The difference between success and getting by in life could be down to whether you understand the simple rules of networking. At least that is what some 20 extremely successful individuals I have been informally interviewing tell me. And it agrees with my own experience of launching my company, BrainNet, in North America the past year. The trouble is the majority of people still do not understand how or why they need to be networking.
The basic problem is one of being open to connect with people you do not know. The majority of people are wired not to take calls or connect with people they don't know. Its human nature, and understandable to a degree, especially if you had a few bad experiences like the guy who called me last year claiming we went to school together except he was 7 years younger and never been outside of the US (my MBA was in Europe). Regardless, my discussions with highly successful people from all walks of life told me they are always open to making contact with new people no matter how obscure at first.
I spoke to 20 individuals who have either built successful businesses or reached pinnacle levels in their career. I didn't just focus on big, I also spoke with people who have had success in Small and Medium sized endeavors.
Lets start with Rich. For the past 21 years Rich has built a successful niche business qualifying what he terms "projects" that need financing and introducing the good ones to private investor communities. Rich's business is highly specialized as it is based solely on the strength of the relationships he has built with private people who manage and advise private wealth. That means he has to find the "good" projects, qualify them and the individuals behind them, and by introducing them to the money people he is essentially putting his name on the project.
In 21 years Rich has built a very comfortable business for himself, traveling the world to qualify projects, never been sued, and successfully financed hundreds of projects in over 80 countries. While hard work, constant travel (he was US Airway's number one frequent flyer last year), and long hours are all pre-requisites, Rich claims his number one success factor has been his ability to network, build relationships and quickly qualify what is real and what is not, what has potential, and what doesn't.
"On average I look at 250 projects a year, work on 50 and may only secure financing for 25% of them. But the relationships I have built are the true assets in my business. I build friendships and relationships that have lasted two decades." His basic advice to anyone is always treat new contacts with respect and integrity, even if they are not the real thing.
My former boss and friend, Dave, has a similar approach he believes have been key to his successful career. Just shy of 50, Dave has an impressive resume - PhD from Princeton, published a book, Gulf War I veteran, helped build a start-up into a Nasdaq listed company as CEO, served in a number of Undersecretary positions for the United States and now a top executive with one of the most successful Hedge Funds on the planet.
Working under Dave I can honestly say he is one of the most remarkable professionals I know, but his biggest strength is how artfully he manages relationships. One of the busiest men on the planet, Dave always returns your e-mails or calls. When working for him he taught me his system for successful networking. He kept what he called a call list - one column was a list of people he wanted to reach out to, the other was folks he owed a response to because they reached out to him.
As a rule, 15% of his daily call list was people who had nothing to do with the business. He claimed those relationships helped bring new ideas and inspiration that indirectly helped him do a better job. And he always made a point of staying connected with the people he felt were both inspiring and interesting. A great practice that I adopted years ago when we worked together and has served me well.
Sitting at your desk and in front of your computer is a sure recipe for a mediocre life. Yes, there is a need to get the work done and that means spending some time in the office making sure things get done, but the real value is created out in the world, either on the phone or where the people are. No matter what your job is, you need to spend the right amount of time connecting with people who, on the surface, have nothing to do with your day-to-day work.
An article in Forbes' August 2011 edition about innovators makes the perfect case. The cover of next month's magazine has Mark Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce.com. In the article Mark talks about the time he spends talking and meeting young people. “My job is to guide Salesforce. I can’t sit in headquarters and pretend I’m in touch. Odds are, what we’re using today will be obsolete in a few years. The past is never the future. But it’s easy to get caught up in the continuum.”
An old friend and colleague, Martin, shared some great insight with me when he took a year off and looked for his next adventure. He was adamant about finding the right opportunity, so he spent a lot of time networking and researching his next move. When I caught up with Martin 9 months into his search year, he said the people you think are the ones who can help usually are not. All his leads and introductions to good opportunities came from where he expected it least.
My own experience validates this. Building BrainNet this past year has been a lesson in all that is both good and bad with how we do business in the US. A global company from Switzerland, BrainNet has built one of the largest Supply Chain and Procurement firms outside of North America. Our brand is relatively unknown in this market so the early years of our business in North America depend on building relationships and making the market aware of our capabilities and existence. This depends heavily on our ability to make introductions, connect and network with decision makers in large, medium and small businesses.
Looking back on our progress you can see the good and bad. There are have been people who have been very open to getting to know us and learning about our unique and compelling value proposition. They have taken the time to return calls and e-mails, meet in person and share what matters most to them. They have helped us think through how we can make BrainNet North America a strong business for our clients and ourselves. These folks have been great.
Trouble is they represent maybe 10 percent of the people we have connected with this past year. Coming into this adventure we had discussions with a large number of people in our personal network that gave us a lot of lip service about helping introduce us to our target market, or even stating a willingness to work with us themselves. Most have done the opposite, not returning calls or emails, and generally being non-responsive.
On the surface you can justify this in a number of ways - they are busy, they don't need what we have to offer, we are unproven etc. But the reality is none of these reasons are valid. You have to make time for people because you don't know what the future holds. You have to learn about what is out there because no one has all the answers, no matter how smart you think you are. And the wait and see approach most mid-level executives take with companies and people they don't know is both shortsighted and ineffective.
Why? Because business is about relationships. Everyone will agree with this, but most people don't adhere to this principle. If you don't take the time to build strong relationships at the people level then no legal contract or business arrangement can work effectively or optimally.
Personal experiences again validate this. In 2000 I walked into the office of a Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) of a British glass manufacturer to start a pilot project in eSourcing. The relationship I personally built with this individual was instrumental in both of our careers. Approximately 6 weeks into the 12-month pilot, the CPO left the company for a bigger role in one of the UK's top banks. 8 months after that he contacted me to start a pilot at the bank but under the condition that I would personally lead the relationship. It was a defining moment for my career in the company, and our successful execution of the pilot program became a career-maker for him in the bank. Today he is COO of another top bank in the UK and we share a good beer on my trips to London.
On the opposite side, I worked with an organization back in the early 2000s that had a deep working relationship with IBM. The trouble was it was a very strained and adversarial relationship, often resulting in executives walking out of meetings and pointing fingers at each other. "We have to reduce our dependency on IBM" the CIO would say time and time again. At the time they did $150m of business year with IBM. When I returned to the client in 2009, the same people continued to bash IBM and undermine the relationship every chance they got. But they now did $255m of business a year with them. They were "married" to IBM and didn't even realize it.
On an individual level it is clear in my mind you have to nurture and invest in relationship building. In my view it takes six things to do this effectively:
1) Be Open. You have to change your habit of keeping people at arms-length and connect with them at every opportunity. With tools like LinkedIn, e-mail and the myriad of social activities in your area, this is relatively effortless now.
2) Follow Through. In America we have become a 'lip-service' culture and this is going to take us down in the long run. If you meet someone and exchange contact details, then follow through with a note or invitation to connect on LinkedIn (I am not an advocate of using Facebook for this). The number of times people say they will follow-up with you and fail to do so is staggering. It makes you look like a punk, to be blunt.
3) Treat It As A Learning Exercise. There is no relationship or connection that doesn't teach you something. Even negative experiences (think the sales pest) teach you how to better filter and qualify relationships.
4) Be Global. Geography doesn't matter anymore. We can build relationships with people on the other side of the world. My strongest connections this past year have been in Silicon Valley, China, Atlanta and NYC, even though I'm based in Pittsburgh. Expand your horizon even if you haven't left the neighborhood.
5) Have Integrity. Your reputation is everything. Treat people with integrity and respect, even if they don't always deserve it. There is no room for arrogance or neglect when building connections and relationships.
6) Have Courage. This is where most people fall short, especially if they work in a corporation. The CYA mentality in big companies is a disease. People put up walls thinking they are protecting their company and themselves, but this is a fallacy. Meeting with people you don't know should be a part of your day-to-day business to learn what’s out there and create opportunity for your company and you first. Successful people get where they are with help, not by themselves.
How open are you to connecting to the unknown?
I spoke to 20 individuals who have either built successful businesses or reached pinnacle levels in their career. I didn't just focus on big, I also spoke with people who have had success in Small and Medium sized endeavors.
Lets start with Rich. For the past 21 years Rich has built a successful niche business qualifying what he terms "projects" that need financing and introducing the good ones to private investor communities. Rich's business is highly specialized as it is based solely on the strength of the relationships he has built with private people who manage and advise private wealth. That means he has to find the "good" projects, qualify them and the individuals behind them, and by introducing them to the money people he is essentially putting his name on the project.
In 21 years Rich has built a very comfortable business for himself, traveling the world to qualify projects, never been sued, and successfully financed hundreds of projects in over 80 countries. While hard work, constant travel (he was US Airway's number one frequent flyer last year), and long hours are all pre-requisites, Rich claims his number one success factor has been his ability to network, build relationships and quickly qualify what is real and what is not, what has potential, and what doesn't.
"On average I look at 250 projects a year, work on 50 and may only secure financing for 25% of them. But the relationships I have built are the true assets in my business. I build friendships and relationships that have lasted two decades." His basic advice to anyone is always treat new contacts with respect and integrity, even if they are not the real thing.
My former boss and friend, Dave, has a similar approach he believes have been key to his successful career. Just shy of 50, Dave has an impressive resume - PhD from Princeton, published a book, Gulf War I veteran, helped build a start-up into a Nasdaq listed company as CEO, served in a number of Undersecretary positions for the United States and now a top executive with one of the most successful Hedge Funds on the planet.
Working under Dave I can honestly say he is one of the most remarkable professionals I know, but his biggest strength is how artfully he manages relationships. One of the busiest men on the planet, Dave always returns your e-mails or calls. When working for him he taught me his system for successful networking. He kept what he called a call list - one column was a list of people he wanted to reach out to, the other was folks he owed a response to because they reached out to him.
As a rule, 15% of his daily call list was people who had nothing to do with the business. He claimed those relationships helped bring new ideas and inspiration that indirectly helped him do a better job. And he always made a point of staying connected with the people he felt were both inspiring and interesting. A great practice that I adopted years ago when we worked together and has served me well.
Sitting at your desk and in front of your computer is a sure recipe for a mediocre life. Yes, there is a need to get the work done and that means spending some time in the office making sure things get done, but the real value is created out in the world, either on the phone or where the people are. No matter what your job is, you need to spend the right amount of time connecting with people who, on the surface, have nothing to do with your day-to-day work.
An article in Forbes' August 2011 edition about innovators makes the perfect case. The cover of next month's magazine has Mark Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce.com. In the article Mark talks about the time he spends talking and meeting young people. “My job is to guide Salesforce. I can’t sit in headquarters and pretend I’m in touch. Odds are, what we’re using today will be obsolete in a few years. The past is never the future. But it’s easy to get caught up in the continuum.”
An old friend and colleague, Martin, shared some great insight with me when he took a year off and looked for his next adventure. He was adamant about finding the right opportunity, so he spent a lot of time networking and researching his next move. When I caught up with Martin 9 months into his search year, he said the people you think are the ones who can help usually are not. All his leads and introductions to good opportunities came from where he expected it least.
My own experience validates this. Building BrainNet this past year has been a lesson in all that is both good and bad with how we do business in the US. A global company from Switzerland, BrainNet has built one of the largest Supply Chain and Procurement firms outside of North America. Our brand is relatively unknown in this market so the early years of our business in North America depend on building relationships and making the market aware of our capabilities and existence. This depends heavily on our ability to make introductions, connect and network with decision makers in large, medium and small businesses.
Looking back on our progress you can see the good and bad. There are have been people who have been very open to getting to know us and learning about our unique and compelling value proposition. They have taken the time to return calls and e-mails, meet in person and share what matters most to them. They have helped us think through how we can make BrainNet North America a strong business for our clients and ourselves. These folks have been great.
Trouble is they represent maybe 10 percent of the people we have connected with this past year. Coming into this adventure we had discussions with a large number of people in our personal network that gave us a lot of lip service about helping introduce us to our target market, or even stating a willingness to work with us themselves. Most have done the opposite, not returning calls or emails, and generally being non-responsive.
On the surface you can justify this in a number of ways - they are busy, they don't need what we have to offer, we are unproven etc. But the reality is none of these reasons are valid. You have to make time for people because you don't know what the future holds. You have to learn about what is out there because no one has all the answers, no matter how smart you think you are. And the wait and see approach most mid-level executives take with companies and people they don't know is both shortsighted and ineffective.
Why? Because business is about relationships. Everyone will agree with this, but most people don't adhere to this principle. If you don't take the time to build strong relationships at the people level then no legal contract or business arrangement can work effectively or optimally.
Personal experiences again validate this. In 2000 I walked into the office of a Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) of a British glass manufacturer to start a pilot project in eSourcing. The relationship I personally built with this individual was instrumental in both of our careers. Approximately 6 weeks into the 12-month pilot, the CPO left the company for a bigger role in one of the UK's top banks. 8 months after that he contacted me to start a pilot at the bank but under the condition that I would personally lead the relationship. It was a defining moment for my career in the company, and our successful execution of the pilot program became a career-maker for him in the bank. Today he is COO of another top bank in the UK and we share a good beer on my trips to London.
On the opposite side, I worked with an organization back in the early 2000s that had a deep working relationship with IBM. The trouble was it was a very strained and adversarial relationship, often resulting in executives walking out of meetings and pointing fingers at each other. "We have to reduce our dependency on IBM" the CIO would say time and time again. At the time they did $150m of business year with IBM. When I returned to the client in 2009, the same people continued to bash IBM and undermine the relationship every chance they got. But they now did $255m of business a year with them. They were "married" to IBM and didn't even realize it.
On an individual level it is clear in my mind you have to nurture and invest in relationship building. In my view it takes six things to do this effectively:
1) Be Open. You have to change your habit of keeping people at arms-length and connect with them at every opportunity. With tools like LinkedIn, e-mail and the myriad of social activities in your area, this is relatively effortless now.
2) Follow Through. In America we have become a 'lip-service' culture and this is going to take us down in the long run. If you meet someone and exchange contact details, then follow through with a note or invitation to connect on LinkedIn (I am not an advocate of using Facebook for this). The number of times people say they will follow-up with you and fail to do so is staggering. It makes you look like a punk, to be blunt.
3) Treat It As A Learning Exercise. There is no relationship or connection that doesn't teach you something. Even negative experiences (think the sales pest) teach you how to better filter and qualify relationships.
4) Be Global. Geography doesn't matter anymore. We can build relationships with people on the other side of the world. My strongest connections this past year have been in Silicon Valley, China, Atlanta and NYC, even though I'm based in Pittsburgh. Expand your horizon even if you haven't left the neighborhood.
5) Have Integrity. Your reputation is everything. Treat people with integrity and respect, even if they don't always deserve it. There is no room for arrogance or neglect when building connections and relationships.
6) Have Courage. This is where most people fall short, especially if they work in a corporation. The CYA mentality in big companies is a disease. People put up walls thinking they are protecting their company and themselves, but this is a fallacy. Meeting with people you don't know should be a part of your day-to-day business to learn what’s out there and create opportunity for your company and you first. Successful people get where they are with help, not by themselves.
How open are you to connecting to the unknown?
Posts
Excellent post! I would add that shifting ones mentality while networking from "what can you do for me?" to "what can I do for you?" is the best way to form a relationship.
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