Networking for introverts: a how-to guide
Corporate life throws up some stressful moments. Bringing bad news to your boss; facing an interview panel; making a big presentation. But few things are worse than networking if you are an introvert.
You arrive at an event to find that everyone there apparently knows each other already. And then you look more closely and spot the fellow-sufferers. They are the people who are actually reading the conference blurb. They look at email on their phones with greater intensity than ever happens at the office. They endlessly circulate the room, like bits of plastic in the ocean waiting to be snagged on something. They take a seat in the main hall while the sound engineers are still testing the microphones.
Fortunately, there is advice out there on how to break the ice with strangers. Unfortunately, it’s abysmal. One sage counsels making contact in queues, because it is easier to talk to the person in front of you and behind you. You are meant to ambush people on the escalator, in the toilets and in the queue to get your name tag. In the line for coffee, open the door to jobs and sales by saying six incomprehensible words: “Juicing up for the big keynote?”
2023-09-07 09:20:20
Article from www.economist.com
