“Be the change you want to see in the world.” I keep thinking about this great quote from Mahatma Ghandi because of the unexpected, but definitely welcome, attention my on hiatus Pay It Forward (PIF) parties have received this past week.
Like many of you, I typically see Ghandi’s brilliant piece of wisdom in email signatures or on Facebook pages at least once a week. And, while I couldn’t agree with it more, I realize that it’s sometimes much easier to complain than effect a change. What I recognized in the now two instances of interest in PIF parties, however, was the overwhelming desire to do things a little differently in the networking arena and these people actually doing something about it.
One woman in NJ reached out because she is “in transition” (btw, wish we could all agree that this euphemism for “looking for your next thing” is a dated term and should probably disappear from job search vernacular), and wanted to find a creative way to get access to my How to Have a PIF Party book without spending any serious cash. Her intention is to host a few of her own PIF parties, and her creative, but not doable “ask” motivated me to be very pay-it-forward minded and suggest a compromise. She’s now sending me a check for just the shipping and handling and I’m happily sending her a slightly less-than-perfect proof copy of the booklet.
The other instance came from a woman that I was introduced to through a mutual contact. When we met over coffee a few weeks ago it turned out she had purchased the booklet already (thank you Melissa!), and wanted to pick my brain about hosting her own PIF party. Well, I willingly obliged and she just sent me an invite to the PIF mixer she’s hosting on Seattle’s eastside later this month for a whole bunch of her contacts. Sweet!
BTW, this activity points to success as I’d define it regarding my experiment with hosting PIF parties at the end of ’07 and throughout ’08. My hope was that I’d ultimately receive an invitation to at least one other PIF party hosted by someone following my example, and better late than never, right? 🙂
