Scarcity Mindsets In Networking

Business Networking | April 9th, 2007

I share you this from my colleague, Scott Allen. He is the author of the blog, Linked INtelligence- which covers all things LinkedIN. This includes how to use the site, best practices, and news related to the popular social networking site for over 9 million business people.

A member on the My LinkedIN Power Forum asked the question as it relates to business networking;

What is everyone’s fixation with scarcity?

Scott gives a great response below. I have nothing to add as his comments summarizes everything that all business people should adhere to.

Generally, I share your sentiment regarding scarcity. All too many people see business - for that matter, the world - as a zero-sum game, in which in order for there to be winners there must also be losers. In order for one person to have, another must have not. I don’t buy into that at all.

And I’m all for the sharing of ideas. As George Bernard Shaw said, “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”

Ironically, I think the “super-connector” mentality, at least in many cases, comes from a lack mentality, not an abundance mentality. The recurring theme I hear from people is, “I might miss something”, or “You never know
where your next client is going to come from - so you’d better be as many places as possible.” See, to me, that stems from a sense of lack - as if there’s only one possible next customer out there, and your job is to find them or to be in as many places as possible so they find you.

TRUE abundance consciousness is when you can say, “I don’t have to have 10,000 connections, or 2,000, or oven 500 - I really only need one - the right one.” Abundance from networking is NOT when you have 10,000 connections and are actively working them. Abundance from networking is when, no matter how many connections you have, you don’t really have to go out and do much of anything proactive because SO much business is coming your way that you actually turn down customers and turn down projects that don’t interest you.

Ideas are unlimited. Creativity is unlimited. Wealth is (for all practical purposes) unlimited. But there is one. ONE. resource that you and I have that IS scarce. It is the one thing that no matter how hard you try, no matter how much many you have, no matter how many people you have working with or for you, is always limited. 60 x 60 x 24 x 7 x 365.

Yup, you guessed it. Time.

There are only 24 hours in the day, and you have to eat, sleep and a few other things. And while you can make incremental improvements in productivity, or leverage your ideas by getting help implementing them, there are still limits. Even “time management” guru David Allen says that he doesn’t like to call it “time management” because that gives people the false illusion that somehow you’re magically going to get 16 hours of work done in an 8 hour day.

Time is scarce. Time is precious. Given the time that you have, how do you really want to spend it? Adding another couple of dozen meaningless entries in your contact database? Or posting one real substantive, thought-provoking message in a discussion list? Sending a courtesy reply to several people asking for your help or opinion about something? Or actually
giving real help to just one of them? Is it more satisfying to be passingly civil to a lot of people, or to create real value for a few?