Oh, the comfort – the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person -having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.          ~Dinah Craik,                              (A Life for a Life)

I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.”

— Marissa Meyer  (CEO of Yahoo)

Did your Mom ever tell you that there are just two kinds of people in the world?

Mine did: “Jeff, there are givers, and there are takers- you are either one, or the other.”

She was probably trying to explain at the time a person that had hurt my feelings- maybe one that didn’t do what they said they would.

She certainly wasn’t talking about networking in the business world, but she could have been. There is something quite powerful in having a great network to rely on, a group of go-to colleagues that have an answer to a problem, an objective opinion to offer, or a “warm introduction” to avoid a cold call. The price of my network admission has become simply that you need to take the time to learn about what makes me tick, and then return a favor once in a while, if asked. (more…)