CompanyOfFriends

Because of Laurent's links, I now have heard of Fast Company Magazine's "Company of Friends" groups. Do you or anyone you know participate in CoF? What do think about it? Is it worth your time getting involved in it?

KeithRay 2003.02.08

I attend about every other meeting of CoF's Paris cell. It is a lot smaller than other cells, for instance in the US; smaller than it once was, I also hear. Meetings are typically attended by a half dozen people these days; rarely the same people from one meeting to the next. It's a way to meet people. We talk about various topics related to business, careers, innovation and the like.

As for worthwhile... "people connect in their sameness, and grow in their differences". I connect more easily with, say, people I meet at the XP user group's meetings; but we also have less differences and thus less obvious opportunities for growth. CoF puts me in touch with people who are "more different"; I don't think I've really connected with anyone I met there in any deep way. I'm willing to give it time.

Depending on what NetworkingActivites you are already engaged in, CoF might or might not be a good fit for you. I'd recommend you check it out once at least.

LaurentBossavit 2003.02.10

I have sporadically participated in the local cell of the CoF in both Rochester (NY) when I was there, and Seattle. I have occasionally posted on their forums on line. People locally in Seattle tell me I'm amusing when I post something to the CoF distribution list.

It seems to be an interesting bunch of people. Fast Company was founded around the idea that: "There is this thing called the 'new economn' and we're all living in it." People attracted to that idea via the content of the periodical are pre-selected to be a bit forward looking, and a bit culturally aware, and mostly pretty tech savvy. The CoF was started mainly by Heath Row, who's interested in grass roots kinds of things. Heath is an interesting guy.

That said, the "cells" work pretty well as networking gatherings, full of people preselected for some awareness of their relationship to work, among other things. People will often show up to a cell event if they think something interesting is going to happen, but are less willing to step up and help something interesting happen. Some cells have quite active spin-offs that do various kinds of ongoing work. Boston, for example. Others can't seem to get off the ground.

Seattle is an example of the latter. In part the regional culture is a challenge - everybody's willing to have "concerns" but few are willing to do anything in the face of "concerns." In part the regional economy is a challenge - lots of folks are scrambling to make ends meet. Makes it hard to step up to do something extracurricular. In part there's a sorting function going on. The most interesting folks I've met via CoF in Rochester, or Seattle are off doing their own thing with or without the CoF. People like Laurent.

So here in Seattle, we've had some interesting speakers (Peter Jennings), and been a channel to some other interesting speakers (David Maister). And we've even started the idea of little "cubes", subsets of a cell that organize regionally or around an interest. Of course our "cubes" died on the vine, while NYC, and San Francisco took right off and followed through.

I am curious how CoF, and a great many other things are going to play out under economic pressure. It's easy to believe that you're part of a movement when money is free and work is all about fulfillment. When getting by gets a bit harder, the posers fall away. CoF is going through that. It may or may not survive, as with many other things.

-- JimBullock, 2003.2.10

Updated: Monday, February 10, 2003