When I first started face to face networking I heard many expressions which were intended to help understanding of the way to network.
One of these which I heard frequently was the question ” How do you eat an elephant?”
The supposedly correct answer was ” One bite at a time>”
The principle was excellent: don’t rush into networking relationships you have to take it a step at a time. The wider message is all about finding out about the other person, seeing if you can help them, and not expecting direct results from the person in front of you, but connecting to their wider network. Once you understand the joy of having a network and helping other people the What;s in it for Me attitude disappears. And usually that is when the results do appear.
But what about that poor elephant? I didn’t even like to think about eating an elephant at all. In fact I was so revolted by the idea of eating an endangered species that only eats vegetation and does not kill other animals that I found it difficult to listen to the message at all.
I would like to consign this distaseful expression to oblivion. I hope I never see it again in a book, and certainly hope I never hear anyone saying it. Do you agree?