The Power of Networking

I recently took a trip to Washington D.C. There were a lot of firsts for me but I was excited to do some things I had never done before.

I have never flown completely alone before. I had never been to a city were I didn't have someone with me. A lot of other boring details of things I had never done before got accomplished on this day but that isn't the message of my blog.

I was extremely nervous to do the unknown alone. However, I quickly learned this world is a lot smaller than we think.

I met a lady on the plane who was from DC originally and was working in Atlanta with a nonprofit organization. We talked for about half the plane ride and when we landed she handed me her business card and said keep in touch. Look me up on LinkedIn.

While in DC my only form of transportation was the metro. So I had to tackle this public transportation by myself. So naturally I was extremely focused on signs and time and making sure I got on the right color line. I had to look like a tourist until a lady came up to me and asked ME for directions. She said I looked like I knew exactly what I was doing and commended me for taking such a risk to do this on my own at a such a young age.

Later that day I had a three hour wait for my flight back to Atlanta. I was trying to study (and not doing so well) when a gentlemen sat next to me at the bar. He began to ask me about my day and my life story. So I figured I'm not going to get any studying done, I'll humor him. Come to find out, he was in DC because he won an award for designing a program for the National Weather Service.

After talking with him for almost an hour I just wanted to sleep on the plane because I knew my long drive back to Auburn that night would be long and exhausting. I happened to sit next to a lady who just wanted to chat. Okay. Why not? I've met some interesting people today, let's have a chat. This lady lives in AR where Brenden will be moving. She began to tell me everything he needed to know about Fayetteville. Then the conversation never ran dry for the entire 2 hour flight. We had a lot in common and didn't want to stop talking because she was so interesting.

I learned that day that we are all connected in some way. People want to help others (most of the time.) why should we sit by ourselves and pretend like we don't need anyone or anything? Meeting and talking with those people that day helped solidify what I've always believed: networking is a powerful tool. There are too many people in the world to just stick to our tiny box of people. The only way to grow is to learn and there is only so much you can learn from a tiny box.

So venture out and meet new people. Try new things and don't be afraid to be honest and open with people you don't know. They may know someone who knows someone that can help you out in the near or far future.

Human Touch

In a lot of my classes over the course of four years at Auburn, we have talked about the world become globalized.  Some may ask, what is that? What does it mean?  The world we live in has become so connected with countries and people that live on the other side of the globe.  Our world really is flat.  A conference call can be done with headquarters in Japan and a company in the United States within seconds.  Making it so managers do not have to visit headquarters or CEO's never have to check up on their individual companies.

To me, this is a lazy excuse.  We has humans (leaving businesses out of this) think it is just okay to just text one of our best friends to see how they have been.  We think because we are friends on Facebook and see all their posts that we are somehow still be emotionally connected to that person.  How is our friend we are stalking suppose to know we actually care if all we do is 'like' a status and never actually have a real live conversation with that person?

Telephones (meaning picking up the phone and having a conversation) have become extinct to some people.  This is a huge problem.  Especially because our alternative is texting and driving.  You can't tell me that you get the full idea of what someone is trying to get across is a lyrical status, a silly Tweet, or a text message.  And you definitely can't pay full attention when you are driving (well at least you shouldn't be).  One thing I am trying to make a habit of is not using my phone in the car.  It is extremely hard!  I am still guilty of using it on occasion but the more I think about how important an actual conversation is with someone the less my phone matters to me.  Talking to the anonymous world of Twitter is not the last point of contact I want to have before I die.

Let's not lose connections or relationships with someone because all we do is "talk" online.  We'll lose sight of who people really are when all we do is look at what they post on the internet.  This goes for people and businesses.  One of the most important things I have learned in the past four years as a Hotel and Restaurant Management major is that human touch (not a physical touch) is the most important part of a guests' experience.  It should be the same for a person to person contact as well.  The human touch experiences mean much more to a guest (or person) than a reply to a Facebook post.

Disclaimer: I am not saying that all of social networking is terrible because everyone knows I use every bit of it.  However, if that is the only form of communication you have with someone you might want to reevaluate that relationship.

To reconnecting with the world,

Kayla