Working with people we like

When I read Ricardo's post yesterday, I immediately spotted the sentence "I only do business with people that I like." I cannot agree more.

On one hand, this might be considered confirmation bias, since my brain was looking for information that is consistent with my belief. On the other hand, this sentence made my remember the time another patent attorney dropped this exact sentence during a casual conversation. Before that conversation, I had never thought about this, although it is so obvious. Even when you work with a huge firm, you probably have a contact person who is probably the reason you are working with that huge firm. We do not work with companies but with people. And you will not be able to work with (or for) someone in the long term if you do not like them.

The reason I started putting myself out there, particularly here on LinkedIn is exactly this, to find people who I can have a meaningful conversation with, work together, support each other, etc. I don't have a specific goal, but chatting with people who share the same values is amazing, especially during a time when meeting new people in real life is not possible.

Believe it or not, posting on LinkedIn is very much outside of my comfort zone, but if it results in new relationships, it is worth it.