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December 26, 2003/Tevet 1 5764, Vol. 56, No. 14
Speaker overcomes obstacles
JESSICA BARBER
Staff Writer
While driving east on Indian School Road in Phoenix in 1999, Dave Sherman had an epiphany - he was The Networking Guy.
"It literally hit me out of the blue," says Sherman, who had spent six months prior to the realization contemplating a career as a professional speaker. "From that day on, everything just exploded."
Sherman's eclectic career had ranged from delivering pizzas to making packing crates, from selling ad space at The New Times to starting The Cap Company in Tempe. But Sherman knew none of those jobs were what he wanted to do.
So in 1998, Sherman sold The Cap Company with the intent of becoming a professional speaker - but he didn't know what he wanted to speak about.
"I could have talked about anything," he says. "But networking is something that just clicked with me. Every job I ever had, I got through networking. Every person I know, I know through networking. I met my wife through networking."
Sherman set out to develop material to showcase the benefits of networking.
"(My presentations) were created through my exper-iences, my education and my knowledge of networking," he says. "I spoke to almost anyone who would listen."
Sherman likens the experience to "creating a gravity field" around himself to attract potential audiences to him - an example of networking making his life easier, he says.
And it worked. Today, Sherman is one of only 10 people in the country to speak exclusively on networking.
This November, Sherman went one step further. He wrote and self-published his first book, "The Networking Guy's 50 Top Tips: A Simple Guide to Networking Success" ($19.95, paperback).
"I needed to do this as a professional speaker because if you have a book, it triples your credibility," he says. "I also knew it could reach people that may not have the opportunity to see me live."
Sherman stressed that the 144-page book is simple to read - a quality he values highly because of his own learning disabilities. Sherman is affected by dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), he says, obstacles he has faced all his life.
"I failed seventh grade," he says. "I finally graduated because I think (teachers) decided they'd had enough of me."
After high school, Sherman attempted community college, but ended up "pumping gas" in his native Harrisburg, Pa. He moved to Bellingham, Wash., and experimented with sales jobs. While in Washington, he became reacquainted with an ex-girlfriend who was living in the Phoenix area.
"I moved here and she moved to Israel," remembers Sherman. But the move turned out to be positive anyway, he says.
"I met my future wife at a Jewish singles event and after I married her, I decided to go back to college," he says. In 1991, Sherman graduated from Arizona State Uni-versity with a bachelor's degree in marketing. It was then that Sherman began building his career.
"People with ADD are never satisfied," he says. "The acknowledgment that I have it and understanding how it affects me is probably the greatest discovery of all. It was hell in school, but as an adult, I don't think I would get rid of it. It drives you."
Sherman has also found time to volunteer at many Jewish and secular organizations. He is on the local board of directors of the National Speakers Association and participates in Toastmasters. He is a third-year member of the National Young Leader-ship Cabinet and is on the speaker's bureau and training department of United Jewish Communities. He is a past board member of Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center and Jewish National Fund.
Sherman and his wife Randi live in Scottsdale with their two children, Lyndsi, 13; and Mathew, 10. The Shermans are members of Temple Chai. For Sherman's local speaking schedule, visit www.thenetworkingguy.com.
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