Adela Mehic-Dzanic From 0 to 100: The Power of Networking

Automatic Summary

The Power of Networking: The Key to a Successful Career

Introduction

As we've all heard many times before, it's not about what you know, it's about who you know. The power of networking cannot be underestimated, especially when it comes to kick-starting a successful career. But how do you actually network effectively and use networking to advance your career? This is the story of my journey, from starting a career in a new country to becoming an executive in a multinational tech company, all through the power of networking.

Starting Over and Building from Zero

Starting a successful career in a new country is a formidable task. Often, you may have to start from zero. But even though it might be daunting, with strong dedication, unwavering determination, and of course, networking—it's achievable. Whether you’re starting a new career in a new field or in a new country, it's all about laying the groundwork, creating foundations, nurturing relationships, and essentially, believing in yourself. Believe that you have the ability to grow more, see more, and change the world. In this setting, networking is not just about meeting people, but also about making a meaningful connection.

Networking: The Key Pillars

There are several pillars or aspects when it comes to networking:

  1. Forge Relationships: Networking is not about ‘running around and sharing business cards’. It’s about making meaningful connections with people who are on the same mission as you are.
  2. Become an Expert: It's essential to know your field inside out, to become an expert. This serves as the foundation of your career and improves your ability to network effectively.
  3. Build a Supportive Inner Circle: Surround yourself with people who support your mission, growth, and journey. These are people who will push you to achieve your goals.
  4. Invest in Yourself: Invest time and resources in yourself for continuous learning and growth. This can include learning new skills or pursuing higher education.

The Power of Role Models and Support Systems

Having a role model who has achieved what you aspire to can be incredibly motivating. Listening to successful women share their journey can provide a blueprint for your own career and the motivation to strive for more. A strong support system is also crucial for success, without which the journey can become significantly tougher. As well as providing motivation, a support system can also provide different perspectives and ideas, pushing you to think outside the box and embrace new opportunities.

Conclusion

Networking or relationship-building is vital to a successful career, no matter what your field. The journey may take time, but it’s a constant process of growth, learning, and rebuilding. Keep pushing and believe that success will come. Finally, remember, “It's not about the number of contacts you have, but the relationship, the deep connections that you have, that counts". It’s all about connecting, creating, and shaping your life with meaningful relationships.


Video Transcription

Excellent. So it's, it's uh it's 1220 here in Austria and Vienna, as I said, uh Good afternoon to all of you. Thank you very much for joining uh my talk. Thank you for, for this opportunity to the uh women tech uh and Anna and her amazing team.So it is my great pleasure to be here and to uh share my uh my story with you. So today, uh today I have planned to uh spend around 50 minutes uh for this talk and the rest five minutes guys for us to answer the questions in your chat uh for people who will stay to the end. I have also prepared a little bit, a little, little slide, uh a little uh how to uh continue this conversation so where we can continue this conversation because the, the topic, as you can see from 0 to 200 the power of networking is huge. So there's so many things to say and this is a very, very short talk. So for uh for that particular reason, so we, I will uh give you an insight idea. So how do we follow this conversation and where we can how can we stay in touch and connect it? So, thank you very much. 

Uh Once again for joining the talk, I will be talking about uh my, my career and I will be talking about starting a successful career outside of your home country. Uh Maybe some of you, uh, hi, everyone, maybe some of you are, are planning to, to start your career side of your country, start your career within a completely new field. So, for instance, you're now in, in uh in it and you want to go uh you know, Blockchain or A I and, and, and so this is the, this is the story of, of mine uh this um uh for, and for that reason, I, we would need to, to go back to, to uh back to uh six years ago. But before that, let me introduce you, uh let me introduce you uh myself shortly. So I, as I said, so I'm based out of Vienna. I'm an executive in a software uh software tech company uh which is based out in uh in five countries uh here in, in Austria, uh uh 55 locations. Uh We are serving customers around the world uh uh specifically in the internet of things, machine to machine big data analytics uh um field. 

Um I am as well apart from that, uh I am as well uh Vice President of the Female Leaders Network uh here in, in Austria which has around 1500 members. And this is how, for instance, Anna Radowski, who has started this women tech. Uh uh this is how we, we, we met uh here at one of the events uh in, in Austria. She talked to me about all these, all these amazing ideas she has. And this is how we, we stayed uh stayed in touch and I am as well a, a vice president of the Business Woman of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Uh I am a proud Bosnian. So I'm coming from Bosnia. I live in, I live in Austria and I do business uh uh business, wide, business development uh around the world. Um uh Great. I see. So, so many comments here in chat. So keep uh keep writing in chat, keep posting. I will, I will go back to that uh after the talk. So let me move to a slide. Excellent. Um I hope it works for you that we have this, this uh in parallel. Uh And if not, I will, I will make it um in the presentation mode. So let's try that one. So as I told you, I am on a mission and um and for this uh 2020 I have decided to, this is my personal goal and I want to share my story with 1000 women. And uh we, I'm, I'm halfway halfway there. 

It's half of the year. And uh I want to thank you once again to women tech network and all of you here joining to listen, listen to this talk. The reason I want to, I want to share my story thou uh to 1000 Women is um uh uh six years ago, I moved to, to Austria. Uh I started from, from zero, I didn't have any contact. Uh I have, I have had my diploma, so my master diploma in telecommunication in tech. Um and I had this great uh desire to move things through. And one of the reasons why uh why we moved to, to Austria, completely moved uh moved from one country to another without even knowing the the language, the German language here was because I felt I want to grow more. I want to grow more. This is this, I want to grow more. I want to see more of the world. I want to uh to change the, the part that we see in the world. And I want to make the world better place and what is uh better than sharing your experience. And with, with only hope that it helps uh and supports and inspires women uh and all people around the world who, who want to move things. 

And maybe one of the other advice, helps help you um uh today to uh change uh to change things in your life to better. Apart from this goal, I have a little other small goal uh here within this group today is um I hope after this talk, you will decide to, you will decide to send that CV or what that you have been planning for a long time or contact that person, for instance, over linkedin, that you wanted to contact and have a talk for a long time or write that first content over linkedin that you have been planning for, for a very long time or contact that peer that you haven't talked to for a very long time. 

He's doing amazing things. She's doing amazing things and you want to get to know uh get to know more or you will just uh start thinking what uh about your vision or what, what the world. Uh So holds for you or what are the things that you would like to improve here? Because that's, that's the main. Um This is one other small, small task, small uh goal that I would like to, to achieve uh together here with you in this call to give you a little bit of spark, a little bit of inspiration to move a little bit, a little bit for a little inch. Uh And if we, if we manage that, so I will um if we manage that together, I will um find this uh this talk uh successful. So this is my, uh this is one of the reasons, of course, why I'm here. And uh uh so thank you for this opportunity on once again. Um So, what does it mean to be successful and what does it need, what it, what it needs. And I just uh put a little bit uh uh a little bit, few things here of my journey to a successful career. And I, as I told you at the beginning, networking, of course, networking. Uh It is an important role. It's the centerpiece uh piece of everything. 

It's the relationship uh relationship building, I would say here. So you can call it networking, relationship building, connecting, super connecting the. But uh the bottom line, it's, it's about um it's about connecting uh with, with people that are with the same mission in, in, in this world, people that can uh can support your mission that can support you on your, on your growth journey. And before we deep dive into it, I would like to tell you a little bit, a little story. So going back to uh where we decided to leave uh uh uh when I seven years ago was in a very similar conference like this when I wasn't really sure uh where I want to go and what I, what I want to do out of my life. I just, I just graduated, I was one of the top students. Uh um I felt like I can, I can do more, but I couldn't realize where is that more. So, what is that more? So, I went to one of the local confer uh conferences uh in my home country, Bosnia and there was this um this lady called Ilma uh Ilma uh who works for, for Google. 

And it was her talk, seeing her on the stage and listening to her talk was, was mind mind blowing. It was a, a change. It was a shift in my life where I realized, OK, you know, she is a lady. She studied in, in, in Sarajevo. She comes from uh from Bosnia and she uh with all her talents and, and, and uh energy. So she is now working with Google with Google. And the Google is like, you know, the, the the top and, and nowadays and back in back uh back seven years ago, it was a same, you know, it was like, wow, there is this woman that managed to come and work in Google and she comes from the same country. She has the same, same background. So what is that stops me to be there to dream more, to grow more, to do more. And this was one of the, one of the very inspiring talks, uh transformative, I would say talks that I had in my life and that, and, and from that moment, so I was most certain that I want to change things in my life and I want to grow, I want to do something completely different. 

And for that reason, we decided to move uh from one, from our home country to, to another country, come to Europe, uh come to Europe and to start uh to start from, from the scratch, basically start from zero, start from learning the language, start to connect, people, start to, to, to uh find the first job uh getting the uh through all these uh first obstacles with the visa and everything. 

So uh with lack of money, lack of budget and so on and so forth. But I wanted to just in this short talk, tell you. So what does it mean to have, you know, this, this, this role model uh seeing it, believing it and, and setting all your energy. So uh like a force uh to uh to uh getting, getting there. And these are a few of the things that I have put here and that helped me and are helping me on a daily basis to grow day after day. So I started in telecom industry as a telecommunication engineer within a year, but promoted twice. And then after that, I just uh deep dive into the world of internet of things and uh uh machine to machine big data analytics. Um All, all that name that you can find uh and I deep dived into the, into the uh uh uh the that I didn't know before that. So trust me before the, the having the interview uh with my previous manager who we are now like a good friends. Uh I googled most of these things. I googled it but I was certain that I want to break through, I want to do more. I want to re invent myself, year after year after year. And these are the things that help me. 

So one of them is forced a relationship. But I think you gotta go out, you gotta go out, you gotta meet people and you gotta meet people that are on a mission. People who don't uh who people who, who give you a helping hand, you give, helping hand back. So this is the networking that I, that I believe in. This is the networking that I support. I'm not talking about just running around the event and, and sharing the, the the business cards without going deep deep. And for me, the relationship building, it takes time, it takes time, it takes time on your side to realize, OK, where do you want to go as well for people to get to know you? So it's very important to get out with a clear idea or, or clear as possible when you meet people. So when you tell them, OK, I am for a reason here, I want to meet this and that person in this and that field. Can you help me that or do you know someone who can help me that? And it takes time. It takes, it's, it's a process, it takes time and you keep coming back because you see uh see the results, of course the go to experts. 

So this is the underlying, this is the underlying um uh ping uh of everything. So you have to be the, you have to know your thing, you have to be the expert. And today, I believe Daria was uh there was another session about becoming the expert, the thoughtful leader in your field. So you have to have that. So without that as the first thing, without that, everything else will be a little bit um um not fully in place. So this is a, this is a little puzzle. So you have to be the expert, you have to know your things and you have to be growing and growing and growing. And nowadays it's really, really possible. So you have this enormous different platforms, you have experts, you have uh talks, events and so on. So this is this is the, the where you start and of course, the inner circle, the inner circle uh is something that uh that uh I go back a year after a year, month after month to revise to see if this is the people that should be there. Is this the people that are supporting me on my mission? Are these people that I want to see in my life in five or 10 years? Simple example, two years ago, I, I wanted to start my MBA. 

I just was, I was promoted, I was running the company here for, for 14 countries uh from Austria together with my team. And at that point, I decided to start my MB A and, you know, when you're doing like a full time extra responsibility uh running uh uh starting your MB A can be a big, big challenge in any case because you have to reschedule, reshift, reshuffle the whole life around MB A and it's quite expensive investment in time resources, money. 

You have to have a really good support system around yourself. And when I was on that, uh that idea that I want to start my MB A, there were people in my circle who were saying, oh no, it's too expensive. It's too much, don't do it. It doesn't make sense. Why do you need it? And there was one guy, my colleague and friend Doma who said, if not when. So there will be no perfect timing for this thing. And he himself has been uh building his career over the years. He was the one who did an MB A. He was the one who was leading the teams across the Europe and so on and so forth. So he, he is the person who is still in my inner circle. You know, he's the person who I go to and ask for advice and vice versa. So find these people who will say, if not, then uh when and the people that will uh give you, give you this push. And he will say, OK, let me tell me what I need to do to support you. So tell me what I need to do to support you. Uh So these kind of people, this is the inner circle definition uh for me and vice versa. Of course. Uh so, and investing in yourself, I'll give you the example with an MB A. So it's really, really, really important nowadays and, and it was always reinventing yourself investing in yourself. For me. 

That means beginning of each, every year I sit with myself and define first thing first, which courses, which trainings, which conferences where do I want to invest in in myself? One of the things I mentioned was the MP. The other thing is the other certificates that I'm pursuing the coaching, the mentoring that I'm pursuing all of this serves this big purpose uh where I can say, OK, I want to rewrite myself. I want to create opportunities for other people around the world. And I want uh on another note, bring more women in tech, bring create more opportunities for, for instance, women from, from, from Bosnia when they come here or women from abroad coming to Austria. So be be uh on that note before uh the last uh comments and, and questions. So one thing that I would like to keep you um thinking, keep that you, I would like you to keep with yourself is keep growing and trust the process. This takes time. So all of this I did it, it took me six years to get where I am. I reinventing myself getting the sports system investing in, in myself, keeping in mind the purpose efficient emission to go while we are doing that. So keep growing day after day, measure it and trust the process uh because it takes time. Uh So thank you once again. 

And as I said at the beginning, so if you would like to continue the conversation that we have here have had here, please contact me via linkedin. So this is my, my credentials. So go there, connect me, write me a message and I will be more than happy to answer all of your questions. So now I'm going to be to stop sharing and hopefully, um hopefully you will be, you will be here. Uh Hi. So I see that we have three more minutes here. So uh before end of the talk, uh I'm looking, if there are some um if there are some questions here, I see most of of you guys sending uh the power of networking network was the network. Exactly. So one of the things definitely one of the things I would like to keep you in uh for, for you. One of the books that I'm reading at the moment is called the Super Connector. Uh Maybe some of you have heard about it so you can find it. Um uh It's a relatively new book. 22 years, 2 to 3 years old. It's amazing book. So it is, it gives you really, really good overview if, if you would like to, to start the. So what is this relationship building? How can you be the connector? How can you be the super connector? How can you create this unique experience so that people come to you and say, OK, Angela, uh do you have this? I want to start business in Austria. 

So this is the kind of questions that I have uh questions and, and connections that I get. So like I want to start a business in Austria. Uh Can you help me? I'm looking for, for some people, some investors because I have this brilliant idea that I would like to pursue in Austria. So what is the place to go? Um I'm interested into mentoring. So I, I'm, I wanna build my career. I wanna grow my career. Uh Can you help me out with, with that? Uh So uh I can, I can have, I can give them uh uh context to that or like simple, simple questions like I'm looking for, for people in this and that area. So all of that. So this is the, this is the connection, this is the, the experience that uh that I'm talking about that um I, I'm creating at the moment around myself and of course, if you would like to know more, so uh contact me uh contact me via linkedin. We can explore many, many different uh options and tools and methods that you can use on, on a daily basis. One of them could be like uh uh uh writing content content on linkedin, publishing content on linkedin. What does it mean? What, what kind of content, what kind of strategy you, you should put in place uh to, to position yourself as a, as a thought leader who needs to know you and so on. 

And on my last uh before, before we close, one of the things is very important being a network or being a connector. It's not about the number of contacts you have on linkedin, on Twitter, on whatever account you have. It's, it's the relationship, the connections, the deep connections that you have, that counts. So for me, if I, even if I have 5000 contacts on linkedin, maybe I know 1% out of it and maybe from that 1% there's like in my inner circle, there is like 2030 50 people max that I on a yearly basis, organize different experience, different events, bringing them together and connecting them even further and further and further. 

And then you see this magic magic happening where you just sit there and just bring people together and connect them and uh new opportunities uh arise and that all fits with the purpose as well where I'm at the moment. So my time is out. Thank you very much. Uh Get in touch. I enjoy the conference. Thank you once again to the women tech uh for this opportunity. Thank you.