Friday, August 13, 2010

Career advice from a friend

A friend of mine (Hi Sue) gave me some advice and I'll pass it along to you. The situation was whether I should connect with an old classmate on LinkedIn. He is related to a rather powerful and important person in the financial community and it would indeed be good to have that second degree connection.

But we were not friendly in school and I barely even knew him. Yeah, I know - use all connections and don't take prisoners but I don't want to be a ____ to the guy.

So here is where my friend comes in. She said that I was thinking like a trader. Instead, I should think like a long-term investor, make the contact with no mention of the famous relative. You never know when the time will be right for the latter.

Sage advice. And considering she is not a Wall Streeter, the terminology was especially insightful.

So, make those connections when you can and without an immediate goal. You never know where they will lead.

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