When asked about his favorite role as an actor Bruce Dern said:
“I don’t look back well.”
So it is with our networking life. As Mr. Dern went on to say, “An actor is only as good as his most recent role.” In that respect, networkers and actors are similar. We can’t really rest on our laurels (whatever that act really looks like) or we get stale, predictable. The best of our connections are always ahead of us.
Not that we can’t rely on our “body of work” to propel us forward. That’s what experience, wisdom and knowledge do for us as we build the momentum of our careers and lives. But to spend more time looking back than forward stunts our growth and our potential–no matter where we are in our career or life.
Our quotable today, Mr. Dern, is a prime example of that. His latest role in the film “Nebraska” is a critically acclaimed role for an actor closing in on 80. Yet he has morphed and changed with the times. While he is white haired and has the actions of an older man, he is ageless in many respects. Like Buckminster Fuller, John Wooden and others who stared aging in the face and moved forward until their end, they never stopped growing–and seldom looked back except to make examples of their work drawn from their experiences for others to benefit.
As a networker, we should always be looking for the next event, targeting that next contact, connecting the dots to the next opportunity. We are, after all, in this role in life because we like learning, meeting new people and being challenged. While the people we have met and do know are of tremendous value, the next and newest people we meet will also propel us forward and teach us or expose us to something new, something we haven’t thought of.
So as you go out and network, remember the metaphor (or is it an analogy?) of the rear view mirror in a car: there is a reason the rear view mirror is small and the windshield is big: the things in front of you are far more important than those things behind you. Think big–look forward.
Relentless
*photo courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival
