You Want a Seat at the Table? Here are 3 Ways to Earn it!

Once upon a time in a land not so far away (and, well, every second on social media), someone decided it would be a good idea to ask for something that served him and only him.

He decided that in order to succeed in life, he needed to collect all of the “things” that he needed to shine.

But he was mistaken.

See, this particular individual is misunderstanding the purpose of the ask: The value you bring to a person is based on their needs, not yours.

Go back and read that sentence again. Better yet, let me say it again:
The value you bring to a person is based on their needs, not yours.

In other words, if you want something, you have to definitively and decidedly earn the right to ask for it, and to earn that right, you mustbring value to the person you’re asking first, foremost and repeatedly. Here’s what I mean in boldface headers….

1) Build Meaningful Relationships
One of my favorite stories about relationship building comes directly from my book Crowdsourcing for Filmmakers: Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd and speaks to the importance of building genuine, meaningful relationships. (I tell the story in this blog post as well.)