DAVID BURKUS, Best-Selling Author, Thought Leader: Redefining Networking

David Burkus (@davidburkus), thought leader, multi best-selling author, & networking expert joins The Brink of Midnight Podcast with John Brenkus. David Burkus is on a mission to translate and bring the best, scientifically-based ideas out of the ivory tower and into the offices, coffee shops, and meeting rooms where good work is done. From the theories of how creativity is generated to best practices in leadership and management, and now to redefining what good networking looks like, David is making an impact across all spectrums of work and life. Outside of his best-selling books, you can find his insights in Forbes, Inc., the Ted Talks stage, and many other outlets. He speaks around the world and works with organizations like Google, Fidelity, Microsoft, and many others. In this conversation, we dive into the nitty gritty from his recently published book, “Friend of a Friend: Understanding the Hidden Networks That Can Transform Your Life and Career”. He turns the idea of those awkward “What do you do?” conversations on it’s head to help us understand that we don’t create a network, we live inside one. David also gives us actionable steps on how to approach networking from the elevator pitch to extended conversations, tells us common pitfalls and what NOT to do, and how to think about the role that social media plays. He then looks through the lens of society at large, describing how networks form and how the danger of defaulting only to what is familiar to us can lead to division of groups. Especially poignant in today’s political climate, he illustrates how and why we need to start intentionally creating opportunities to move outside our default network to learn from others and have dialogue with a diverse set of opinions. This conversation is fully of takeaways that you can immediately apply to your work and life, and his ideas will keep you thinking long into the weeks and months ahead! For full show notes, visit: www.brinkofmidnight.com | Contact: info@brinkofmidnight.com | Connect on Socials: @brinkofmidnight (twitter, instagram, Facebook) and @johnbrenkus_