Career-related New Year's resolutions [...] there is nothing to stop you from vowing to brush up on your career-related skills, get ready for the next job opportunity and expand your horizons. Or go to a meet-and-greet event at a nearby chamber of commerce to get to know folks outside your industry. For Andrea French, executive director of a transit advocacy group, that means more phone calls and face-to-face meetings over lunch and coffee rather than relying on e-mails and social media. [...] to develop relationships - meaningful and lasting ones - it's better to do it in person or on the phone. Stephen Newton, area manager for the Houston office of Russell Reynolds Associates, vows to waste less time scrolling around his iPad and read more business books. Sometimes it's to mark a retirement; sometimes it's to say hello to the new director of sales. There are dozens of books about presentation skills, or you can ask your company to send you to a training program. Syal has to learn how to generate business for himself and the old standby of dividing a business meal into thirds - from the getting-to-know-you portion, to the meat-and-potatoes why-we're-here segment, to an agreement to meet again - seems passe in this fast-paced world of social media and technological language that eclipses many social niceties. The economy is warming up, and you never know when you'll hear about an interesting job opening.