I’m a big fan of the beach and go every chance that I get, but the first time I hit a beach on the East coast I remember that the water was really cold. I stuck one toe in and stopped. I had expected to just jump right in and that the water would be warmer. Networking is a little like this too. For most people who haven’t done it before it is a really tough to get into. You walk into a crowded room of people and there are so many strangers in the room. The most natural thing to do is walk up and start talking to someone who you know, but in networking your goal is to meet new people and extend your conversation range. Notice that I didn’t say rolodex (these days you can do that on Linkedin or elsewhere), but “conversation range”.
Yesterday I was talking to two different people who convinced me that I needed to take the plunge, into the networking Ocean that is out there. In talking to them I realized that I have had one toe in. Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t that I’m not networking. I go to all kinds of different events and meet and have conversations with new and interesting people all the time. The problem is that to be a really good networker requires that you constantly identify and explore uncharted territory. In my case this means figuring out new groups of people to interact with from time to time.
The lesson here is that we all stand to benefit from expanding our social context so consider this a dare to go out and jump in - it will be a bit uncomfortable at first, but you’ll be comfortable before you know it. Don’t just stockpile online contacts.
