Someone contacted me recently asking for a work-related favour.
This person was relatively well known in similar sectors and specialisms to me, although with significantly more years’ experience.
I’ll be honest – it was a nice ego boost to hear from this person. They were asking me for help and advice. It was nice to hear. I was cordial, helpful and kind – yet wary.
You see, we’d already met a number of times before, at industry networking events in the past, when I was more junior. But, on those occasions this person had blanked me.
"The first impression you make usually sticks..."
At our first meeting, I was hungry to network and eager to meet this person, who I’d heard a lot about.
However, when it came to the ‘hello-handshake-nice-to-meet-you’, this person looked me up and down, decided then and there that I was not a networking ‘target’ – a potential client/someone they needed to know at that point in their life – and pretty much ignored me.
Bit hurtful yes, but I was an adult and moved on, and I’m not one to hold a grudge.
People change, things happens, but the first impression you make usually sticks. When the second and third impressions are more of the same, then…
You never know when or where you will need to ask someone for advice, contacts or a favour in the future, so my rule of thumb is to be nice to all.
So will I help this person? Yes, of course. Will I go out of my way to make connections and recommendations? Probably not.
Be careful about trampling over the ‘little people’. It’s a small world.