by Ray Huse
People around the world recognize the end of the calendar
year as the holiday season – a time of giving. During the holidays, we find joy
in giving to someone else with no anticipation of receiving anything in return.
Some implement this with extra charitable donations of service time, or goods
and money. Others give a surprise thoughtful gift to a friend, just because.
BNI members around the world know our philosophy can be
summarized into two simple words: Givers Gain. BNI normally focuses on the business
aspect of giving referrals, in the anticipation that others will give business
back to us in return.
Giving is in our DNA in BNI. Ideally, we’d love to give
referrals to all our members in our chapters continually. Realistically, we
know this isn’t possible for everyone all the time, especially for our newest
members who haven’t had the opportunity to cultivate the relationships
necessary for this to happen.
So what do we do when we want to give to another member, but
just don’t have that referral they’re looking for? My first recommendation is
always to do more One to Ones to build that relationship. But if you’re looking
for something more immediate, there are some other things we can do in the
spirit of Givers Gain.