Professional networking 2.0 – sharing what matters most even when nobody listens

I remember going to a Christmas party once with a dear friend and colleague, and when we entered the restaurant where the party was she quietly mentioned she really wasn’t in the mood to speak to all those people tonight. Instead of “networking” we sat in a quiet corner, enjoyed the people watching, the food and a drink or two.

In building my career and businesses, I often didn’t feel like networking at all. That’s partially because I used to be a shy person who didn’t say much at all. The other part is because networking often felt meaningless to me. The conversation topics are picked from the shallow end of the pool, where people pretend to be all sorts of things they aren’t, as part of their involvement in corporate politics at some level. If you don’t play ball at the same management level, the conversation is merely based on the difference in employee status.

Having the problems with authority that I have, especially in corporate life, that kind of social interaction never worked w…