Networking for People Who Hate Networking

INTRODUCTIONthis book is required reading

Only connect.

—E. M. Forster, Howards End

Learning Latin in Greek

On my first day of grad school at Cornell University, I attended microeconomics. The professor, in an attempt to calm our first-year jitters, explained in soothing tones that he would be showing a lot of graphs, yet there was no need to panic. He said, “Just think of graphs as flow-charts, and you’ll be fine.” As an arts professional with no background whatsoever in economics, I suddenly felt dizzy as my vision blurred. I had never heard of a flowchart. I was doomed.

I later described the experience of those first few weeks in business