Approximately six years ago I started a new position and upon my hire, was handed a book to read. I always wanted to read it but never made the time to do so. However, I recently decided to finally read The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk. Most of the book was about how social media was going to sweep businesses by storm. Gary Vaynerchuk expressed his opinion that in order for businesses to be successful that they would need to utilize social media to its fullest. Although the book seemed a bit outdated (it was published in 2011), what Gary Vaynerchuk stated seemed to come to fruition. He was correct in his original assessment of what was most likely going to occur. For me, I skimmed through a lot of the passages about social media and instead focused on the other points that were made throughout the book. Many of the concepts I had already been exposed to however I felt like it was a great reminder for me to improve my business acumen and leadership skills.
Some of the concepts that resonated with me the most were in how to interact with other individuals. These individuals could be customers, coworkers, other departments, and executives. Quality engagement is the key to enhance the working relationships with others. For this quality engagement to occur, one must be open to create the opportunity for this engagement, meanwhile having good intentions and being authentic while doing so. Part of this is to be true to yourself and the relationships will slowly build over time. Relationship building is at the core of strategic business success, however, it must be nurtured over time. How to be tactical in these strategic relationships must be planned out and thought through before making rash decisions that may lead to failures in the future. That being said, taking chances is sometimes necessary in order to rise above the rest and to improve the way that things are implemented. While reading the ideas expressed in The Thank You Economy, I was reminded of how to strengthen my core business style and apply these concepts to both my professional and writing careers.