Dorie Clark over at HBR points out some of the more nuanced elements of best practices associated with “transactional networking” in an effort to make these meetings mutually beneficial by moving the agenda into more forthright territory.

The Right (and Wrong) Way to Network

– Dorrie Clark March 10, 2015

Some people line up lunches and coffee dates because they’re in search of a job, venture funding, or clients for their company. But if that’s the reason you’re having a networking meeting, you — and your invitee — aren’t likely to get much satisfaction. As Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino and her colleagues have noted, “transactional networking” — i.e., “networking with the goal of advancement” — often makes participants feel so bad about themselves, they feel “dirty.”

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