If you want to grow your influence, gain connections, and grow your organization, one of the best things you can do is to make new friends. Friendships go a long way in business. Author Bob Burg is known to have said:
All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.
It sounds a lot like friendship, right?
Photo by Zachary Nelson on Unsplash
Make New Friends
In 2025, I took two trips to Munising, Michigan to ice climb. I went with my friend, Jason. We’ve been ice climbing together for over a decade.
His people skills are beyond amazing. Those skills helped us tremendously as we climbed frozen waterfalls over two weekends.
Everywhere we went, we made new friends. We met a couple of people climbing on the ice formation called Dryer Hose during our first weekend. We then walked to Curtains. There, we met Paul and Brian 2 (we met Brian 1 at Dryer Hose).
We began to talk to Brian and Paul. Brian had lost his wife due to an unfortunate accident. Paul was a 71-year-old climber. He’d broken his ankle a few years back. Still, he climbed. And he was good at ice climbing.
Paul asked us if we’d like to use their climbing ropes. We said, “Sure!” It saved us time and gave us another route to climb. We even went to dinner with the pair, Paul’s daughter, and her boyfriend. These are memories we’ll have forever.
Then, the following weekend, we returned to Munisng for more ice climbing. This time, it was Ice Fest. Ice Fest is an ice climbing festival that brings in professional and amateur climbers from around the world.
We met even more great people and made more friends this weekend. On Dryer Hose, we met Caleb. He was an experienced ice climber and very friendly. We ran into him the following day as we headed out to Munising Falls to do some climbs on a waterfall we’d never climbed. When we ran into Caleb, he asked us if we wanted to climb the line he’d already set. We, once again, said sure! Having this line set saved us 30-60 minutes as we didn’t have to walk to the top of the waterfall, set lines, and rappel down. It also allowed Connor, a young man who this was his first time out ice climbing, to experience some epic climbs as he could hop on the route as well.
We climbed on his lines for a bit and then he asked us if we had a line that we planned to set. We said we did. He asked us if we’d be okay with him free-climbing (no top rope, but he’d be using ice screws for safety). We told him that would be great. He set a second line and we had a new route to climb.
All of this happened because we were friendly and made new friends.
Me ice climbing Munising Falls
Things Happen When You Make Friends
When you make friends, things begin to happen. There’s a magic that coalesces between the friends you’ve made.
You may see a business need in their organization. You offer up your services and you begin to consult with them. This turns into a part-time leadership gig where you see massive growth in the organization.
You may post a great article on LinkedIn about the positive benefits of remote work. The post didn’t gain traction. Then your friend shares the article on their LinkedIn profile. Their audience gravitates toward it and the LinkedIn post goes viral.
You may need to switch employers but don’t want to go freelance. You decide to look through your phone contacts when three people stick out to you. You know you need to reach out to them. So, you do. By the end of the day, one of those friends tells you they have been looking for someone just like you. They bring you in for an interview and you’re hired.
Friends not only make your life better, they can enhance your organization, life, and business prospects. We’re not to look at our friends as a fountain of business prospects but they may be able to help you and you help them on their next career adventure.
Make new friends liberally. They’ll be there to support you and you will support them.
