Networking In The Digital Age

Most of the information that we have around us needs to be synthesised into byte-sized knowledge and connected with what we know and have learned in the past. This also brings in paradigm changes in the way we think, work, and live.

- Rajesh Nair

Corporate executives often say that ‘it is not what you know, it is about who you know!’. Business networking has become important and is being perceived as being a discipline that needs to be taught and not just left to chance, as a skill one develops through experience. But things have changed in the last year. The pandemic has ensured that we cannot have the luxury of pumping hands and physically exchanging cards. The warm firm handshake must be often replaced by clicks. There is a ‘click’ to follow someone and perhaps ‘two clicks’ to befriend someone. This also means that the shyness and the physical unpleasant aura of meeting strangers have been replaced with the ability to accost someone with an email, visit a webpage, and use networking sites like LinkedIn.

The essence of a relationship is also about looking into mutual successes beyond the spirit of just connectivity or always not look at success and profit as the pure outcome. It is about your ability to give more than the opportunity to receive and a reminder that your interest in someone else’s success will often be reciprocated. So, all the digital technology changes are about reminding yourself that these are new avenues to express generosity and that success is not a zero-sum game.