Diane Darling's Blog

I'm in Newsweek!

Wow - what fun! Amazing to be covered in Newsweek. Here's the article called "How Talking Sports Can Help Your Career."

Three cheers for www.WaterCoolerFootball.com

Many thanks to Steve Garfield for the photo taken at Boston Media Makers 120408

Newsweek calling

This evening I hosted another program for Water Cooler Football. I got a call a week or so ago from a Newsweek reporter asking if he could write about it ..... gee, let me think! YES!

We had an amazing class. One incredibly brave woman was recently widowed and her son plays football. She is now the spectator and champion, but doesn't understand the game. Another dad brought his son. One woman is Russian and she's completely lost when people are using sports terms.

Inaugural Water Cooler Football

This afternoon I hosted my first Water Cooler Football event. Conversations about sports are a part of our culture and if you can't participate it is easy to feel left out.

The #1 sporting event each year is the Super Bowl.

I grew up watching football but not everyone did. And they understandably feel left out at the office and are less inclined to attend a football party.

So I've partnered with a former New England Patriot, Paul Francisco, and we teach people how to watch football!

Our inaugural event was today and we had so much fun!

Diane with the World Series trophy

This evening I went to an event at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, with some of the wonderful folks at Gentle Giant Moving. They initially contacted me following my presentation at the Boston Business Journal in May and continued to stay in touch. What an impressive crew!

I wasn't feeling very well and I kept hearing something about a trophy.

Dah - finally I realized they were talking about the World Series! I did learn more about baseball this year - slowly but surely. So I wandered over and got a photo!

Baseball & networking: Be sure to cover your bases

With the Red Sox hosting the first game of the American League Championship Series tonight, Boston is in the grips of baseball fever. But......

To read the entire article, please click this link from the Boston Business Journal

Enjoy ~ Diane

What Tom Brady can teach you about networking

It's playoff season, and as the Patriots head to a key matchup with the San Diego Chargers, football is on the mind of even the most casual fan. As a football junkie and someone whose business it is to help people build professional networks, I've noticed that these two different activities actually have some important things in common.

To read the entire story, go to this link from the Boston Business Journal

The Pats pulled it off!

How awesome - most of Bostonians have been in a fog today. It's unreal that the New England Patriots won again!

More soon - I'm exhausted and weary.

Super Bowl & Networking

Here's a photo from the other "wardrobe malfunction" at Super Bowl 2004!

You can bet that tackle hurt! OUCH!

Sunday is a holy day - Super Bowl. I can't wait. The New England Patriots are playing and it's just great fun!

Here are some ways Super Bowl and networking are the same:

Preparation - Researching who you are playing is crucial in football.  Reviewing films, learning about the opponent, creating a strategy - - all these will help you win.  The same is true in networking.  Know the strengths of the other team, who are the players to watch, learn about their strategy.

Practice - In order to be confident in your skills, you need to practice.  The more you network or the more you practice a play, the more comfortable you will feel and experience success.

What to wear - In football, it's clear and important.  There is no way the athletes would play without helmets or shoulder pads. There is even special makeup!  With networking, it is is less clear but just as important.  If you have a networking meeting in someone's office, call ahead and ask what the dress code is.  If they say, "business casual," ask them to define it.  Is that khakis?  Jeans? Ties or open collar.

Goal - The goal in football is clear - to win!  The same is true in networking.  However, what's different about networking is that when it is done right, both sides win.

And sometimes .... you just have to punt!