Networking is a very difficult thing for many. Taking time to join evening groups, grabbing the local lunch or dinner with someone they don’t really know, and making calls to simply keep in touch can be hell for those people. For a long time, it was really difficult for me as well.
Eventually, I learned to include it in my schedule. It’s simply part of my workflow now. Every month I try and keep in touch with the people who make me think and do better. It’s not about selling or getting a job. It’s about improving myself.
I believe strongly in the power of mentorship. I also strongly believe that mentorship is not something formal, it’s a desire by two (or more) people to collaboratively improve. Sure, one of them may have more experience and knowledge than the other. But any mentorship that is only one way is doomed to failure.
Ideas are not bounded by experience, age or knowledge. There’s a reason that many of the greatest advances in math, economics, and physics were made by relatively young people: a spark of imagination is required for the really big ideas to take hold. It requires someone to think audacious thoughts and seek to prove those thoughts to be right. It is harder to do in your fifties than your twenties.