Diane Darling. (Courtesy photo)

“Any way you look at it, other people are your greatest resource.” So says Diane Darling, Boston area networking expert. Darling will share proven career networking methods at the Women’s Business Network meeting Thursday, October 11, at 7:15 p.m. at St. Theresa’s. Newcomers are welcome to attend a meeting at no charge. More information on the Diane Darling presentation, the WBN’s October 25 luncheon at Fruitlands, and other WBN programs and activities is available at www.wbn-ma.org.

WBN Programs Committee member Cathy Dollard said she knew Darling to be an effective and inspiring speaker, but “was a little intimidated about contacting her,” knowing that Darling’s usual clientele includes Fortune 500 clients, Harvard University, and MIT. Fortunately, Darling said she “was happy to help out a local women’s networking group,” and considers the WBN an ideal audience for her new book, Networking for Career Success—24 Lessons for Getting to Know the Right People, which will be for sale at the meeting.

WBN Programs Committee Chair Dianne Carter said that the Darling presentation is characteristic of just one element of the group’s diverse programming. “We start with a member survey to solicit feedback on what topics members would like to hear about,” Carter said. The resulting program lineup addresses a wide range of business management, legal, and technology application issues. “We try to get a good mix between strictly business subjects and something a little lighter,” Carter said. She cited the September meeting’s presentation by professional organizer Judith Guertin as providing content applicable to members’ personal lives as well as business concerns. In addition to formal presentations, two meetings during the WBN year are round-table discussions: one provides members opportunities to solicit suggestions from others on particular business challenges and another during which attendees select from among subgroups dedicated to further discussion of issues raised by previous speakers.

The WBN was founded in 1990 by Sue Jackson of Harvard Art and former Harvard resident Sandy Craig, an accountant. Jackson said that she’d recently quit her corporate job to strike out in business on her own, and felt isolated. “I work with objects and needed people,” she said. She and Craig solicited for interest in a group that would “provide a connection among women who had their own businesses to share experiences and friendship.” The result was a casual monthly gathering of Harvard women who discussed a selected business topic and provided mutual support. Jackson remarked that the work climate has changed considerably since the early 1990s. More people are working for themselves, both as a result of the high-tech crash and because technology allows it. “You don’t have to make apologies,” she laughed, “for working from a home base.”

Membership coordinator Pat Cochrane said that the WBN currently has about 90 active members, and meets on the second Thursday of the month at St. Theresa’s on Still River Road, with the exception of special programs. Cochrane said that participation in the WBN provides “that little bit of hand-holding and encouragement” that’s as invaluable to small business owners as is education on current business issues.