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The Importance Of Human Connections - Interview With Sandy Carter

This article is more than 9 years old.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sandy Carter from IBM on my podcast All The Social LadiesSandy is the General Manager for IBM Ecosystems and Social Business Evangelism and has been with the company for many years. Sandy’s early adoption and love for technology positioned her perfectly as a social media evangelist and she has been moving onward and upward in the social media space since it all started for IBM in 2005. Here are Sandy’s insights on a few key areas I wanted to share with you as a woman in business:

What Is Holding Women Back In Business?

For Sandy, it all comes down to networking and connections. Performance is important but life boils down to relationships. It's as much, if not more, about the person as it is about the product. You might have a great idea but it comes down to who you know and how they can help you take it to the next level.Sandy is a firm believer in connecting - it's one of the reasons she fell in love with social media. Her advice: Be a better networker and build better relationships. This can take practice - it's so much easier to sit at a computer and craft a message that can be thought through and altered if needed. We don't get this same opportunity in face-to-face interactions and that can be daunting. As women in business, we need to have the confidence to connect with and support each other - we have to create the opportunities to do this just like our male counterparts do at lunch or on the golf course. So what can you do? Don't be fearful of networking and don't view it as added "extra." Approach it in the same way you would any other aspect of your business - head on.

Mentor Vs. Sponsor:

When I speak to female business owners, many of them acknowledge the importance of having a mentor or sponsor - but which one is right for you? A mentor is someone that can really provide perspective. They will coach you and give you advice. Sandy recommends having more than one mentor and advocates creating your own "personal board of directors." A sponsor is something entirely different, and arguably more important. A sponsor is someone within your company who will take you on as a protégé. They will fight for your corner, bet on your work and take a risk in publicly backing you. This is why it is so important to be known as a person and be known to do what it takes to make anything succeed. Sponsorship has been shown to be the key to women's success and so building those deep relationships is vital. This is something that we as women find harder than men. We'll ask for advice but we often don't develop the same level of intimacy that men do in their business relationships, which Sandy feels has ultimately inhibited women from making progress through the glass ceiling.

Social Business Evangelism & Why Connecting Is So Important:

IBM coined the term “social business” early on when it was felt that “social media” was too limiting for what they were seeing. After witnessing how social media could transform and grow business, IBM leveraged this and created products such as “IBM Connections” to help other businesses achieve success on the market. This leading social network platform helps you to engage with the right people. A focus on social business was born with compelling and quantitative evidence to support ROI in social media efforts and the true impact of social for businesses. Sandy believes that platforms like this are vitally important for knowledge sharing and breaking down those traditional organizational boundaries. Ultimately, these connections lead to conversations that in turn build trust.

The biggest lessons I learned from Sandy - always go after your passions and don't be afraid to fail. You'll be much more successful when you work at what you love and if you fail fast, you'll recover fast.

What do you think holds female business owners back? Have you had a mentor or sponsor at work? What was your experience? Share your comments in the section below!