I've been telling people for years that, apart from technology, there's nothing new in business - we've been doing business for thousands of years. This point was reinforced recently when I visited Pompeii, the city in Italy that was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

What was most striking to me about the city was the feeling that this was a city that could function as well today as it did nearly two thousand years ago. There were streets and sidewalks, pipes providing running water to the homes and fountains, houses with mosaic floors and courtyards and beautiful frescoes on the walls, and even shops selling that period's version of fast food. It was clear that this city wasn't created as a government project. The houses, the shops and the commerce were the result of people doing business with people. It was thriving and expanding at the time because of that commerce.

As taught in school, history seems to focus on the rise and fall of civilizations based on military prowess and the exercise of power. Yet, a large part of any people's strength is the accumulated wealth of commerce and its ability to finance acquisition and expansion. When broad economic forces control the decision-making, civilizations seem to thrive. As the decision-making and power migrate to fewer and fewer entities, progress seems to slow and civilizations seem to stagnate.

People still do business with people. They constantly declare their independence by the decisions they make about where they spend their money. Our country began when we decided how we would spend our money and how our government should treat us. I think those two factors are inextricably linked.

Here's to our independence.

Everyone saw it, the difference between the attitude of the staff where we stayed and the staff of the airline we used to get there and back. Where we stayed everyone smiled, was pleasant and tried to help us enjoy our stay. The cabin attendents on the planes were surly, unhelpful, and clearly not enjoying their work. The consistency of the two starkly different behaviors made it clear to me that it was the employer, not the employees, that was responsible for the behavior. If the employer chooses to foster great customer relations (and this can happen only with good employee relations), the result will be as intended. If the employer chooses not to, customer relations will continue to deteriorate until no customers remain.

Whether it's one employee or ten thousand, the number of customers you retain is based on how you treat them.

Sometimes networking is simply about being willing to do something you hadn't planned to do. As I dropped off my daughter for an appointment, I noticed that a doctor was giving a free seminar on a topic I was curious about. Since it was about to begin, I went to the room and discovered that I was the only one in the room. When the doctor arrived, he was disappointed in the turnout, but we wound up spending the next hour talking about the topic, how the doctor worked with his patients, what he enjoyed about the business, and what he hoped to accomplish. We had the opportunity to actually get to know each other! But, I would never have met him if I hadn't decided to risk a bit of my time.

Take chances.