Today, I’m talking to the founder and chief visionary officer the world’s largest business networking company BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Since founding BNI in the 1980s, Misner's approach to networking has benefitted millions of people around the world and helped to generate billions in revenue, with over 10,000 BNI chapters now active across more than 76 nations.

Key Takeaways

Ivan's attitude towards success and the idea of regrets should motivate any aspiring businessperson. Despite his enourmous success, it is clear that Misner remains hugely passionate about BNI and his strong thoughts on how a chapter should be run are clearly evident here. Like many other successful people, he values hard work as the most important aspect of achieving great things.

Observations from Ivan during this podcast include:

• "If you expect the best out of people, you tend to get it."
• "The secret to success without hard work and good choices is still a secret... it just doesn’t exist!"
• "Do six things a thousand times, not a thousand things six times."
• "Mistakes are your tuition for success."
• "After we’d opened 20 chapters, I thought "I'm gonna need a bigger boat!""
• "I’ll be one of the first hundred or so people who go up on the commercial flights with Virgin Galactic!"

Ivan Misner, Ph.D.

Dr. Ivan Misner is the Founder & Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization.  Founded in 1985, the organization now has over 10,700 chapters in 76 countries throughout every populated continent of the world.  Last year alone, BNI generated 12.4 million referrals resulting in more than $18.6 billion dollars worth of business for its members.

Dr. Misner’s Ph.D. is from the University of Southern California.  He is a New York Times Bestselling author who has written 27 books including one of his latest books – Who’s in Your Room? He is also a columnist for Entrepreneur.com and has been a university professor as well as a member of the Board of Trustees for the University of La Verne. 

Called the “Father of Modern Networking” by both Forbes and CNN, Dr. Misner is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on business networking and has been a keynote speaker for major corporations and associations throughout the world.  He has been featured in the L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times, as well as numerous TV and radio shows including CNN, the BBC, and The Today Show on NBC.

Among his many awards, he has been named “Humanitarian of the Year” by the Red Cross and has been the recipient of the John C. Maxwell Leadership Award.  He is proud that he and his late wife, Elisabeth, are the Co-Founders of the BNI Charitable Foundation. They also reached “empty nester” status after happily raising their three children. Oh, and in his spare time!!!  he is also an amateur magician and a black belt in karate.

Links:

https://twitter.com/IvanMisner

https://www.bni.com

https://www.bnipodcast.com

About your host

Darren has worked within digital marketing since the last century, and was the first in-house web designer for video games retailer GAME in the UK, known as Electronics Boutique in the States. After co-founding his own agency, Engage Web, in 2009, Darren has worked with clients around the world, including Australia, Canada and the USA.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenjamieson/
https://engagingmarketeer.com
https://www.engageweb.co.uk