There are times in life when you have to stand up for what you believe in. I’ve had many of those tough moments— defending my best friend on the playground in elementary school, sticking up for my son on the baseball field and even sticking up for myself in the board room.
What about standing up for a golf tournament?
In this fragile economy—and in my up-and-coming community—my five-minute endorsement in front of my general partners for a golf fundraiser fell like a rock to the floor. They thought I was kidding, but their reaction is a telling testimony of the uncertain value of networking in today’s business world. In fragile economies, networking can be relegated to an ancillary marketing activity, and I’ve found that it’s often the first line item to get cut.
As an entrepreneur, I see it differently. In my opinion, networking is bringing a bunch of good minds together to cross a synapse and build something new. "New" could refer to the discovery of a mutual colleague, or it could be the endorsement of a cool idea that inspires a career change. At any level, every level, new is good.
That's what I was thinking about when I put my company’s annual Entrepreneurial Drive golf tournament on the table during the board meeting. I wanted to bring everyone together to inspire something new.
This golf tournament isn’t simply a fun activity; it’s a gathering of investors to source new ideas, entrepreneurs to showcase their companies, business leaders to network and client source and academics to connect to the business worlds they help fuel. It's also a gathering to raise money for regional organizations and universities that support entrepreneurship.
It's a lot of work, and we have to pay consultants and invest our own time in the event, but every year it pays off. I hear people tell me how inspired they were to see the talent our region is producing, how great it was to reconnect and how wonderful it was to give back to a great cause. Some people have even told me that they found their COO at the event!
In today’s mercurial economy, networking can mean the difference between success and failure. By adopting new approaches to networking and coupling those with a great cause, more and more people will find it’s easier to initiate contacts for personal and professional growth. As a business owner, I’m always thinking of new ways to learn and grow. Standing up for what I believe in—in this case, giving back to my community—helps me do just that.