This is a tongue in cheek post. Kind of.

We are fortunate to have several outstanding professors in the MBA, MS in IT, and MS in Tax programs who early in your program teach those who invest in themselves by taking such a course some of the tools and basics to lay a foundation for effective communication skills, a number of which relate to networking.

Candidly, where we need to improve is after you take their initial Effective Communication Skills for Managers course, by building a stronger and more consistent culture of continued networking in our grad and undergrad business programs and across our entire university for all students. Here, I am talking about much more than the weekly touch base and briefing at a local pub to blow off steam.

This can be a challenge to do in paradise SLO (or Santa Barbara) and Cal Poly where you can run into the mentality of, “Dude, it’s all good all the time here in sunny SLO town; I did not come here to be pushed in such a manner and I already think I am pretty awesome at this so why you sweatin’ on this stuff?”

Perhaps the first reason is that it’s my job to push people out of their comfort zone. Taxpayers don’t pay me to be another government bureaucrat interested in keeping the status quo.

Perhaps the more important reason is that it’s a big part of business, my friend, and your future and your survival (in this economy) may depend on how good you are at it. On this note check out this WSJ article, Networking? Here’s How To Stand Out.

Each of us can also get better at this skill.

What are your take-aways from this article? And as an reflective future manager, what can you do differently in the future to develop your networking skill set in SLO or Santa Barbara town and at Cal Poly while you are here studying with us and in Asia in this regard when we travel there?

What can you learn from the Chinese and Indians in this regard? (After all, networking is one of the big reasons we are loading up and heading to Asia this summer for your international field study, and you will see from our travels that you can learn a lot about this business practice from the Chinese and Indians.)

As an aside, if I benchmark and point toward another business program to emulate that does networking really, really well, as much as it pains me to do so I would have to acknowledge that it would be USC and the Trojan family. Sit in a first day freshman class there and you will see what I mean. Of course, you also need gobs and gobs of money to be a Trojan and it’s likely your student loan debt will be astronomical if you do so. USC is not perfect and also has its own share of challenges like any institution.

That said, what programs are you aware of that do networking really well? How did they create and how do they sustain said networking and entrepreneurial culture (refer to your OB course for ideas)?

And how are those business cards coming along that I suggested you get? If you don’t yet have them heading into week 7 of the quarter especially in this economy, can you tell me, pray tell, why not?

I welcome your thoughts.

And like I said. This is a tongue in cheek post. Kind of.

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A buddy helped me fix my recent blog technology problems. As part of his fix, submitted comments now go into a moderation/hold pool, and then I approve them for publication. Most bloggers do this anyway. Before, all comments appeared as soon as they were submitted. Some days I will get this holding tank sooner than other days to click on the approve button so your comments appear for publication. Will depend on work flow. All non-spam comments will be approved for publication as submitted. I am advised this new process should help better prevent some of the tech problems I have been having lately.