China wasn’t on my list of places to visit, at least not the short list. But my life plan includes visiting all manner of countries and cultures to explore their beliefs, experience their customs, and learn from their wisdom. There is always a lot to be gained by being open to new experiences. Networking in China is much more in tune with Bob Littell’s now famous Netweaving. They do not hand out business cards unsolicited and in fact when presented the card is passed and taken with both hands and a slight bow. You are honoring the identity and status of the person whose card you are accepting. You are starting to build a relationship. We Americans could learn a lot from this as we operate from a sense of more is better too often. So many times at a networking event the quest is to see who can get the most cards. What does that person win? Rarely can they actually remember everyone they met, something significant about them, and even less often do they get or stay in contact. If we truly sought those that we could serve and would serve us rather than randomly going for the biggest number, we’d get a lot farther.