(Net)work

Lets face it: ever since the internet came about, the world has become a whole lot smaller. Austin Kleon writes in his New York Times best-selling book Steal Like An Artist that we are no longer ruled by geography. Instead, sites like Twitter allow us to effectively connect with and be inspired by a select group of like-minded people.

Kleon dedicates an entire chapter to pound home the fact that the world is a small town, so be nice to everyone with whom you cross paths. In other words, what goes around comes around. I like to think of each interaction that I have as an opportunity to expand my world and every new person I meet as means by which I add a link to my ever-enlarging web of connections. Each day I strive to be intentional about networking (both in person and online) because I have seen first-hand that hard (net)work pays off. I am fortunate enough to have a role model like my father, Mike Dobreski, who is an extremely gifted person and fully understands both the importance of networking and the steps to networking efficiently. In fact, he recently started an organization called Executive Educational Consultants, which has gotten where it is today because of my dad's hard (net)working and lots of prayer.