Best networking advice: ask different questions – James Hirst
James Hirst at MAD//Fest for the series "Best Networking Advice I Ever Got".
Networking conversations that go nowhere? Change the question.
You're good at your job, and easy company with people you already know. It's the cold standing start with a stranger that undoes you – the "so… what do you do?" that dies on the spot.
At MAD//Fest I asked James Hirst, who runs Bristol Creative Industries, for his best networking advice, and he gave me a great technique: don't ask the standard question. Ask a different one and the conversation goes somewhere real, fast. It works, and I use this exact technique all the time.
But it’s easier said than done – which is what this series is about.
“If you ask a standard question, you get a standard answer. Ask different questions and you get way deeper, quicker.”
James's advice is the practical kind: the question is the lever, so change the question.
Ask something a little different and you skip the small-talk cul-de-sac and get to a real conversation, quickly – and, as he says, you never know who that conversation connects you to.
James is a big believer in serendipity – just like me – and a better question is how you give serendipity something to work with.
But a better question only helps once you're standing in front of the person and you feel ready to try it. For a lot of people, that’s further than they’re ready to go just yet.
The people I work with are sharp, senior and brilliant, and they can recite every good tip going – this one included. But for all of the advice they know makes sense, they can’t necessarily act on it.
It’s not a knowledge gap; it's a doing gap
Sound familiar?
I’ve seen from experience that you close this gap by putting in the reps. You practice on purpose, in a place built for it.
James Hirst is the managing director of Bristol Creative Industries – the membership body for the city's creative sector. It's a not-for-profit, with 1,000+ members, and 20+ years supporting the industry.
Full transcript of Video 3 – Interview with James Hirst · MD · Bristol Creative Industries
Susi: What’s your name and what you do?
James: I'm James Hirst, Managing Director of Bristol Creative Industries – the membership organisation that represents the creative industries of Bristol.
Susi: What's the best networking advice you've ever received?
James: Ask different questions. If you ask a standard question, you get a standard answer. Ask different questions and you get way deeper, quicker – and you never know what connection you might make.
Susi: Why is it important to get good at networking?
James: I'm a big believer in serendipity. You don't know who you're going to meet, or how it'll help you in your career and personal life. Get out there and network and you'll meet interesting people – it takes you places. You don't know where it'll go, but you can go along for the ride.