I’m not a fan of Lord Sugar but one has to admire his ability to generate controversy. His article in the Daily Telegraph where he says that networking events are a waste of time and only profit the organisers has certainly stirred up a hornets nest of comment within my network.

Lord Sugar wrote:
“I am sick and tired of hearing people asking what to do, going to networking meetings and seminars expecting to glean some gems of wisdom. These events are money-making exercises and benefit one party and one party only: the organiser.

As usual he’s has managed to polarise opinion with networking organisers, thinking he’s talking nonsense and others who think that he’s right. For my part I feel both have a valid opinion. For my part and, this is where I agree with Sugar, I avoid networking groups that give a piss poor product, and unfortunately there are too many of them!

Too often people are invited to a networking meeting without any idea of who else is attending and with no one to manage introductions. Time is wasted listening to sponsors and the organiser promoting their own business and when the speaker does satnd up it’s an anticlimax of mediocrity. However a well run event will always stand out from the crowd.

The rest of Sugar’s article talks about being self-reliant and in this I hope that his fee for writing the article was huge because it’s had the desired affect of generating discussion.

 Managing top talent so that they are engaged and remain with a business is a problem. Yesterday I found myself in a long discussion with with a friend who is concerned that he might lose some of his best talent.

1. The first thing that we could both agree on in that true talent is in short supply and is worth keeping at all costs and even when it leaves is worth maintaining contact in case one can attract it back!
2. Too many talented people become dissolusioned after having their expectations dashed with broken promises of personal learning, clear career path or making a contribution.
3. Often talent will be suffocated in large organisations and will prefer ambiguity and uncertainty because it fuels their thought processes and will therefore gravitate towards small business or even self-employment.

Motivating talent is difficult when they seem to be always ahead of the maingroup, with too many ideas and too little time and feeling that they are having to maintain their energy levels in the face of others who are lazy and have no vision.

After our discussion my friend came to two conclusions. The first was that talent is often complex and therefore needs to be understood and managed on an individual basis. Secondly that appropriate learning and stimulus programmes need to be in place in order to keep the talent engaged.

If you would like to hear more of our conclusions them please email me: stephen@assimilating-talent.com