Golf Is Not The Only Way to Network
There is a myth about the corporate ladder: Golf is critical to networking.
Here’s the thing. It’s not necessarily true. Sure, in some organizations, it’s not a bad way to get face time with leadership, if that leadership digs 9 holes + Miller Lite. And perhaps this was critical path back in the day where you joined a company, worked 40 years, retired from same. You needed to engage in the right activities in-house to make a go of things.
These days, people move between companies far more frequently and with greater velocity than back in the day. One of the side effects of this is that networking is as important outside of the office than within, if not even more so. For that, any social sport may offer benefits.
Cycling as a social sport must be included in this group. Cyclists, as a group, tend to be more educated and affluent than the general population. Education tends to correlate strongly with employment – as does affluence. This makes the people in your personal peloton potentially valuable contacts professionally, and not just when you catch a barb in your back tire and need a spare CO2 cartridge. There’s more to sharing the road than just riding right. Sharing the road is also about relationships, which can cross from spandex to pinstripes and back.
