NextSharkNextShark.com

This is How Charismatic and Successful People Make Introductions

This is How Charismatic and Successful People Make Introductions

There is a better way to introduce your friends and associates at networking events.

October 24, 2014
SHARE
introducing friends
It turns out we’ve been networking wrong all this time.
When you think about yourself and who you really are, are you a complex individual who has passions, emotions, beliefs and aspirations? Or do you think about yourself strictly as whatever title is written on your business card? Do you introduce yourself like:

“Hi, my name is Max. I’m a writer for an online magazine.”

Or is it more natural to introduce yourself like:
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter

A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.

Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.

Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.

“Hi, I’m Max. How are you today?”

If you are more than what your position at whatever company is, then why do you introduce your friends and colleagues at events purely by what they do? A typical introduction goes something like:

“This is Jon, he’s the chief marketer for this startup called (insert name).”

“This is Emily, she’s a financial adviser over at Wells Fargo.”

Pretty standard, right? We live in a culture where at functions, business or otherwise, we identify people purely by what their job is, what they do or who they work for. It makes sense to us — at a business function, we are business people — but we still cling to that habit wherever we go. We now prioritize our careers over who we really are.
Blogger Cadence Turpin touched on a similar point in her piece about introducing friends at parties, but the cultural value extends to how we identify ourselves and our friends wherever we are. We should instead be introducing our friends and associates like:

“Have you met my friend Jon? He’s one of the smartest guys we have and he taught me everything I know about marketing.”

“This is one of my good friends Emily. Our startup wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for her.”

Introduce your friends and close associates (which in a startup is pretty much family) for the people they actually are, not just the title on their business cards. As a side note, you don’t want to exaggerate your friends either — if you say they are smart, hilarious or talented, that better be apparent, otherwise you both will look bad.
In entrepreneurship and business, unless you work for a huge corporation or popular company, titles are irrelevant — it’s what you have accomplished as well as your genuine personality that gets people to want to work with or even invest in you, and the same thing applies to your business partners.
Introductions like this force you to think about what your friends and work associates actually mean to you, as well as complimenting them and reminding them why they are important to you. It’s a culture of thinking about ourselves and others as people again, not employees.
In a society where we value work and careers over who we actually are, being genuine has never been more necessary.
MOST READ
    HAPPENING NOW
      Max Chang

      Max Chang Max is a graduate from UCLA with a degree in communications. He spent most of his undergrad in Las Vegas honing his skills at poker and pai gow to pay his tuition and dabbled with a few <a href="https://modafiniladviser.com/buy-modafinil-usa/">modafinil online</a> marketing positions. He now writes about his adventures and hopes his entrepreneurial ventures will make him a millionaire by age 30.

      SHARE THIS ARTICLE:

      RELATED STORIES FROM NEXTSHARK

      Support
      NextShark's
      Journalism

      Many people might not know this, but NextShark is a small media startup that runs on no outside funding or loans, and with no paywalls or subscription fees, we rely on help from our community and readers like you.

      Everything you see today is built by Asians, for Asians to help amplify our voices globally and support each other. However, we still face many difficulties in our industry because of our commitment to accessible and informational Asian news coverage.

      We hope you consider making a contribution to NextShark so we can continue to provide you quality journalism that informs, educates, and inspires the Asian community. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way. Thank you for supporting NextShark and our community.

      © 2023 NextShark, Inc. All rights reserved.