivity as well as add to your own happiness (as well as the happiness of those you lead). Practicing gratitude for your team’s efforts helps suggest you have their best interests at heart.

3. Remember everyone has a story.

Before jumping to conclusions about someone’s nature or motives, remember everyone has individual reasons for thinking or behaving the way they do. Stories may vary and shift day by day. Perhaps the weary employee is caring for an elderly parent or has just experienced a frightening medical diagnosis or a situation of personal stress. Be sensitive and ready to listen, and be attuned to the motivators that are influencing each of the people you meet.

4. Show respect and kindness.

Treat those who have more than you as equals and those who have less than you as kings and queens. Treat people from all walks of life with respect, avoid the dissonant “noise” gossip can bring and keep in mind that you never know where your next great idea will come from.

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