By Susan Sapienza
Executive Director, Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce

That sounds dramatic.

But think about it.

Someone in your contacts knows about the job another person desperately needs. Someone knows the contractor, mentor, volunteer, customer, donor, teacher, board member or business partner someone else has been trying to find.

And very often, those two people have no idea they need each other.

I think about this a lot in Chamber work.

People sometimes assume the value of a Chamber of Commerce is found in its events, marketing, visitor services, advocacy or membership benefits. Those things matter, of course.

But some of the most important work we do is much quieter.

It happens when someone walks into the Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center, catches me after a meeting, sends an email or calls with a question.

"Do you know anyone who…?"

"I'm trying to figure out…."

"I've been thinking about…."

And occasionally, before they've even finished the sentence, a name comes to mind.

"You two need to know each other."

Leadership Isn't Always About Having the Answer

I have a confession: I rarely know all the answers.

But I usually know someone who knows more than I do.

I've come to believe that's not a shortcoming. It may actually be one of the most useful things I've learned about leadership.

We tend to think expertise means knowing the answer.

Perhaps another kind of expertise is knowing the room.

It's listening closely enough to remember what someone mentioned months ago. Recognizing another person's particular gift. Seeing where a need and a resource intersect. And then being willing to make the introduction without needing to be part of what happens next.

From Networking to Connecting

We call that networking, but I'm not sure that's quite the right word.

Networking can become transactional: Who do I know who can help me?

Connecting asks a different question:

Who do I know who might help each other?

That's a small shift in language, but an enormous shift in perspective.

It turns a network from something we accumulate into something we steward.

And Chambers are hardly the only ones with networks.

We all have them.

They're sitting in our phones, around our conference tables, in our neighborhoods and churches, across our organizations, among old classmates and former colleagues, and sometimes across the table from us over coffee.

We know people who know things.

People who make things.

People who fix things.

People who teach, mentor, hire, volunteer, invest, encourage, open doors and imagine possibilities.

The question may not be how many people we know.

The better question may be:

What becomes possible because we know one another?

The Value of Connection in a Community

Some introductions will lead nowhere. Others may lead to a new customer, a collaboration, a friendship, a solution to a community problem or an opportunity neither person could have created alone.

Every once in a while, one might even change a life.

So perhaps one of the most valuable things we can do with the relationships we've accumulated isn't to ask what they can do for us.

It's to pay attention.

To listen.

To notice the dots.

And, when we see two that belong together, connect them.

About the author: Susan Sapienza is Executive Director of the Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce. She writes about business, community and the connections between people and ideas that help shape the Cashiers area and western North Carolina.