Championship Networking Tip – Are You Accountable?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8DR6Zh1ih4[/youtube]

If you can’t be accountable, then you can’t do business. Period. There is frankly nothing more disturbing to me than to refer a deal to someone who ultimately proves unaccountable to my client. An excuse is just another reason for failure. The definition of an excuse is to defend a broken commitment. Too many excuses and you have been branded unreliable or false. And, what’s false is false; what is true is forever. That’s why networking is forever.

Short of giving birth or experiencing a death in the family, it’s difficult to appreciate some of the excuses you’ve probably heard (or used) through the years. People will talk about not showing up or why they were late—Oh, the traffic—or offer up that last-minute phone call. I was disorganized, I didn’t plan properly… You know what the real reason was? Low priority. It just wasn’t on your list to do as something that was important.

How can Eric Shaw say that? This is important: If you were offered $100,000 to be at a certain place tomorrow at 6:00 in the morning, knowing that if you don’t come at 6:00 in the morning you’re not getting the money, you would take the hotel across the street and wait. Everybody would. Why not? Would you deliberately miss an event if you were offered $100,000? Be honest. The event has now become a high priority that requires accountability.

Remember: The way you do anything is the you do everything!

Championship Networking is a column on Actors Reporter, a site on the Actors Podcast Network, a Pepper Jay Production.