The forces of evil want you to be alone. Let's take a look at an evil side effect of capitalism: consumer culture. Consumer culture needs us all to buy, buy, buy. So it works really hard to keep us buying stuff and throwing stuff away and storing stuff and buying more stuff. There is another [...]
Do you want to be the kind of person who makes things happen? Who can go from idea to reality at lightning speed? The go-to person when something needs to get done like, yesterday? If you said, "YES! OMG, THAT WOULD BE AWESOME", this is the post for you. In my experience, there are two [...]
It's go time, folks. You're in a coffee shop facing the actual human you've got a coffee date with. It's a golden opportunity to make a doozy of an impression and maybe even a supporter for life. So... how do you do it? Captain Obvious says: make it about them Most expert types (including me) [...]
Are you giving good coffee? Coffee meetings are great, even if you're like me and don't actually drink coffee (don't start with me, caffeine heads - it keeps me up all night long). Seriously, though, meeting one on one to figure out what the deal is with another person is networking at its finest, as [...]
Is networking different for women and men? How do issues of gender play into the history of networking? Does it matter? I believe there is a of yin and yang to networking. Whether because of history, or convention, or natural inclination, there are networking activities that are more strongly associated with women and others that [...]
Too much, too soon Picture this: at your cousin's wedding reception, a friend of the family approaches you; someone you've never met. Smiling, he says hello, then asks if you plan to have children and if not, why not, and if so, how soon. Or imagine this scenario: there's a new hire at your office [...]
Most of us come in contact with a lot of people in the course of our lives. By the time we reach adulthood, we've met hundreds, if not thousands of them. But we don't stay in touch with everyone. In fact, we don't even stay in touch with all the ones we like. There's a [...]
Having a social life can feel like a full time job As someone who teaches and fosters social skills any way she can, I'm often struck by the unfairness of it all. Why do we live in a world where acquiring and maintaining one of the most basic human needs is such a struggle? Why [...]
What makes a good network? Is it 10 people? 50? 100? 500? Quantity is something I think extroverts might experience as a special challenge. People who lean towards extroversion (including me) are always meeting people - it comes as easily as breathing. We almost can't help doing it. However, there's a problem. There comes a [...]
A few years ago, I was at an event and I saw someone whose work I admired, but whom I did not know personally. Let's call him Jeff. I decided to start a conversation. He was chatting with one other person, so I (using my trusty mingling skills) approached, waited for a break in the [...]
