Networking is a thing.
For years and years, my wife Alison and I have disagreed on this subject; in fact, it has a name in my house, it's called ‘schmooozing’ (Alison's definition).
When Alison talks to me about networking (shmooozing), she says it in disparaging terms, like it's not proper work.
There is a format, though, for networking, a way of doing it, a way of being it, that can have great advantage to the people that are involved in networking as it works.
The way this works is to understand that networking is just human contact and the intention to try to create what I've previously written about as the ‘Chinese contract’.
My definition of the Chinese contract being the following.
‘If it works for you and it works for me, we will continue to do business together, and if it doesn't, we won't.
The best way to create the Chinese contract is to work with someone who shares your values. If you find someone who shares your values, who also needs something that you give or has something that you need, then you have struck a winning position. Working with someone whom you like, trust, respect, who either needs what you have or has what you need, leads to profitable, wonderful, fulfilling, and changing relationships.
The only way, the only way to find this out is to speak to someone.
The speaking to someone is the networking, and sadly, during networking, it's necessary to slay a few dragons.
The best way, though to think about this is if you're going somewhere with the purpose of trying to create opportunities (raising sales in the storm), it’s best to have a strategy to say I would like to speak to this person or this person or this person at the time that I go to see if there's any mutually beneficial opportunities where our values are shared.
What will also happen in these types of situations is that serendipitous relationships will kick off; often, they are the ones that work the best (see the work of the genius that is Cal Newport on networking).
Networking is not a sin, and having (one) drink in a social environment to meet people who it may be wonderful to work with is not a bad thing; it is a good thing.
Getting s**tfaced, obviously cross out shit with people that you don't know and waking up lying in your own clothes after having been sick on your bed is not networking.
Networking is having one drink, making positive relationships with people, going to bed, getting up and going for a run.