Yesterday I was speaking a conference and one of the topics I was going to address was “Networking”.

During the informal get-together, several people approached me and exchanged cards. Three of them though gave their card and quickly explained what they do and ran away to give their cards to someone else. They didn’t seem to be really interested in who I was or whether I was interested in receiving their cards.

“Pushworking” is a term I coined for the practice of simply pushing your way to announce something whether the other person is interested or not.

Too many people engage in the art of pushworking while assuming that they are engaged in networking. If you are one of them, you lose twice. First, you won’t really get the benefit of networking and second, you may leave an impression with the other person that you are not someone that should take seriously.

The metric for networking is not the quantity of cards that you collect or give out but the assessments you create in other people that “you can be a positive possibility in their futures”

Stop Pushworking and Start Networking!

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Note 1: For links to the other 185 entries in the “Distinguish yourself” series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic:
Squidoo Lens: Distinguish yourself

Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself

Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 8, 2007. Today it is ranked #41. I am overwhelmed by the support for this. Thank you. Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Making the Most of Your Time: Going Beyond To-Do Lists