OK, let's try this one more time

"The reason I talk to myself is that I'm the only one whose answers I accept." George Carlin

I got what’s become my weekly call from an old friend and acquaintance that’s on the job market. It was pretty much déjà vu all over again. No, not that another talented person lost their job, but that another long time friend who I hadn’t spoken to in many months broke The Strouse Manifesto which reads, “The two times you call everyone you’ve ever known is when you get a job and when you lose a job”. He had waited almost two months before getting started. The other part of the Manifesto reads, “Oh, and for the love of God, don’t wait until you lose your job to call people you know”.

Another buddy and I were talking about this over dinner tonight. There’s become this list of mutual friends where our conversations go like this:

Me: “Hey, guess who I got a call from today?”
Him: “Who?”
Me: Jimmy Billy Bob Joe MacDaddy
Him” “Whadda he want?”

Yep, they’ve become a cliché. The only time you ever hear from them is when they want something. The phone call or email come in from good ‘ol Jimmy Billy Bob and you roll your eyes knowing he’s out on the street and now is doing his “networking”.

Networking is a full-time gig and requires calls where you really do only want to know how the other person is doing, or you’re calling to make them aware of someone else being on the street, or you can’t remember if their daughter is graduating this year or next.

Now, let me be evenhanded, you can’t possibly stay in touch with everyone all the time. It’s not reasonable or practical and we’ve all called people strictly because we want something. I'm as guilty as everyone else and I'm sure there's people who will read this and label me a hypocrite. But when over the course of a couple of decades that’s the only time, well, you become a cliché.

People, I’ve preached this before (Tough Talk). Networks are funny things, easy to start, hard to perfect and can be lost from neglect.

So, start today, make a list and start contacting people just to say hello and find out how they’re doing. Note: How they are doing, not you, them.

There’s more but I really have call a couple of people tonight before it gets too late.