Today’s Business Channel buzz is about the power of networking. Networking isn’t new, although the term is recent. It’s something I’m good at doing—I harbor unbridled people curiosity—but usually hate having it done to me. Why?

Well, it’s not a lot of fun to have dozens of people at an event come up and essentially ask, “What can you do for me,” while their eyes are scanning the room looking for more likely prey and they seem to have little real interest in those who talk to them, unless they perceive value to themselves.

Obviously, not everyone is like this, but too many are!

Rather than write up yet another list of ‘how to network’ or waxing on about how valuable it is, I thought I’d mention three salient points and then offer up a link to what I consider one of the best networking resources sources available.

First, salient = basic. That’s right, and once you grasp the basics the rest are luxuries—nice to know, but not really necessary.

Second, these apply as much to on-line networking as to that done in the real world.

1. Go networking with an eye to listening, learning and helping, not talking, selling and using.
2. Pay attention to the person talking, instead of mentally cruising the room.
3. Be open to input other than what you expected or wanted.

That’s it. Practice them until they are deeply embedded in your MAP and you do them without thinking. You’ll be amazed at the difference in your results.

Finally, download or buy the best book around for doing business in a networked world—The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online! by Scott Allen and David Teten.

What are your pros and cons regarding networking?

Your comments—priceless

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Image credit: macinate

I was talking the old fashioned way (by phone) this morning with Scott Allen on the challenges, difficulties and plain old problems (another old fashioned term) of implementing social media tools in many companies. I said that it reminded me of the late 1970 – early 80s when the telecommunitg egg was trying its best to hatch—and still is in many places.

That was when the current crop of managers were still workers, most companies were hierarchal-but-in-the-process-of-flattening and management jobs were being eliminated left and right.

Those workers (today’s manager and execs) rallied and railed for the opportunity to work from home and the managers quaked in their collective boots because if workers were self-managing and productive from home then why did they need managers.

Nearly thirty years later, with telecommuting still only a dream to many, how fast can we expect social media tools to be adopted?

Is the problem truly generational? Age-related? A function of company size? Corporate culture?

We’re told that in the long run we all become our parents.

Do we also become our bosses?

Tomorrow I’ll offer my take on it, but first—what do you think?