The Silent Perseverance of Relationship Building

We often hear anthropologists say that human beings are social creatures and are wired to live in groups and communities. Her ability to live, develop, and mature in these cohorts makes her unique and often outlines life in general.

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This also means the skills one needs to acquire are fundamental to our existence, whether it be personal interactions or professional connections. We often hear management intelligentsia quoting that the usual metrics of business success and satisfaction have a deep correlation with our ability to build relationships around us - be it with our colleagues, peers, and clients, or with multiple stakeholders in the ecosystem we live in. So, one of the common threads of leaders in every walk of life is relationship building – their ability to foster, nurture, and synergize relationships and create a symbiotic environment around them.

The essence of relationship building is also about the natural aspect of taking an interest in others, looking for common interests and connections, and building a rapport for life. The confusion we create in our minds starts when we start looking at relationships from the point of view of profit and an end outcome. Outcomes and personal denouements cloud our ability to soak in individuals in their true pen picture rather than seeing them as means to some business end. Motive-led interactions clearly reveal themselves over a period of time, and selfish objectives can never be hidden for long. The best way to go about it is to not look for the treasure map of where the value for us will come from but to see where they will get value and fulfillment from.

Here are some nuggets from my thirty years of professional relationship building and fifty years of finding love and connections in everyone around me.

Rajesh Nair Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

"A good portion of management literature is built around the concept of 'taking' what you require."