Shed To Stay Alive

from the desk of Ron Sukenick

Do you know that, if lizards don't grow and shed their skins, they die? It's the same thing with relationships. One of the goals of this Beyond Networking blog is to help people advance beyond traditional networking to Connection, and from there to Relationship. But relationships aren't static. In fact, healthy relationships are constantly shifting and growing, shedding old ways of being relevant and growing into new ways of benefiting each other.

Relationships can survive even when contact between the parties is "shed" and totally ceases for months or even years. Much later, a person from our past can re-enter our business or personal life. That happens when some new reason to be in touch with each other develops, a relevance that simply wasn't there towards the end of the first phase of that relationship..

One of my professional speaking colleagues, Certified Speaking Professional Kathy B. Dempsey, developed her entire brand around the concept "Shed Or You're Dead." The central theme of Kathy's work is that we have to keep growing - physically, mentally, and spiritually. If we can't shed old ideas, old habits, and sometimes old relationships - we "die"

I've been thinking that the motto "Shed Or You're Dead" is so relevant to my work as a business coach and Certified Human Behavior Consultant™. As we move beyond networking to connection and then to relationship, it's important to remember that NetBeing is not a place at which we "arrive", a final destination of going beyond networking, not at all. Relationships ebb and flow, always moving, always changing, and always shedding what isn't working to make room for vibrant growth on the part of everyone in that relationship. .