An open letter to Penelope Trunk

Dear Penelope,

I saw in your bio that you write columns for The Boston Globe. At right is a picture of me - albeit an extremely frightening one - sporting a Globe tee-shirt (Your world, unfolding daily!). I got it when I went on a high school field trip to your newspaper's headquarters on Morrissey Blvd. None of that really has any relevance to what I'm writing this letter for, but I thought it was a fun little connection anyways.

First of all, I'd like to apologize if I sounded like a jerk in my Yahoo! responds! post. That post obviously carried an obnoxious tone throughout - I thought it made for a more entertaining read - but I worry that you might have interpreted said tone as genuinely-obnoxious instead of faux-obnoxious. That would be unfortunate. And can I just say that I never for a minute thought you'd actually see what I wrote? But that's the internet for you, I guess.

(Speaking of the internet, because of its anonymity, I suppose I technically have no evidence to believe that the comment left on my post was authored by the real Penelope Trunk. Regardless, I'll push forward.)

As for the actual content of your response, you make some points that are undeniably true. Of course it feels good to give to other people. And of course I'd agree that "There is no getting through this world all by ourselves." I'm not like the pre-Help! Beatles, harboring some irrational sense of complete independence that's going to "vanish in the haze."

But still, my basic assessment of networking remains: doing kind things as part of a conscious career-positioning effort doesn't constitute true generosity. Maybe my use of the label "manipulative" that you used in your original article was a mistake. That word probably carries overly harsh connotations. But the label of "generous", I think, with its connotations of virtuousness, is equally inapplicable.

Any act of networking is a simple game of give-and-take, no different essentially than a bank offering a loan with the intent of profiting on interest later. If that's the upfront intent, there's nothing devious about it - but there's nothing particularly noble about it, either. You're just dealing with a different breed of business transaction. That goes back to the point I was trying to convey in my original post, that I'd never be able to vigorously view everything as a networking opportunity, because that sort of approach to life would eventually feel "soulless and impersonal." Am I missing something?

Anyways, thanks for finding my blog and giving it a read. I'll see you around the blogosphere - or next time I pick up a copy of The Globe back home.

Sincerely,
Dave aka D Tram

(note: Penelope's blog can be found here)

Yahoo! responds!

Seeing that my blog is just a few days old and has humble origins as an assignment for an online journalism class, it would seem odd if one of my posts had already caught the eye of a major media organization.

But, much to my surprise and delight, it's happened.

The top, featured story on Yahoo! is currently one titled, "Think you hate networking?".

There's no other explanation: Yahoo! has already discovered the awesomeness of D Tram's Awesome Blog. They're on top of things, as per usual. Kudos, Yahoo!.

Anyway, the author's introduction to the feature is a thinly-veiled condemnation of my ramblings about the guest speaker at the SGA meeting. She writes, "Today's careers are made and broken by one's ability to network ... That's the way the world is. You're not going to change it by whining."

Well okay then, Penelope Trunk. Nice name, by the way. I mean that.

From there, Trunk lists five reasons that supposedly show why "networking is actually a lot easier than you think." And, lo and behold, reason numero uno takes aim at yours truly: "You don't have to be a manipulator."

Trunk tells us that "Networking is about being nice." She warns us that it is merely "people who are ineffective at networking" who think that the process involves manipulation. Networking, in fact, involves generosity or, as she puts it, "adding value to peoples' lives."

But you know what? At the end of this explanation, she offers this clincher: "The more diverse a group of people you can help, the more diverse the type of help you can get."

That concept in and of itself may not be manipulation, per say, but it's certainly not an example of pure generosity - as she purports it to be - either.

And really, when you disguise something as generosity that's truly just a calculated, strategic attempt to add an advantageous contact to your network... how's that NOT manipulative?

D Tram's Awesome Blog, 1. Yahoo!, 0.

Climbing the imaginary ladder of success

Every Thursday at 4:15 sharp, I'm present and accounted for at the meeting of the Iona College Student Government Association. Normally, I don't have a whole lot to say about the proceedings, but the SGA E-Board has been trying to bring in lots of guest speakers as of late, and this week's was a woman named Kari Welch.

Ms. Welch works for a company called Headway, which she described as a "human resources support firm." Her lecture was about networking, the process of creating and maintaining useful "contacts." She told us how (approximately) 61% of jobs people get are through networking. She told us how there are (approximately) 1 million resumes posted on Google each year.

So all of this probably sounds harmless enough. But still, all throughout the presentation, I couldn't shake a really negative feeling towards what I was hearing.

Just about everything is a networking activity, we were told. From taking a plane trip to going to the gym to attending a Christmas party, whenever we come in contact with other people, we're presented with the opportunity to network.

We were given a set of steps to follow when networking. Before entering into a conversation, it was recommended that we have a predetermined "objective." We were also instructed to prepare an "exit strategy." The example given was, "Excuse me, I've got to go talk to my friend!"

The final step of the networking process was a "call to action," in which contact information - perhaps via business cards - was to be exchanged with the intent of following up on the given objective at a later time.

An easel in the front of the room served as a visual aid as Ms. Welch spoke. The writing on each page was peppered with the acronym "WIIFM?" ("What's In It For Me?").

So maybe I'm making it out to be a bigger deal than it was, but I don't think I'd ever be able to actively pursue networking like this. The whole thing just feels soulless and impersonal.

I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine isn't a way of life, right?

And so it begins.

I see big things for this blog. BIG. Things. Get pumpedddddd, with multiple d's for emphasis.