When I first found out that as Tivix team member I would be required to write a blog post, I began wondering what I would write about when the time came.

I started worrying about what kind of knowledge I could pass along. After all, I just finished grad school and don't have much professional experience yet.

In situations like this, I go jogging as it helps me to concentrate. As I ran another kilometer, I passed by other runners who were greeting each other. Observing this, I realized that every community has some internal rules, and becoming part of a community is very simple if you follow their set of rules. That triggered another thought about social relations and gave me an idea of a topic which has always interested me: global networking.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet some extremely amazing people in my young life.  As a student, I took part in as many workshops and courses as I could.  I met interesting people and kept adding them to my Facebook network, but, more importantly, I managed to keep in touch with most of the people I’ve met. After years of participating in many events I had friends all over the world, I know have my own litle global village. It's a virtual village where everybody knows everybody, and we are able to make the network help each other. We were able to pass firsthand information to each other about internships, exchange programs, universities, and latest news. The best part was being able to have numerous places across the continent to stay at during visits and hanging out with great people living there.

I believe that networking is beneficial, even crucial, in every walk of life. Being good with people always pays off. There are many handbooks that teach the development of social skills which are usually addressed to specific groups to achieve very specific goals. I don’t doubt their value, but to me, the key to success in building strong and good relationships with people is having a solid base that consists of generally established values ​​and ethical principles. Just as a good foundation enables the construction of large structure, so respect for ourselves and others, the simplicity, kindness, helpfulness, serenity, faith in people gives us a chance to create a good relationship with other people.

I’ve questioned myself on what made me believe that I had a solid to build my life constructions upon and where do they came from. The answer became quite obvious – two book characters, Anne from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery and Pollyanna from Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter helped me to build my foundations. These two childrens’ books played a significant role in shaping my personality and showed core traits in relations with other people.

Both novels are about adopted girls who despite all life troubles (and they had more than their fair share of them!), stayed positive and enjoyed every day of their lives. Pollyanna taught me how to keep an optimistic attitude and her idea of the “Glad Game” helped me to look for positive sides in everything I do, and Anne taught me to never give up. The simplicity coming from these books directed at kids can be a great lesson for everyone (especially adults!) on how to deal with obstacles. It shows that honesty, respect, persistence, optimism, patience and being able to admit when you're wrong is a recipe to success. The situations these girls faced stands for a metaphor in the business life as well. They not only show how relationships are built with people, but also how to solve problems, think outside the box, and overcome unexpected and unfavorable circumstances.

I could praise these books much longer, but instead I will just recommend reading them, because they are well worth the read!