Networkers, If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Don't Say Anything All

My mom taught me that as a child. Of course by the time I became a teenager/young adult, as with all things mom said, I knew better. I'm grateful to have lived long enough to learn that mom was right all along. She's also gracious enough to never say, "I told you so," which is just another reason I love my mom.A famous rapper/reverend, which I follow on Twitter, has been blowin' up the Twitter verse with his thoughts on criticism lately: "Criticizing comes from an inward failure feeling, by putting others down they R trying 2 feel more important." "If u find urself criticizing ppls work ALOT & ur not gettin a check 4 this occupation, ur just a hater!" "Be good 2 u! There are enough volunteers out there willing 2 criticize & hurt u! Don't help em!" This last one reminds me of something my great-grandmother used to say to me whenever I was about to leave, "be good to yourself," which at the time, I was being anything but. She did, however, live long enough to see me live up to those words (thank you God for the gift of longevity). I digress...What does any of this have to do with building a network? Just the other day my wife sponsored a new person, who had placed a call to our corporate office seeking more information about our services & opportunity, onto our team. Corporate it seems gave this person two names/numbers she could contact in our state for the information she requested.Both are well recognized in the state for their leadership. One built & for quite some time has maintained the largest organization in the state. He is also part of a much larger well entrenched international organization. He has many personal accolades & earned six-figures working from home this past yearThe other is my wife, whose organization is not nearly as large. Her strength is she retails our service like nobody's business; she has a passion for seeing people having & using it, because of this, our clients ultimately see themselves having, using & keeping it. In short she is really good with peopleSo this potential partner of ours calls both parties & gets a call back from my wife first, then the state's top guy a little while later. During his conversation the new person says she's already been speaking with my wife, but hasn't made any decisions yet. Top dog goes into how his organization can do things for them that my wife's couldn't, because of their size & how working with them "you'll" have more people dedicated to helping you succeed.This potential partner called my wife back and relayed the conversation they just had. My beautiful, lovely & talented wife didn't react to the criticism or try to "1 up," she also didn't respond in kind; she simply said, "he's absolutely correct." My wife met them later that day for coffee where they signed the agreements & joined our team.When confronted with a possibility of a potential partner choosing another group or company over yours, follow the counsel of wise mothers everywhere, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all".