A Chapter of Blue!

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?