Steve Hatch, Regional Director of Facebook, UK and Ireland, takes part in a group selfie with Summer School students at the Business School.

Courageous people who take chance encounters are the best networkers said Steve Hatch, Regional Director Facebook UK and Ireland.

He was talking to a captivated audience of students taking part in the Entrepreneurial Smart Camp, which forms part of the Business School's Summer School.

He began by praising alumnus Maximilian Doelle who had invited Hatch in collaboration with course director Jonas Van Hove, to speak at the Business School following a chance encounter at a recent talk Hatch gave at Selfridges.

In his talk, “The Magic of Networking” Hatch outlined his ‘seven seeds’ for creating better relationships in the world of business. People who are ‘connectors’ for example, are passionate about bringing people or ideas together to create something bigger than themselves. He said forging a relationship with a ‘connector’ is essential for helping people realise their full potential, either in life or at work.

Hatch’s next tip was for people to find courage and overcome the fear of reaching out to others. By overcoming fear and ‘courageously connecting with others’ he said, ‘we become more resourceful and powerful, by bringing together our skills and self-knowledge’.

Hatch believes that chance encounters can also play a key role in helping people broaden their business network, if people follow up on new connections made in unexpected circumstances. However, when cultivating relationships he stressed the importance of reaching out to people in a selfless manner, sometimes for no reason and with no expectation of receiving anything in return.

ENGAGING ONLINE

According to Hatch, in today’s online world ‘everything competes with everything’. He outlined the growing gap between the vast amount of content being created, versus people’s ability to consume such content. With the growing creation of video and picture lead content, this gap is expected to widen. However, brands can widen their reach to consumers by encouraging them to produce and share their own content, an approach Hatch describes as the ‘democratization of marketing’. He cited last year’s ALS Ice Bucket Challenge as a successful example of this approach.

At the end of the talk, students were given the opportunity to ask questions. The discussion covered a range of topics, from the challenges of putting the ‘seven seeds’ approach into practice to what motivated Hatch to take up his position at Facebook. Returning to the theme of networking, one student asked what kinds of people Hatch himself would like to connect with. He replied that he is ‘most attracted to people who show passion and commitment’. The session ended with a group selfie of Hatch surrounded by his enthusiastic audience.

Reflecting on his visit Steve Hatch said: “It's been a pleasure to visit Imperial, a world-leading university that encourages entrepreneurship and innovation across its many disciplines within business, science and technology. I was inspired to meet the past and future students of the Business School and hope my presentation will help students to fulfil their future career ambitions.”

Diane Morgan, Associate Dean of Programmes at the Business School said: “We were delighted to welcome Steve Hatch as a guest speaker at this year’s Summer School. One of the objectives of the Summer School is to provide an intensive, but inspiring programme of talks and workshops to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in today’s world of business. Visits of this nature, from high calibre industry experts, help us continue to attract the world’s best students to our programmes.”