Easy Doesn't Do It
Forget a quiet game of golf. Some folks make business networking a real adventure
Stephanie Forte, a marketing consultant in Las Vegas, was trying to get down to business with a client not long ago, and it wasn't working.
The client, the owner of a company that helps produce trade shows and films, was launching a new business line and negotiating a partnership. He wanted to get Forte's input on some big-picture issues. But a steady flow of phone calls and other interruptions stalled the conversation. So Forte, a skilled rock climber who had met her client while scaling nearby Mount Charleston, suggested they reconvene for an early-morning climb.
"It worked perfectly," she says. "My client was able to detach, and we were able to come to some conclusions about his company's plans."
Business people used to head to the nearest golf club when they needed to network or get colleagues and clients away from the office for some quality time together. But these days, for executives and entrepreneurs who are too active and overscheduled for a leisurely and time-consuming day on the fairways, adventure sports are a better fit.
"There is still a need for social, interactive activities outside of the office that allow for relationship building. But golf takes a lot of time, and you don't get much exercise," says Maurice Schweitzer, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, who studies business relationships. "People are more active, more health conscious, and more individualistic today. They want to do things that reflect their own personality. And [adventure sports] can give you an intense experience without taking the entire Saturday."
These sports have become more mainstream, accessible, and upscale in recent years, making them more conducive to being used for business. Americans' participation in kayaking grew 23 percent between 2003 and 2005, according to the Outdoor Industry Foundation, a trade group. Rock climbing was up nearly 6 percent, hiking 5 percent, and trail running just under 5 percent. Moreover, more than half of the Americans who participated in outdoor sports in the United States in 2005 were older than 35, according to the foundation, and 27 percent had household incomes that exceeded $80,000 a year, compared with only 10 percent in that group in 1999.
Some of these folks are discovering adventure sports as adults, but many pursued them when they were younger and haven't given up being active as they've grown older. They also don't feel the need to fit a certain mold the way all those men in gray flannel suits did once upon a time. "I don't feel like because I hit a certain age I have to become a grown-up and play golf instead of climbing," says Forte, 39, who learned to climb while spending a few years after college working at a resort and snowboarding in Aspen, Colo.
No distractions. The sports that provide the best opportunities for networking and relationship building share one common aspect with golf. They buy people time to get to know each other better and to talk about business on a deeper level. They might even do a better job than golf does of getting people away from the petty distractions of the office, the cellphone, and the BlackBerry. As Paul Schaye, 54, the managing director for Chestnut Hill Partners, a private equity firm in New York, puts it, "You're not answering your cellphone when you're going downhill on a bike at 40 miles per hour."
advertisement
