Recently I was asked to become the chairman of a local business group; I was flattered and immediately accepted. It was only after I accepted that I was told that many people had been asked but had declined for various reasons citing things such as lack of time, too much responsibility or simply “not my kind of thing”.

Now this got me thinking. Either I’m being a mug for doing it or the others had simply failed to spot an opportunity. To me the advantages are obvious:
VisibilityStatusExperienceFun!

Now of course I understand that people do have genuine reasons for declining things but often the people who decline most are the people who say “I never get anything out of networking”. I’ve never regretted taking up a networking role and have only ever gained from the experience. My advice to anyone who’s asked is – do it!