This past week I, once again, experienced the magic of networking. Just as the realtor's mantra is location, location, location, the savvy networker’s mantra is relationship, relationship, relationship. A few weeks back my friend, Russ Edelman, of Corridor Consulting, Inc., and I were brainstorming ideas for our respective businesses.He told me about blogging for CNBC and offered to introduce me to Gloria McDonough-Taub, the senior editor of...

A few weeks ago I went to a networking event specifically created to support people currently out of work. Some three to four hundred men and women gathered over drinks and appetizers at a local restaurant; included in the mix were employers and recruiters. The loud hum in the room was punctuated by bursts of laughter, sounds of camaraderie and the conversation that accompanies the exchange of business cards and slaps of support. That part was...