Years ago, I was invited to join a networking group. Their purpose for the group was to generate leads for each member.
After visiting the group, I discovered that the founder of the group required that I provide him two leads each week. The problem was, I didn’t trust him. There was no way I was going to refer people I cared about to his business.
A recent Wall Street Journal article on networking discussed that studies show that many people despise “transactional” networking. Transactional networking makes people feel used, versus a longer-term relational approach.
1 Corinthians 4:2 teaches, “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”
Networking is most beneficial when trust is built. Trust takes time and is not transactional.
