I have been “sitting” on this link for a while. Perhaps now is the right time for an aspirational resolution and a small memorial to William Safire who founded a club that is really what true networking is all about. And it’s a pretty simple formula – you meet the same people regularly (decades) and you share meals and conversations. WSJ – What Facebook Can’t Give You:
“In 1957, as men in their late 20s, they began meeting—initially over breakfast, then over dinners held at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel or at the Harvard Club in midtown Manhattan. Few were born to means. Many were sons of immigrants. Most went on to become luminaries in their fields—presidents of television networks, partners at banks, editors of magazines.
On occasion, they shared their influence with one another. When member Mort Janklow made a career switch from corporate attorney to literary agent, a fellow member, columnist William Safire, offered himself as a famous first client. When Robert Menschel, a senior director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., was considering deals involving large consumer companies such as Procter & Gamble, he would pick the brain of fellow club member Ed Meyer, the former chief executive of Grey Advertising.”
So as far as the fad of the online social networks or even the socially retarded religious gatherings, the litmus test is pretty simple. It’s only worth it if leads to regular meetings around food and conversations (with the emphasis on conversation not the food). Oh yes, you need to get invited. But then William Safire was a scribbler with no college degree, may be the way to get invited is to found a club?
Further Reading:
Facebook bans the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
Wilhelm Stekel on Atheism and Telepathy
Tired of David Brooks
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