The Hub Factor: Charisma – Musings of a Texas Gal in NYC
Sep 17 2007

Now for the final workshop post on the Working Mother Multicultural Conference (POWER: OWN IT. — USE IT. SHARE IT.) I attended back in July.  It has taken me quite a while to get to it.  It’s a good thing I don’t have deadlines on blog posts because my other deadlines would get in the way.  🙂  

THIS IS THE CENTURY OF THE NETWORK.  ARE YOU READY? 

The last workshop I attended was called The Hub Factor: Capture Your Charisma and Make Your Connections Count!  It was led by none other than Julia Hubbel, President of The Hubbel Group, Inc. and creator of The Hub Factor.  I met some amazing people at this workshop including the two thought leaders who helped her lead the workshop:

• June Archer, VP Global Business Development and Licensing for GODIVA Chocolatier (Mmmm.  Chocolate. They provided the chocolate covered strawberries at one of the breaks)

• Patricia David, Managing Director and Global Head of Diversity and Talent for Citi Markets & Banking.  

Julia was a wonderful and engaging speaker.  She opened the workshop by asking those of us who enjoyed networking, meeting new people, mingling, etc. to raise our hands.  In a room of say 50+ people about 7-10 of us raised our hands (I was one of them).  She then said: “You are the crazy ones.  You are the weirdoes.  Most people are scared stiff of meeting new people and speaking in public!  So for the rest of us normal folks, here’s what we’re going to do…” 

She then had us do an exercise where we wrote down three things that people would never guess about us and instructed us to meet other people in the room and ask them questions about themselves.  It was a very interesting exercise and I learned a lot of neat things about people in the room. 

She emphasized the importance of creating a space where the people we are talking to feel valued and powerful.  People don’t want to hear your 30 second sales/elevator pitch…you first have to earn the right to give them the 30 second pitch by creating the right space.  Some people can do this easier than others but she felt anyone could do it if they are genuinely interested in getting to know the other person.   

I have seen this work first hand.  I know that if I’m in a rush and want to get results right away, I won’t get the results I need, but if I give it a reasonable amount of time and really listen to the person I’m communicating with, the chance for doing business together increases even though it might take longer for something to happen.  If nothing happens, at least we both made a postive connection in the world.  Sometimes I get impatient and don’t stop to think what might be going on in their lives and forget that “an emergency on my part doesn’t constitute an emergency on their part.” Live and learn.  Live and learn.  🙂

Julia had run out of business cards and had to rush out to catch a plane, but she asked for my card and promised to get in touch.  I knew I was going to do a post on her workshop so I figured I would find her contact information from her website, but before I could do that a beautifully handwritten note showed up in my mailbox with her business card inside.  I was pleasantly surprised and emailed her right away.  She must meet tons of people so I was flattered that she would take the time to write a personal note to me. 

I have also since communicated with both Pat and June.  When I met June and told her what I was doing she said she knew people and had worked in the baby marketing world in a prior life and that she would connect me to some people who might be able to help.  When  we make it big (thinking positively), I’ll definitely order some of their chocolate covered strawberries for one of our events…primarily because I met her!

Pat told everyone in the workshop that she regularly schedules time to talk to anyone who wanted to talk with her and get her advice.  She gave me her card and I left her a voice message soon after I returned to Austin half thinking I’d probably never hear from her again.  Shortly thereafter her assistant emailed me to set up a 30 minute phone meeting.  Amazing!  She has already passed information on Babble Soft to a few people in her company.  I’m not sure how I can help Pat, but if not her hopefully I can help someone else who will pass it on…

Needless to say I was impressed with this level of follow through by Julia, Pat, and June.  I try hard to keep my commitments and am often surprised when people say they will do one thing and then don’t do it or don’t let you know why they weren’t able to do it.  I’ve seen that happen so often that when people do follow through, I instantly know how they got to where they are today.   

If you are interested in the topic of networking, check out Julia’s site.  I’m a bit biased (he’s a friend) but you should also check out the blog of one of our local Austin networking gurus, Thom Singer, at Some Assembly Required. 🙂

Author: Aruni | Filed under: conferences, networking, new york city | Comments Off on The Hub Factor: Charisma – Musings of a Texas Gal in NYC

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