100 more characters would be perfectly fine

And you thought this blog post was about the newly given 100 more characters in the Headline, didn’t you? Not quite.

I’ve come up against lot of characters in my entrepreneurial networking wanderings. I pride myself on collecting people like baseball cards: some worth keeping, some worth trading for better ones to round out a collection.

We all have an explicit agenda, like showing how well we do our “why” while so many others just can’t get past delivering the “what” flatline.

Like the networking phone call with the guy who made me watch a video about him, while I remained respectful of his pride in his getting where he is today, yet my attention waned after the first minute. The rest of the call was like watching paint dry, for which I am not a fan. Ugh. No grounds for me to connect to him, believe me; all my connections are referable, and as such why would I ever refer him to someone I like, only to have him subject another unsuspecting victim to the same paint drying torture?

Others share my love of keen interactive exploration, or at least I lead them to such. I routinely encourage 50-50 interplay to expand on how we can be of value to each other, all the while I evaluate if there’s need for connecting on LinkedIn. Not until I am sure they are a good match will I mention connecting on LinkedIn.

I realize most professionals are more amazing than their LinkedIn profile, “amazing-er” in person or by phone/Zoom than in their own writing. I do thrive on the diversity and flavors I come across.

I’d take 100 more connections worthy of my privilege to cross-nurture than 1000 people I don’t know who think they are worth a connection. Why nurture those who don’t return the favor, even just a bit? I hope that doesn’t sound to elitist, but do you invite anyone who rings your doorbell into your house? I don’t.

Bring me 100 more truly memorable, vetted, deserving characters to brighten my world, and I will so the same to them, and also refer them to others. With 3264 vetted, trusted connections, some of whom are real characters, 100 more would be fine! Okay, 1000.

I can’t get enough of a good thing. A collection to be treasured.