No it’s not a typo; I really do mean blue.
I’ve written about the blue Notable Networker Badge before
and do so again because it’s surprising just how differently the same thing can
be viewed and, I believe, sometimes misguidedly. First let me stress that the badge must have
been given for something Notable. For example, I don’t believe that one visitor
or five referrals in a month is notable.
I’m not even sure that two visitors in a month is truly notable; but
that debate is for another day.
So, what do I mean by a Blue Chapter? Well, I would like to see chapters (lots of
them) where most of the members are wearing blue badges. Now this is where the disagreement comes
in. It’s been suggested to me that if
you have more than a couple of members wearing a blue badge in a chapter it
devalues its worth. How can that be
possible if it was given for the right reasons?
I’ve then been told that if everyone has a blue badge the badge looks
commonplace - it’s not special.
Well, all I can say to that is that I would like to be a
member of a chapter where everyone had a Blue Badge, where every member was
Notable. Wouldn’t you? Try telling Alex Ferguson (Manchester
United), that he could only have a couple of Internationals in his team! I don’t think anyone thinks having a team of
internationals devalues the club or any of its players.
But how about on a more practical level? Do you know the members in your chapter who
wear a blue badge? How many are
there? Now imagine, if just about every
member of your chapter was wearing a blue badge, wouldn’t you want one too? And
if every member of your chapter was really notable, what do you think the
outcome would be?
I wouldn’t mind betting your chapter would be green and
passing a lot more business. What do you
think?
