Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a birthday party in honor of a good friend. A good friend, who is a new friend that I’ve met professionally on Twitter. I attended the party with another great new friend that I met by doing business. This party was attended by many smart women, which of course meant that the conversation was intelligent and fun.
The birthday girl’s best friend was in town, hosting the party. During a conversation with both of them they told me the secret to maintaining their friendship in the midst of their super hectic lives: Skype dates, including an agenda to ensure that no juicy tidbit is overlooked.
As we grow older, our friendships are changing. Maintaining relationships with my friends is getting more and more difficult. No longer do we have the luxury that we had in college of lounging around, giggling about boys and reading fashion magazines. Things are hectic. Work and grad school dominate my schedule. Many friends are getting married and having babies, so non-work time is spent nurturing loved ones. Best friend Skype dates make tons of sense, but I think that the point is really to be diligent about maintaining friendships.
The thing is, their husbands don’t get it and think their Skype dates are a little silly. Another woman chimed in “Women’s friendships are just plain different from men.” And, as it turns out, they really are.
For men, friendships are based on doing, for women friendships are based on talking. Women are quicker to form friendships than men by sharing feelings and intimacies. Men form friendships by getting together to go golfing, fishing, or attend sporting events. Their conversations tend to center around recounting common experiences. Our conversations revolve around feelings.
So, here’s the question:
With more women in the workforce than men, how will this impact our business relationships?
Will business relationships exist within the context of a personal friendship? Will this further dissolve the line of professional versus private lives that Gen Y has already made blurry?
What do you think?
Photo Credit: landhere
Meghan Skiff 
What a great post. I find it hard these days to keep in touch with my friends unless I am working with them. In fact some of my clients have become my friends and we communicate much like you mentioned in your post. Social media and business events are the main ways that I stay in touch with them. Many of my girl friends get together with each other on a regular basis and I find that the only way for me to part of it is through Facebook. Since owning my own business is more of a lifestyle than a job, I am losing touch with some women in my life which is sad. The greatest thing is I am making new relationships with intelligent, business-minded women who share my same interests and forms of communication.
Hi Tanya! I too, find myself keeping up with friends via Facebook and spending most of my time with like-minded friends within my industry. Perhaps it is another way that we are blurring the lines between our work/personal lives.