Career Mission's Chief Executive Officer, A. Harrison Barnes, in a webinar discussed the importance of relationships in shaping your career.

Harrison believes that some of the greatest powers you have in your own career and in business are relationships, and that most successful people have used this powerful force to their advantage. To advance in anything, you need to build good relationships – the better the relationships you form, the better off you are. It is also a fact that not necessarily do people want to work with those who do the best job. People often get hired, stay employed or are fired due to their ability or inability to connect with others. One of the greatest misconceptions is that many have a profound belief that they must remain extremely professional in the business world, with employers, at all times. Professionalism is dangerous on grounds that it keeps you from connecting or relating to others. It creates a wall between you and your employers and peers so much so that they feel lost and uninvolved in your world.

You need to take care of the connection and the quality of the relationships you have with others. Not being able to connect will give you a difficult time at the work place and outside. You do not want to experience an employer’s lack of interest in you, which could make it incredibly difficult for you to perform your best. You need to connect to people at work, in interviews, and at almost every possible opportunity to have. Do everything in your power to break down the walls of professionalism and make sure that others like you and feel connected to you. Everything is about maintaining relationships, and the better connected you are, the better you will do.