Spoke last week at the BNI Director’s National Conference in Orlando, Florida. BNI is the largest referral organization in the world. Located in every civilized country in the world, literally billions (yes, with a “B”) of dollars worth of referrals have exchanged hands.
BNI was founded by my good friend, Dr. Ivan Misner, an entrepreneur and bestselling author known by many of us as the Father of Modern Networking.
So, what does this have to do with The Go-Giver and this blog? From its inception, BNI’s motto and operating principle has been, “Givers Gain.”
Givers gain.
This philosophy has generated a humongous amount of additional business (and considerably more value) throughout the world. Understand, however, that Dr. Misner and the many leaders throughout his organization do not teach that one should “give to gain.” No, just as Sam tells Joe in The Go-Giver, BNI teaches that you “give to give.” You give because you love to add value to others’ lives. You give because it’s who you are. And because it’s who you are, it’s what you do. And when you do this, and do this consistently, you naturally gain.
This, of course, makes perfect sense when one realizes that, “All things being equal, people will do business with – and refer business to – those people they know, like and trust.”
Bob …
This post brought back a precious childhood memory … a lesson my father taught me. God rest his soul, I can hear him saying, “For every act of kindness toward another human being, the reward will be threefold.” I heard it since kindergarten, but I finally “got it” as an adult.
Wishing you all the joys in life,
Melanie Kissell
Melanie,
Thank you for your post and comment. Sounds as though you had a very wise and wonderful Dad and I’m sure you are carrying on that tradition with your children.