Carole Stone
Acknowledged as ‘the Queen of Networking’, Carole Stone is a near-legendary figure whose salons, lunches and parties have served for several decades as a meeting ground for the most influential individuals in British media, business and the arts.
Carole’s career began at the BBC first as a secretary. Her production talents were quickly spotted, and she progressed through the ranks to produce BBC Radio Four’s Down Your Way, Woman’s Hour and then BBC Breakfast TV. It was, however, as producer of Radio 4’s flagship ‘Any Questions?’ programme – which she did for ten years – that she discovered her gift for putting people together in a way that produced happy results.
“What I enjoyed most of all”, says Carole, “was bringing people together who otherwise wouldn’t have the chance of meeting each other. Then the journalist Katherine Whitehorn suggested to me that I ought to organize my informal networking into a weekly salon. And that’s how it all began.”
Carole Stone’s weekly salons quickly became the most significant networking event for some of the most important and influential people in the land. For chairmen and chief executives of some of Britain’s biggest companies, they offered the unique opportunity to meet and mingle with other business people, journalists, politicians and opinion formers.
Soon, Carole was receiving more and more requests to speak and write about the emerging art of networking. As both a speaker and writer, she is equally inspiring.
“Seize the moment and make the effort to get to know new people”, she says. “As my mother always told me, don’t be deterred by fear of failure, but be ready to look around the nest corner of life, and face whatever is coming head on, knowing that you’ll cope. That’s the essence of networking.”
In her first book ‘Networking – the Art of Making Friends’ Carole sets out her philosophy of ‘good networking’, and she has since published ‘The Ultimate Guide to Successful Networking’, a distillation of her best tips on how to make good friends and useful business contacts.
A former President of The Media Society, Carole is a frequent broadcaster and writer, and is frequently invited to speak to groups of business and professional people. They find her blend of practical, no-nonsense advice and her inspirational message on ‘good networking’ a wonderful stimulus to living a more enjoyable life – both professionally and socially. Through her own media consultancy business, Carole advises many blue-chip clients on social networking.
Carole is married to Richard Lindley, a reporter and presenter for BBC TV’s Panorama from 1973 to 1988. After a stint on ITV’s This Week Richard returned to ITN to present its World News and make special reports for the nightly News at Ten. He has authored two books: “Panorama: Fifty Years of Pride and Paranoia” and “And Finally…?: The News from ITN”.
