Biting my Tongue

As of last Friday I am officially a Rotarian. I joined the Rotary Club of the Park Cities here in Dallas and it just so happened that I was introduced as a new member and gave my new member speech the same day. I think that I may be at least 35 years younger than the average age of the club. But there is really nothing that I enjoy as much as gleaning wisdom from those that have it. During my new member speech I got the chance to talk about something that I am quite passionate and very well versed in.... Me. I worked in almost all of my "bits" and have received a very favorable response to my 5 minutes.This morning, as part of my new member process, I attended the executive board meeting for the club. As a guest I was introduced but was there to observe more than to share my opinions. I have to tell you that I have never bit my tongue quite as much as I did this morning. The subject of the meeting was networking and how to foster continual growth of the club through mutually beneficial introductions. That is what I do! Even though I was one of 3 people in the meeting without gray hair, I feel like that is something that I have had more experience than most in and it is something that I thoroughly enjoy. But I bit my tongue never the less and in hushed tones after the meeting offered my assistance to the two committee chairs that were sponsoring the motion. There is no better way to attract people to yourself and to your organization than to put money in their back pocket because they came. Networking and building synergies amongst like minded people is the quickest and most effective way to make your world smaller and your network larger.