Networking or Relationship Building or Both?

Another networking event. This one with an educational platform. Actual networking is mainly done before or after.

I sat by a man I haven’t seen at this meeting before. Partway through the program, he hands me his card.

“Oh! Thank you,” I whisper, audibly surprised. And then began his ‘we do this, we do that’ monologue.

He put out his hand for my card, which I handed him saying, “Give me a call if you think I can help you.” I turned toward the current speaker hoping the newcomer would notice my listening ears fully engaged. Again.

To each person that passed near us, he handed a card.

I did not give my business card to one other person. Why? Because I had to leave quickly for an appointment when the event ended and, though I passed several people on my way out, did not have one meaningful conversation.

Later I recounted the scene to my husband. “He doesn’t get that networking events intended for business growth are now all about relationship building.”

“Business growth has always been about relationships. Not long ago, business relationships – either with other owners, clients or vendors – were a part of our regular routine.” It was a lifestyle.

He was right. Today we host networking events to encourage relationship building in a culture that tends to polarize. It polarizes not just in business but in neighborhoods and churches, too.

The truth is, we all need each other. We need not just the knowledge of what we do, we need to know who each other is. We need to know the real person we are doing business with, sharing neighborhoods with, and those we sit beside in church. That need has always been a reality, it’s just more evident in the technological society we’ve become.

What do you think?