As a life long introvert, I have long admired the social butterflies of the world. I remember going to a bar in Denver with a girl friend (yes, the space between girl and friend is intentional and necessary). I watched her stop after she was inside, scan the room, and the go up to a table with two other people at it and sat down. Silly me, I thought she knew them. Come to find out, she loves walking into bars and quickly figuring out from posture, eye contact, dress, and drinks what type of person they are and whether they were single or in a relationship. She sat down at a table that had a man and a woman, but she knew that the woman was in a relationship and the man wasn’t. And she was right. Absolutely amazing in my mind, as I was the type that was lucky to make eye contact with the bartender when ordering a beer.

Well, I guess 20 years of learning makes a difference. I just came back from a launch party for one of our clients, iCitizen (check them out at iCitizen.com). Held at the Hermitage hotel in downtown Nashville, the ballroom was filled with important people in Nashville. I absolutely loved working the room, meeting new people, exiting gracefully, and going on to the next person I didn’t know and who looked interesting. It seems that 1) my wife has indeed rubbed off on me and 2) if you want to change, anything is possible. I’ve been working on my networking skills for years and for some reason, everything is starting to click now. I’m actually enjoying it and looking forward to a crowd full of people I don’t know, something that would have sent me into a tailspin a few years ago. Maybe it’s the prayers of my wife….

A major part of it is that I love connecting people. With that as my motivation, it is much easier to meet people because in the end, I want to help them. Or maybe I just want to seem important and my ego is kicking in. Only time will tell.