At the end of the day, community is at the center of personal and professional growth, and life is so much more fun with friends anyway! Today's guest is Benny Mathew, the founder of the Orion3 network. Our conversation with Benny is all about the power of bringing people together and his gift of being a connector! Benny tells the story of his difficulty making genuine connections in Chicago initially and how he solved this by putting his gift for connecting people to good use and founded Orion3. He takes us through the growth of this amazing network which now enjoys packed events, also sharing the symbolism of warm connections in its name. From there, we get into the networking mindset, talking about what it takes to build genuine connections, authentic relationship building as a long-term game, and building true friendships in your professional network. We discuss all the benefits of community next and hear some high points from Benny about how his life has changed since he started giving back in this way. Wrapping up, Benny shares a few lessons he has learned along the way, weighing in on the value of having a growth mindset and the role his networks have played in making him who he is today, so be sure to tune in!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why Benny started to host networking events after struggling to connect in Chicago.
• Benny’s gift for connecting others which he applied to founding Orion3.
• The story of the growth of Orion3, going from 5 to 150+ attendees at their events.
• The symbolism of the name Orion3, signifying warm connections. 
• The importance of the connector mindset, and having connections and community for growth.
• High points for Benny: Realizing many of his friends came from his events, and hearing about the value of Orion3 from participants.
• Gaining value in your own life by bringing value to others, but not making this your motive.
• The idea that building genuine connections has to be conceived as a long-term process.
• Being yourself and building genuine relationships with your professional network.
• How much you can grow by meeting others and your responsibility to pay it forward.
• Having a growth mindset and how Benny learns from mistakes rather than dwell on them.

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Alex Drost LinkedIn
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Connection Builders LinkedIn

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