Interview with Jordan Harbinger on building Social Capital

Technology skills are quite important for someone to succeed in interviews but they're only half the battle. The other half which is at least equally important is Social Capital. The sooner one understands the need to build one's Social Capital, the better.

Today, we have the pleasure of chatting with Jordan Harbinger who used to be the host of one of my all time favorite podcasts called 'The Art of Charm'. He has since left The Art of Charm and is now the host of the Jordan Harbinger show which has since become one of my all time favorite podcasts! Jordan has interviewed dozens and dozens of high profile experts and leaders like General McChrystal and Shaquille O' Neal. Today, our objective is two-fold, we want to pick his brains on 'social capital' and what one should do to go about building it. Then we want to talk to him about what he has learnt from interviewing all these experts and movers and shakers and what one can do to attract or build success in one's life.

First of all, let me welcome Jordan to the podcast and thank him for taking the time. It's an honor to talk to him. Let's dive right into the questions.

Questions:

[Why improve people skills]

1. Our listeners are mainly tech guys and a lot of them do not fully recognize the value of social skills and building social capital. Can you talk about your story that made you realize the importance of developing one's connections?

   1. (the story about the partner in the Wall Street firm)

2. What is social capital?

3. What happens when one has the attitude of "I know my tech skills  so I don't need to network" ? What do they lose out on?

[Steps one can take to build 'social capital']

1. If someone realizes the importance of building one's social capital, where should they start? Can you talk about 3 action steps and elaborate on it?

2. How should one build rapport? Tech guys we speak to frequently tell us that they do not know how to build rapport with people. How does on go about doing that?

3. After meeting people, how can one build a process to remember the people one has met? What does Jordan personally do to remember them the people he has spoken to to?

4. What does "leveraging one's network" mean and how does one go about doing that effectively?

5. Are there any tools you can recommend to build a process around this? What are (say) your top 3 tools?

6. How does one go about building a magnetic personality

[Lessons from interviews]

1. How many interviews have you done so far?

2. Can you talk about how difficult it is to do these interviews? How much effort is required behind the scenes?

3. How has Jordan maintained the persistence to keep doing this for so many years?

4. Tell us about these interviews - how do you decide who to interview? What do you attempt to accomplish from these interviews?

5. Of all the interviews you've done so far, which are the top 3 that have created the most impression? Can you speak about those 3?

6. Have you noticed any patterns of success in these people? What separates heavy hitters from average ones?

7. How has your own social capital and people skills improved from having done these interviews?

[Future of the Jordan Harbinger podcast]

1. Can you talk about your new podcast? Why should one subscribe?

2. What can listeners like me expect to see in future episodes of the podcast?

3. Is there anything else that I should have asked here but did not?

What we learn from this podcast:

1. In general, you can see the wisdom exuding from Jordan's answers - I don't think any of this was rehearsed! He is just a smart, wise, confident guy

2. Jordan speaks about Body Language, Non Verbal Communication and techniques such as the Doorway Drill technique, Rapport building techniques, Social Capital building

3. Tools such as Contactually, intimate ways of engage with people, Double opt in intros