---
title: "Introducing People as They Are"
id: "4637"
type: "post"
slug: "introducing-people"
published_at: "2014-11-02T14:55:57+00:00"
modified_at: "2022-06-23T03:10:39+00:00"
url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/introducing-people/"
markdown_url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/introducing-people.md"
excerpt: "I liked the post A Better Way to Introduce Your Friends at Parties over at Storyline and this quote, Let’s stop introducing the people we love based solely on what they do, who they cash their checks from, or what’s......"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Productivity"
---

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# [Introducing People as They Are](https://johnpoelstra.com/introducing-people/)

I liked the post [A Better Way to Introduce Your Friends at Parties](http://storylineblog.com/2014/08/12/a-better-way-to-introduce-your-friends-at-parties/)
 over at Storyline and this quote,

> Let’s stop introducing the people we love based solely on what they do, who they cash their checks from, or what’s on their twitter profiles. Let’s instead start reminding them of who they are. Let’s start conversations that don’t begin and end with who has the most interesting job in the room. Networking builds an empire, but thoughtful introductions build a community.

I think it’s a good compliment to [I Don’t Want to Care What You Do](https://johnpoelstra.com/what-you-do/)
.

I just tried this out at a party. I introduced myself to the guy standing next to me and we made small talk about our kids. Eventually we got to what he does to earn a paycheck, but by asking what he likes to do I found out that he’s a big soccer fan.

He told me all I needed to know about going to my first Portland Timbers game which I’ve always wanted to do. I doubt this would have happened if I’d started by asking what kind of work he does.

#### John Poelstra

John Poelstra coaches directors in finance and software. Trained through the Co-Active Training Institute, he has coached for more than 10 years, with over 520 clients and 3,150 sessions, including people at well-known Fortune 100 companies. In over 30 years of professional experience, he spent 25 in technology and finance: software testing, project management and team leadership at Red Hat and Dell/EMC, and finance as a bank auditor at Wells Fargo and a CPA at Grant Thornton. He hosts The John Poelstra Show podcast and is based in Portland, Oregon.

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November 2, 2014

[Productivity](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/productivity/)

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