Networking is one of those key buzz words, which is turned out ad nauseam by marketing gurus. However, a recent experience in Jerusalem focused the importance of the concept and why we cannot run away from it.

Let’s quickly examine how networking fits into our lives. Keith Ferrazzi summed it nicely. By liaising and mixing with people, we succeed. Therefore, we have to get up from our comfort zones and find out who can help us.

Simple no? Well, not if you are shy, physically restricted, uncertain, or whatever. In other words, the vast majority of us seemingly have no idea how to go about networking.

Enter Ezra Butler. I was the moderator at the latest meeting of the Jerusalem Business Networking Forum, when Ezra spoke. To sum up his 20 minute presentation in one sentence: Networking is all about making friends, and nothing more complicated than that.

It is friends who turn to each other for help in commercial matters. Friends trust each other on difficult subjects. Friends rely on the advice of each other. And you make friends by listening to the needs of a new acquaintance.

On the flip side, if you walk into a meeting of strangers and start pumping them with your value proposition, you tend to end up with nothing more than a 2 minute chat. Follow up is minimal at best. 

Listening often takes more than a couple of minutes of your time. The rewards are stronger and last longer.

Maybe there is a spiritual lesson in all of this. Jerusalem has been around for over 5,000 years. Its religious monuments have borne the stories of millions in that time. And the city still stands today.