Networking as a Life Enhancing Skill

If "Necessity is the mother of invention" then "using every trick in the book" is its daughter! Or so I have come to believe as I review the obstacles and "ladders" that I have used to achieve the contented and fulfilled life I now lead. Paramount among my "ladders" has been the application of what is today called "networking." Mine has been an unlikely sojourn through contemporary American life both public and private, and it is my collection of people, who, through their presences in my daily life to varying degrees and intensity, have made the trip an adventure and remarkable in the destinations to which I have arrived and continue to anticipate.

Leaving a small rural Northern Virginia hamlet populated with a family and community steeped in the mores and conventions of post war, mid-century attitudes, I headed for the big city of Philadelphia to seek an education and a future. My first network of friends was as wide and varied as the distance in space and culture I had just traveled. I lived in a hostel for young ladies run by Dominican Nuns. Little did I know that within the corridors of the "Lucy Eaton Smith Residence for Young Ladies" was as wild and radical a group of women as I was to ever encounter. Women of all ages, from all parts of the world had come to reside with the Sisters. All, like myself, were seeking to prepare for the next stage of their lives. I found myself exposed to girls whose rooms were grand salons of music, poetry and the arts, or simple holes in the wall where some girl or woman was hiding out from abuse, adultery, or abortion.

For three years I used my room as a base from which to foray out into various areas of the city, my destination determined only by the fellow resident who accompanied and exposed or guided me. They showed me how to ride a bus, take a taxi or jump a turnstile. Through them I learned to eat sushi, tamales, borscht, pierogies, and even what it meant to keep Kosher.

During the next 40 years as I traveled, worked and lived all over this country, I have sought to duplicate the complexity and diversity of that network of friends. I remained open to all who crossed my path. And whether it was big city or small town, I have eagerly introduced myself to the neighbors, garbage man, postman, and dry cleaners as well as having arrived at my new home with letters of introduction to the most elite of its inhabitants. I have never felt alone or out of place. I have celebrated almost every holiday known to man, and have been embraced and remembered in the prayers of people of every possible religious persuasion. And though never married, I am special aunt or godmother to children of all races and creeds and an extended family member to every tribe or nationality that inhabits this great melting pot.

I have long espoused the benefits of being open to the treasures available from the most unlikely hands and the affection and joy to be found in relationships with those who on first glance appear to be so different from ourselves. I have found networking to be most rewarding when utilized as a lifestyle rather than a technique. And I have found it to be most effective when one participates not trying to identify what is "on offer" from the other but confident in the realization that all others offer us new sets of relationships and encounters, each possessing riches of information or experience.

The Geisha House is hosting our next mixer to be held Thursday, November 15 from 6 - 9 pm. Please join us as we mix and mingle with APC members and friends.

Geisha House is a modern Japanese restaurant, sushi bar and sake lounge. The Geisha House restaurant stays true to traditional Japan flavor, but its clientèle consists of a hip, sophisticated crowd.

You don't want to miss out on this event. Appetizers will be provided as well as a cash bar. Geisha House is located in Atlantic Station at 1380 Atlantic Drive, Atlanta, GA 30363. Click here for more information.

We look forward to seeing you there!

GREATER IMPACT offers the following programs:

• Maximizing Your Presentation Impact
• Media Skills
• Developing Personal Presence (The Ability To Persuade And Influence)
• Leveraging the Power of your Personal Brand
• Networking for Success