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Posts Tagged ‘Comraderie’

This week has been a tough one for me, last year at this time an accident took the life of a truly great man.  He was a boss, a mentor and a best friend.   Although time is making his abesence  less painful (not by much), I’m surrounded by support from family & friends, as well as being in touch with his family often.  I’ve struggled this week with how to honor this man and what he meant to my life.  Today this article appeared in the Wall Street Journal and while the title put me off, the article itself explains much of how we worked together for over 15 years.  The article mentions several partnerships which were very close and I’ve found also fairly rare in corportate America.  I was one of those lucky enough to have experienced it.

It interestingly enough this provides me with much comfort.  After he retired and left the company, our friendship continued and deepened with visits to each others homes and long discussions over myriads of talking, electronic and live when he returned to the company to consult for a few years prior to the accident.

I miss my mentor and friend but will treasure the lessons I learned and cherish the memories and the friendship.

A toast to you, my friend  JPJ. 

I’ve had an abundance of networking opportunities this year which I’m very grateful for.  Even though I am an extrovert (no matter what behavior style tool is used to identify me–I am what I am) and I find it easy to talk to people, connecting to new, interesting people is always a challenge.

This year I’ve taken a new tact to networking.  I find an empty table near the center of the action, choose a seat facing the room, make myself comfortable and open my energy to be welcoming, receptive and filled with positive thoughts of attracting the people I need to encounter during that event.

The results have been amazing, I have connected with the most interesting people.  Many of whom I would not have connected with otherwise.  They arrive alone or in small groups and within moments the entire table is filled with warmth, comraderie and instantaneous connections.   Sometimes the connections are formed between others and the environment of the table seemed to make that possibility happen for them.   It creates such an interesting phenomenon to watch and enjoy.

I’ve connected with new clients, new friends, new colleagues and meet business idols I’ve only known virtually all these years.  I found many cases where the degrees of separation are just one or two people away.

What’s your favorite in person networking technique?