I think I can outline, separate, if you will, two distinct skills.
The skill to be good at something, which I think might be more common than not, and the skill to be able to put yourself in a situation where you can show that you are.
The latter one being the rare one.
You see, there's a group of us, because I have to include myself, who hold tightly, with white knuckles, to the idea of merit. If I'm good at something, the universe will notice. The invisible forces will set things right.
Ramblings of a madman, some would say, and I would not blame them.
Without a doubt, part of growing up, part of maturing, has to be both the identification of these truths and the implementation of a corrective course.
How do I set myself up to be able to show people what I can do?
That being the question that is so hard to answer for most of us.
To be bold, to be plain: being capable, without the ability to show people that you are, is not a good way to set yourself up for success.
I say this knowing full well how difficult the latter can be.
How many times have you prepared yourself to be good at something? Excellent even. And yet, you've seen other people get the job, get the opportunity, mostly because they were better connected.
Everybody knows Jim, you might conclude. Not me.
It's not unreasonable to think this is life being unfair, but it's hardly productive to complain about it without eventually turning that complaint into some sort of call to action.
The way I see it, there has to be a balance.
You can't really build true relationships, true connections, if everything you do is transactional. If you won't give someone the time of day unless they give you a quarter, you are hardly being a good friend, or even a good neighbor for that matter.
I don't have a magic formula to share. I really don't.
But if participating in open source and blockchains has taught me something, it is that real networking is more about showing up.
It's about being helpful. Being involved. Developing organic relationships with people who share your interests and values.
It's about being there often enough that people get to know you.
And then, if we are lucky, one day an opportunity shows up, and we happen to be the person remembered.
Not because we asked for it.
Not because we knew the right person.
But because, somewhere along the way, someone learned what we could do.
MenO
