Willy Loman never did understand that there was more to success than being liked.

A couple of years ago I was asked to give a talk on networking. I asked the organizer, why me? I believe networking as taught by many business gurus and commonly practiced in today’s marketplace is little more than professional panhandling. She snapped back, that’s exactly why we want you to give the talk.

I was talking to Tony DiBarnaba the other day about the company he founded 20 years ago. Benefit Resource employs 100 in a new, 30,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in Henrietta. Benefit Resource pioneered, and is a leading provider of, company-sponsored tax advantage commuter and health plans using debit cards. In addition to the corporate headquarters, it has offices in New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. DiBarnaba told me that more than 75 percent of his of his business, and most of its growth, is from outside of Rochester.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo laid out his economic priorities in his recent State of the State address. Apparently, he has determined that the next gold mine for upstate New York are casinos, which have proven to be the most significant voluntary tax available to state governments.

It started with a simple handshake in 1853 between John Jacob Bausch and his friend Henry Lomb. Lomb loaned Bausch $60 to start an optics company with the promise that if it grew they would become full partners.

Not that I can write like Shaw, but believe it or not, after hanging around for three years, the Democrat and Chronicle has asked me to write a regular column about life in our business community. Talk about taking a chance.