Keeping the alumni networking alive

Even when life sends on a foraging curve ball

Dear Friends: 

It's blackberry season once again in the West of Ireland. The bushes are bursting with purple goodness - my fingers are stained to prove it!  

I wrote about the link between my foraging pursuits in rural Ireland and networking before here: 

Our hedgerows are bursting with blackberries. So too is our alumni network bursting with career or life insights. For most people the blackberries—and the alumni network—remains untouched. Why? In our frenetic lives, this type of foraging of relationships in our lives is viewed as a slow process. Or, the intentions are noble... but things in our lives get in the way. The same can be said for networking: you need to set aside time to build your network, those connections (or blackberries!) won’t magically come to you. This is a life investment.  

Except this year, foraging got harder.  

Farmers have cut the hedgerows early. The blackberries are not as easily found.  

First I was discouraged, but do I give up? No! I need to go deeper and be creative - going to new places and contorting my body in new ways - to get the yield of berry goodness. Same can be said for our networking, it's not always easy, it takes time, effort, kindness, focus, tenacity - and love! Networking is constantly changing as I wrote in LinkedIn post in the archives.  

Your challenge this week (all of us!):  

Take time - perhaps a full Alumni Friday hour isn't possible. Start with 5 minutes a day, block out 20 minutes to invest in networking activity as if it is a meeting. Alumni and alumni-facing professionals alike can benefit from creative, new (re)connections! Don't be hard on yourself if it is slow, keep going, make the regular investment - it will pay off! 

Later this month I am delighted to supercharge the networking for the Max Planck Society and Munich Postdoc Network as part of Postdoc Appreciation Week Germany and as part of my ongoing role as faculty with the Virtual Leadership Institute for Atlas Corps. My online Next Gen Networking sessions are energetic, fun and practical - Book a Discovery Call here to discuss how to bring this to your students and alumni! 

Yours with alumni networking love, 

Maria 

Photo: Country roads exposed, no blackberries in sight! Take heart, I will get out here and forage patiently, lovingly and with tenacity for the sweet return!