Showing All Your Cards – Good for Networking?
Having too many secrets can cause you to be closed in your own shell and not be able to network. But how open are you willing to be? Here’s an example of significant openness and a discussion about it. Let’s start with John Lennon and his monkey, that have nothing to hide:
FXStreet is a big forex portal. They have a large audience, many contributors and many business partners. Their CEO, Franscesc Riverola has a blog that is updated almost daily. This is an excellent tool to communicate with readers and business partners.
Riverola takes networking through his blogs one step further: he frequently publishes detailed statistics for the site. While he currently has good numbers to show off, this approach isn’t common in the forex industry and isn’t common at all.
Being too closed and secret has its prices. You would find it hard to communicate with someone that has a lot to hide, and that shows suspicion. Speaking with someone who is constantly looking over his shoulder will also make you suspicious and nervous.
So, I find openness to be a good thing. A positive, open attitude usually prompts the same reaction, and makes networking easier – more trust is earned when you are positive.
Still, Riverola’s approach is quite unique. In most businesses, there are a few secrets, a few things that you won’t expose at all or at least not immediately. Companies that have a website as their main asset usually hold the stats close to them, and will only expose them only to trusted business partners. If they do expose them to the public, they’ll cherry-pick specific numbers and be very creative about it.
Riverola’s numbers fascinate me, as I’m also in the forex publishing business, through Forex Crunch. While I salute his approach, I don’t show all my cards. Am I wise to have some secrets, or is my attitude too conservative for the 21st century?
