The Three C's - #1 Communication

Communication.  Networking.  It is so important.  Prior to going on my Leave of Absence I was a manager in a large corporation.  I had thirty people reporting to me.  During my years as a manager I found myself giving the same advice to people, whether they were fellow-managers, up-line managers or my direct reports.  Simply....communicate!  Let people know what you want to do.  Ask the question and do not assume the answer.  Basically be a good listener, be a good interviewer and build your network that way.

I have a recent example from my life that highlights this in spades.  If you've been reading this blog you know I am on a Leave of Absence from my current employer.  To figure how on earth we were going to finance this year with no income, my wife and I had to head over to our financial adviser to make plans.  During that conversation the adviser mentioned that she had been looking for three years for someone to join her small company.  Someone that she felt had the customer relationship skills, the personality she was after and an interest in personal finance.  We have been getting advice from her for many years now and over the years she has gotten to know that I enjoy personal finance.  That I have spreadsheets I developed to track my portfolio, to figure out income tax.  That I read The Economist magazine weekly and read the business section of newspapers first.  That we are both French speaking.  We have gotten to know each other via our meetings over the years.  Because at these meetings we took the time to learn something about each other.

So when we last met to plan the year she mentioned that she had been looking for sometime for an individual to join and to become a partner in the company with the intent of eventually taking over her customer base.  I mentioned to her the reasons for wanting to take a Leave of Absence.  I mentioned that three years ago I had considered the field of financial planning for my next career.  Next thing you know I am meeting her for lunch, I have an offer in hand and I am researching the field a bit more.

The point is this:  Had we not communicated beyond the absolute reason for our meetings - financial planning - we would never had known that we had similar interests and an opportunity would not have arisen for either one of us.  For years I handed out the advice and I have only really been heeding it since last summer.  Multiple interesting things have happened in my life since then...all because I have dropped the guard, opened up and communicated more.

Now.....will I make a jump into the world of personal finance???  Let's see how the year unfolds.