NETWORKING IS LIKE CHEATING AT POKER

NETWORKING IS LIKE CHEATING AT POKER by: Chris Borja

Many people conduct their business networking like they are playing poker, a winlose proposition.

Proper networking is a lot more like “cheating” at the game of poker!

Let me explain.

Imagine for a second, a table of five poker players. They all confidently lean over their chips, doing their best to look as unemotional as possible. They glance across the table at each of the other players, reading them to get a feel for how strong their cards are.

The first objective in the game of poker is to have the best hand.

The second objective is to maximize the winnings from that hand. The key to Poker is betting, because the game, at its heart, is a game of chip management. This often involves elements of “bluffing.”

Someone with a good hand may pretend not to have a good hand, and those with a poor hand will oftentimes pretend or try to give off signs that they do have a good hand.!

The reason why this is the case is that in the game of poker, there is only one winner in the end. ONE person wins the whole pot, and everyone else loses! It’s a win-lose proposition.

Here is how networking is different from that scenario. When done properly, it should be a win-win proposition all the time!

Imagine another poker table with five different players.

At this new table, the players didn’t know the #1 rule (only ONE winner), they forgot that you’re not allowed to look at one another’s cards, and they weren’t aware of the rule that says you aren’t allowed to exchange cards!

So they proceed to look at their five cards and realize that they’re each missing a few select cards to complete a higher hand. Because they don’t realize they can’t exchange cards they all decide to put their cards face up.

Rather than wearing dark sunglasses and trying to fool each other into thinking they have a better hand, they look at each other's cards and each other and exchange cards to improve their hands. Can you already see a big difference?

You see, what is happening is that they are collaborating instead of competing with one another.

Good networking is collaborating. It’s about sharing and exchanging resources. It’s about helping other players to get a better hand. It’s not about who has the highest hand, it's about the fact that everyone is a resource to someone else.

By collaborating, everyone improves their hand. An additional benefit is that they are working to serve one another. They will have better relationships than those that are competing, the ones who have bad feelings because only one can ever come out the winner.

In this situation, everyone comes out a winner because they all had a better hand after trading with one another than they did when they started.

Let’s transition this over into the business world.

Instead of everyone looking out for their own business, their own needs, and their own priorities, what would happen if they focused on those in their community?

In the game of poker, the worst hand is to have one of each different type of card, each in a different suit. But each one of those cards, while worthless to that player, may be the final piece of the puzzle for other players to complete their three-of-a-kind, flush, or even a royal flush. Working together everyone can and will benefit.

When we are out networking, we all have those cards that may not seem as important to us in that they may not be our clients or customers. But they may be good clients or customers who can make a huge difference for somebody else; who knows it might be their next multimillion-dollar contract!

Now let’s imagine for example that you did help somebody else to complete their royal flush. Can you imagine how thankful they would be for you having shared that resource with them? Can you imagine what they could possibly do for you in showing appreciation? Do you think they could ever forget about you for the rest of their life?

What will likely happen is they will look for any and every opportunity to reciprocate that favor. Actively looking for ways to be able to share their resources with you to help you to have a better hand.

So the next time you go out and network think about how true networking is like cheating at cards.

Chris Borja