Career development

By Abba Ado

Excellent connection and communication skills are significant to success, particularly in this modern world. No matter how hard you work, how smart you are, or how talented you are, you’re less likely to become successful if you don’t have good and efficient skills in communication and connecting with other people.

To stand out against your counterparts in leadership, business, or any organisation, you must effectively cooperate with people.  Undoubtedly, you can’t be smarter than everybody, and even if you are smart enough, you can never be smarter than people who connect themselves, share ideas, and come up with sufficient solutions.

The major barriers to success are the lack of ability to connect with desired people. Many people have a repressed brainiac capability, but they remain stagnant due to the absence of an effective connection. According to the definition coined by John C. Maxwell,” Connection is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them”.

Connection and communication are crucial to having good leadership; for you to be constructive in your leadership role, you must have excellent communication with your coworkers. The power of connecting with others cannot be emphasised; the starting point of gaining connection skills is to keep aside your biases, such as religious, cultural or ethnic differences. Connecting with people is key to success regardless of your goals.

It is good to know you can’t do everything alone; your smartness and hard work are not enough to lift you to where you want to be. You must engage with society who share the same ideology to influence each other,” if smart A connects with smart B, they arrived at having double ideas instead of one”. Several studies have shown that high achievers listen to others, consider others, and interestingly solicit ideas from those who are inferior.

In his book titled “Everyone Communicates Few Connect”, John C. Maxwell classified different ways of connecting at every level, such as:

Connecting One-on-One is the most important aspect of connection; at this level, you must know other people’s matters, listen to them attentively, and share your values with their ideas; in the end, you will gain common valuable information.

The second way is Connecting In A Group; at this level, recognise every person’s potency, acknowledge it, and be open to new ideas, especially their potential. 

The third is Connecting With An Audience: in this case, you need to convey your appreciation to the audience, do something exceptional for them, and inform them how much you enjoyed engaging with them.

The major key to success is the ability to communicate and establish a good connection with people; without connecting and communicating, Mark Zuckerberg would not have built Facebook, and Steve Jobs would not have found Apple. For us to have better socioeconomic growth, we must connect; our business moguls, especially in northern Nigeria, should come up with an effective way of communication that would lead to immaculate partnerships to build industries and markets that would employ thousands of people rather than being stagnant with one idea that won’t go anywhere.

Connections are not only about leadership or business but across all aspects of life, whether in academics,  institutions, or coworkers; once you have any idea, try to identify people who share the same ideology. You can connect with every person, such as professors, doctors, friends, or colleagues.

One of the best ways to connect with your mentors is via email address, social handle, or face-to-face. Know how to craft an attractive email address because a poorly written one may disqualify you. To become successful, you must cooperate with people no matter how smart you are. Two heads are better than one.

Abba Ado wrote via abbaadomusa0@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Ado Musa

Having a very good network (otherwise known as ‘connection’) and communication skills is a major asset to success, particularly in this modern world. No matter how hard you work, how smart you are, or how talented you are, if you don’t have good and efficient skills in communication and connecting with other people, you’re less likely to become successful.

To stand out against your counterparts, whether it is in leadership, business, or any organisation, you must have an effective way of cooperating with people. It is certainly true that you can’t be smarter than everybody, and even if you are smart enough, you can never be smarter than people who connect themselves, share ideas, and come up with sufficient solutions.

Lack of ability to connect with desired people is among the major barriers to success. Many people have a repressed brainiac capability, but due to the absence of effective connection, they remain stagnant.

According to the definition coined by John C. Maxwell, connection is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them.

Connection and communication are crucial to having good leadership. For you to be constructive in your leadership role, you must have very good communication with your coworkers. The power of connecting with others cannot be overemphasised.

The starting point for gaining connection skills is to first keep aside your biases, such as religious, cultural, or ethnic differences. Learning how to connect with people is key to success, no matter your goals. It is good to know you can’t do everything by yourself; your smarts and hard work are not enough to lift you to where you want to be; you must engage with society members who share the same ideology to influence each other. “If smart A connects with smart B, they arrive at having double ideas instead of one”.

Several studies have shown that high achievers are those who listen to others, consider other people, and, interestingly, solicit ideas from people who are inferior to them.

In his book titled “Everyone Communicates, Few Connect”, John C. Maxwell classified different ways of connecting at every level, such as: Connecting one-on-one is the most important aspect of connection. At this level, you must know the concerns of other people, listen to them attentively, and share your values with their ideas. In the end, you will both gain valuable information.

The second way is to connect in a group. At this level, recognise every person’s potential, acknowledge it, and be open to new ideas, especially in the area of their potential.

The third is connecting with an audience. In this case, you need to convey your appreciation to the audience, do something exceptional for them, and, at the end, inform them how much you enjoyed engaging with them.The major key to success is the ability to communicate and establish a good connection with people.

Apparently, without connecting and communicating, Mark Zuckerberg would not have built Facebook, and Steve Jobs would not have established Apple. For us to have better socioeconomic growth, we must connect. Our business moguls, especially in northern Nigeria, should come up with an effective way of communication that would lead to immaculate partnerships to build industries and markets that would employ thousands of people, rather than being stagnant with one idea that won’t go anywhere.

Connections are not only about leadership or business but across all aspects of life, whether you are in academia, institutions, or with your coworkers. Once you have any idea, try to identify people who share the same ideology. You can connect with every person, such as professors, doctors, friends, or colleagues. One of the best ways to connect with your mentors is via email, social media, or face-to-face.

Know how to craft an attractive email address because a poorly written email may disqualify you. That will lead you to become successful, you must cooperate with people, no matter how smart you are. As it’s said, two heads are better than one. 

Muhammad Ado Musa writes from Kano, Nigeria.