Give The Holiday Present of Connections

handshake-1471563_640Last week I was quoted in a Forbes article on “the best presents for the millennials in your life.”  My suggestion was an introduction/meeting/connection with someone who could be important to the young person’s career.   It received a lot of positive reaction — especially among ambitious millennials eager to make their mark.

It reminded me of the people who’ve done that for me. People who made introductions to others who turned into life-long mentors and friends. I would be so much less personally and professionally if they weren’t in my life.

So my last “gift” giving this week is connections for the young and thanks and appreciation to the “cotton tops” who’ve help make for a great life for my family and I.

My wish is that I’m around long enough to make a similar impact.

Picture of Debra Benton

Debra Benton

D.A. (Debra) Benton has been helping great individuals and organizations get even better for over 20 years. Just as exceptional athletes rely on excellent coaching to hone their skills, Debra's clients rely on her advice to advance their careers. She focuses on what is truly important to convert what you and your organization want to be from a vision into a reality. TopCEOCoaches.com ranks her in the World's Top 10 CEO Coaches noting she is the top female. And as conference keynote speaker she is routinely rated in the top 2%. Her client list reads like a “Who's Who” of executives in companies ranging from Microsoft, McDonald's, Kraft, American Express, Merrill Lynch, United Airlines, and PricewaterhouseCoopers to the Washington Beltway and U.S.Border Patrol. *She is the author of ten award-winning and best-selling business books including The Virtual Executive and CEO Material. She has written for the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Fast Company. She has been featured in USA Today, Fortune, The New York Times, and Time; she has appeared on Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and CBS with Diane Sawyer. To learn more Debra advising leaders, coaching, facilitating a workshop, or speaking: www.debrabenton.com

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

Being liked and being known are not the same kind of connection: one can happen with a stranger in minutes, while the other means trusting someone with the exact map of how to hurt you

Being liked and being known are not the same kind of connection: one can happen with a stranger in minutes, while the other means trusting someone with the exact map of how to hurt you

The Vessel

Writers who thrive in comment-driven, prompt-based online culture haven’t abandoned solitary drafting — they’ve learned to treat the blank page as a conversation

Writers who thrive in comment-driven, prompt-based online culture haven’t abandoned solitary drafting — they’ve learned to treat the blank page as a conversation

Global English Editing

Writers who talk out loud while drafting a sentence aren’t losing focus, they’re running two minds at once, one composing and one already listening back

Writers who talk out loud while drafting a sentence aren’t losing focus, they’re running two minds at once, one composing and one already listening back

The Blog Herald

The ‘strong friend’ who holds everyone else together is often the one nobody has ever been asked to carry, because low maintenance really means never handing anyone anything heavy of your own

The ‘strong friend’ who holds everyone else together is often the one nobody has ever been asked to carry, because low maintenance really means never handing anyone anything heavy of your own

The Vessel

Curiosity in your twenties tends to be accidental and cheap, sparked by something you watched or overheard, and by your forties it usually requires a decision you keep meaning to make and haven’t

Curiosity in your twenties tends to be accidental and cheap, sparked by something you watched or overheard, and by your forties it usually requires a decision you keep meaning to make and haven’t

The Vessel

The habit researchers behind the 43% figure found the location did the remembering for you — routines are triggered by place, which is why a familiar setting can run an entire behaviour before the conscious mind catches up

The habit researchers behind the 43% figure found the location did the remembering for you — routines are triggered by place, which is why a familiar setting can run an entire behaviour before the conscious mind catches up

The Vessel