Tuesday 2020-10-27
Networking for People who hate Networking by Devora Zack
This book takes a modern medicine approach to introversion, ie.
a) acknowledge that you are an introvert, and
b) plan for and manage your introversion.
Which seems reasonable.
Except that this treats introversion as a disease, and is one
step shy of advocating that we medicate introverts back to "normalcy".
Because of this ill-chosen approach,
the whole book comes across like a horribly mis-guided handbook devoted to helping fish walk,
with helpful hints such as:
-
Remember your flipper-cane
-
Plan your route across the room with supports in mind
-
Hydrate often!
When the real question is
"What the hell are you doing on Land?"
So how do we take advantage of the world's now-even-vaster blue oceans?
Nice to have chapters would have been:
-
Don't trawl. Spear-fish! -- Using on-line social networks to
build your network one person at a time.
-
Stop the Abuse! -- Defense against the Dark Arts of conversations. ie.
dealing with bloviators, snipers, and the obtuse.
-
Coping with Addiction -- Extroverts use you to get high. Manage their doses for maximum efficacy.
-
Conversations are Negotiations -- How to measure and evaluate conversations mid-sentence.
Maybe they'll show up in the next edition....