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TRANSCRIPT
2 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
In this session, you will learn the art of networking
Ok gang … Let’s get started … Fasten your seatbelts.
Man bites dog.
My father was a newspaperman — the Associated Press Bureau Chief in
St. Paul.
I was trained to sniff out a story almost before I learned to walk, i.e., man
bites dog.
So why is the Mackay Roundtable breaking news?
There are 25 members in these elite ranks.
To have assembled such a prestigious group is news enough.
After months of vetting and meticulous selection, the Mackay Round-
table has taken shape as a distinguished new network of amazing talent…
first-round draft picks, each and every one of you.
I’m unbelievably excited to greet all of you in this teleseminar. It is an
appropriate prelude to the high-power networking opportunity of our first
face-to-face meeting.
I want to emphasize: This is the most carefully screened and selected
group I have ever been a part of.
You were chosen to become part of The Mackay Roundtable for a
multitude of reasons. (You will appreciate that I can’t share with you the
3 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
In networking, it is important to find a professional network that shares common vision, purposes, beliefs and core values
identities of candidates who were not selected for the Roundtable.) I
salute and congratulate all of you here. I look forward to getting to know
each of you far better.
On paper, I feel like I’ve known all of you all of my life. But there’s a vast
difference between paper and in-depth, person-to-person contact.
The Mackay Roundtable is all about turning this virtual network into
the most important professional network in your life.
Why am I so confident this network will flourish? Because our common
vision, purposes, beliefs and core values are so remarkably aligned.
It’s more than fair …
In fact, I think it’s very important for you to know my own objectives in
creating The Mackay Roundtable.
I have been travelling 125 to 150 days a year for the last 24 years.
I’ve been speaking on average once a week to a Fortune 1000 company
or a significantly-sized private firm.
Well, I’m coming off the road and not giving any speeches for a year.
Why would I do this?
l One powerful reason is a compelling need to mentor and guide senior
executives, presidents, and CEOs.
4 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
You need to hone the “razor-thin advantages” essential in our competitive world
l The phone calls and the letters keep coming, asking for advice …
from Shanghai and Amsterdam and Capetown and Buenos Aires:
Over the past two decades, these messages number in the tens of
thousands. In a sense, I’m mentoring people all over the world.
l But, these passing contacts aren’t the same as observing and coaching
extraordinary people as they develop.
l This sort of experience is not just nurturing; it also keeps me sharp.
l In delivering these 12 teleseminars and conducting all the face-
to-face sessions, I’ve had to go back and review what I’ve written
over the past forty years … and reassess it to ensure it has remained
relevant and authentic.
I’m totally energized by what I see on the horizon: the interaction of
your realities and considerable talents with whatever wisdom I can offer.
You’ll recall The Mackay Roundtable brochure and application you
all received.
In it, I characterized this group as a “platinum, pragmatic, closed-circle
forum” dedicated to honing the “razor-thin advantages” essential in our
competitive world.
Let’s review the vision, values and attitudes that are so essential to our
mutual success.
5 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Trust can flourish in a climate that is high-energy, positive and supportive
The Mackay Roundtable is dedicated to a three-pronged vision of
executive effectiveness:
1. execution intelligence
2. power networking and networking extension
3. and, focal-point mentoring.
In my opinion, these skills can only be mastered in an environment of
absolute trust.
Trust can flourish in a climate that is high-energy, positive and supportive.
Every day you read some story about the shrewd, opportunistic executive
who skyrockets to success … only to implode because of some core values
problem. Values fall into different clusters.
First come the social values: family, dignity, respect for others, giving
back, loyalty, and reciprocity.
Then comes a mature attitude toward achievement measures, such as
wealth and success.
Third are the traits that comprise personal style. They include: effort,
judgment, urgency, passion, risk-taking, determination and — not least of
all — fun. And I spell that with a capital F.
On all three of these value clusters, each of you displayed flying colors.
I salute and applaud you once again!
6 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
You have to network in a smooth and easy manner
That’s why you have the makings of a group that will lift the definition
of extraordinary.
Getting the most out of the first session
Today’s teleseminar is going to be devoted to networking.
But first …I’d like to cover how you can maximize the value of your
membership, starting with our first face-to-face meeting. At that session,
you will have an opportunity to put some networking principles to work
in an intensive forum.
I want to share a couple of suggestions about getting the most out of our
first face-to-face session. These comments are also thoughts about improving
your networking effectiveness.
The first rule of networking: You have to network in a smooth and easy
manner. Forced, contrived networking shows… It won’t be any fun and
people will notice.
Tip #1: You have the biographies of the group members. Read them
now, if you haven’t already. There’s a goldmine of information in them.
Let the bio material start to sink in now, and look for associations.
Find at least one trait in each person that piques your interest and can
trigger a conversation.
7 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Yourlong-term memory is,in effect, your hard-drive
It could be an industry acquaintance you might share in common, the
same alma mater, or an appreciation for tennis or golf … whatever.
Learning and recalling one thing about twenty-five different people at
one event is no easy task. Several years ago, I was at a corporate dinner
for senior executives and their guests. There must have been at least 150
people there.
I got a kick out of watching a bald-headed, bearded, bespectacled guy
make the rounds.
He shook hands and introduced himself to each guest.
Two-and-a-half hours later, the same scene was repeated. The same guy
walked around and said “so long” to all 150.
And?
He said goodbye to each of them — 99% of whom he met for the first
time that evening — by name! What a shocker! He was 100% accurate.
This memory expert’s name is Benjamin Levy. I’ve never seen the likes
of him before, and I’ll probably never see it again.
I won’t go into his techniques, but three of his principles are worth
keeping on your front burner:
1. “Our long-term memory [in our head] is, in effect, our hard-drive.”
8 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Social memory skills come fron discipline, preparation and skillful association thinking
2. The brain has a “constant yearning to make associations between
what it already knows and what it’s learning.”
3. Levy cites a Columbia University researcher who said: “The more
associations you have with something the more likely you are to
remember it.”
Give these three principles a workout. It isn’t the volume of information
that’s the problem. Social memory skills come from discipline, prepara-
tion and skillful association thinking. Since you’ll be seated with different
members at the dinners, you’ll have a chance to practice.
Tip #2: Expand and leverage your exposure to expert authorities in
your contacts. You will have the chance to meet some distinguished guest
speaker authorities — many of whom are of world-class status.
Why are these experts important?
In order to be a world-class executive leader, you have to know what
is going on in the real world … not just in your business or your imme-
diate community.
Knowledge does not become power until you use it. Ideas without
action are worthless.
We will have acclaimed resources in combatting terrorism, politics,
medicine and the arts. We’ll present authorities in social media, economics
entertainment, marketing, and executive communications.
9 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
You will learn proven techniques for leveraging the insights you will be getting in these sessions
What they share will be important in its own right.
This exposure will also have important practical impact. That includes
your business’s marketing and sales capability.
People are fascinated by first-hand stories and experiences with promi-
nent figures and celebrities on the national and world stages. We will suggest
proven techniques for leveraging the inside insights you will be getting.
Right in our tight little circle, we already have identified:
l attention-bending authors,
l public-relations and advertising expertise,
l a corporate strategist,
l a top-level ethics appraiser,
l an Internet sales authority,
l an estate-planning maven,
l a mortgage banking specialist,
l an insurance guru,
l a New Age media mover-and-shaker,
l a restaurant mogul,
l a retailing tour de force,
10 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Be ready to “merchandise” what you learn to people in your company or professional network
l a serial entrepreneur,
l an engineering mastermind,
l a recruitment expert,
l a not-for-profit design strategist,
l an indie filmmaker,
l a health-industry innovator,
l a strategic turnaround artist,
l an executive communications counselor,
l a sports-marketing dynamo,
l a major-league money manager,
l a service-industry titan,
l a pro-sports hall-of-famer with distinction,
l an Internet intellectual property whiz,
l And so on and so on … Well, you get the picture.
Be prepared to ask these experts some meaningful questions. I’m
talking tough, memorable questions. Not rude or abusive ones, but truly
challenging ones.
Then be ready to “merchandise” what you learn … to people in your
company or your professional network.
11 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
If your questions are penetrating and worthwhile, they can even help you build a relationship with the experts you’re meeting
This makes you a source of valuable insights to others.
If your questions are penetrating and worthwhile, they can even help
you build a relationship with the experts you’re meeting. It was just this
kind of initiative that I took with Tom Peters, Rudy Giuliani, Steven
Covey and Robert Redford … only to mention a few. Contacts at speaking
engagements with these four became the cornerstones for professional
friendships that have now extended over three decades.
As an example, I judged the Miss America Pageant in 2001 — Hey,
somebody’s got to do it.
From the day Miss Alabama is born. From the day Miss Idaho is born.
Their mothers are after them for 18 years to train them to field tough
questions with intelligence … warmth … and poise.
One of the ten questions I asked all fifty of these young women was
this: Let’s assume you are Hillary Clinton. In the aftermath of the Monica
Lewinsky revelations, would you have stayed married to Bill Clinton and
why or why not?
I guarantee you that none of those fifty contestants will ever forget their
answers to that question. And, I suspect more than a few may not have
liked having to answer it … but admired the ingenuity and substance of this
revealing question, because it shot right to the core of the values issue.
Tip #3: Practice taking power notes.
12 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Focus on fresh ideas and instant imagination that your new experiences provoke
A top-notch professional note-taker has been engaged to document the
dialogue and presentations during our sessions. This kind of note-taking is
one very important step up from raw transcriptions allowing us to capture
the flow of ideas. You’ll also receive CDs of the meetings.
And I can’t emphasize this enough … Learn to be selective in what you
spend your time recording. Concentrate on the interaction. Focus on the
fresh ideas and instant imagination the new experiences provoke.
I’ve always treated events like this the same way I treat sales calls. Each
evening I use a recorder or a pad to debrief myself on what I learned that day
and what I’m going to do about it.
Networking Round #1
Now to our first teleseminar topic — Networking.
If I had to name the single characteristic shared by all the truly successful
people I’ve met over a lifetime, I’d say it is the ability to create and nurture
a network of contacts.
In today’s shark-eat-shark economy, talent alone will not save you.
Genius will not. Experience will not. Guts and hard work will not. If you
need a job, money, advice, help, hope, or a means to make a sale, there’s
only one surefire, fail-safe place to find them — your network.
But only if you have one.
13 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Even if you were to lose everything else, if you have your network, you can quickly achieve success again
You can take all my money … all my factories … all my people … But
leave me my network, and I’ll be back to where I was in two years.
How did it all start?
In Hopkins, Minnesota, outside of Minneapolis, there’s a country club
that was formed in 1920. According to its own website, The Oak Ridge
Country Club was founded for people in the Twin Cities “who knew the
difference between a golf ball and a matzo ball.”
So, Oak Ridge has had a bit of an ethnic slant.
After I graduated from the University of Minnesota, I couldn’t afford
my own apartment. My mother had just died, and I was living at home
with my dad.
I was scratching out a living selling envelopes for a firm named
Quality Park.
Seeing my frustration, my father reminded me that “golf was the only
form of human activity” I’d “taken seriously” up to that moment.
He suggested I go over to Oak Ridge and pitch the admissions committee.
“Tell them you were an accomplished varsity golfer at the University of
Minnesota. Propose that they let you into the club without paying the huge
initiation fee. Neither of us could possibly afford it.”
So I went … And, when the laughter died down, the admissions
committee asked me: “For nothing? You want us to admit you, a 21-year-
14 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
You need to find your networking hole-in-one
old kid, who knows virtually no one in the entire club, for nothing? Just so
you can hustle our bunch of old duffers?”
Then I promised I would help them win the City League Championship
… that I would not gamble on golf … and that someday I would actually
pay the initiation fee.
They answered that maybe they should defer my admission to “someday”
as well. But, I could tell they were warming up. Fantasies of a City League
trophy won their hearts. Ultimately they relented.
Instantly, by virtue of being admitted, I was given the opportunity to
leverage a network of 300 successful business people. And those were just
the Club members. That didn’t begin to factor in all the contacts in the
City League with whom we competed.
That membership at Oak Ridge proved my networking hole-in-one.
It created the foundations for business relationships with giant orga-
nizations, such as: Fingerhut (at the time, the largest single envelope user
in the United States), the Minnesota Vikings, Honeywell, Pillsbury and
General Mills.
In turn, these accounts gave me the contact leverage to buy my own
business — Mackay Envelope Company.
Oak Ridge also introduced me to a golf partner who never bought a
single envelope from me: my wife Carol Ann.
15 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
What one bad apple can do to a barrel is grim; what one bad apple can do to a network is unfathomable
The Oak Ridge breakthrough was a life-defining networking experi-
ence for me.
By the way, this story has a postscript.
Among the notables in the broader Oak Ridge network, one fellow will
go down in history as being the most impactful associate of recent decades.
In fact, he was former chairman of NASDAQ and a member in good
standing of the opulent Palm Beach Country Club in Florida — the most
exclusive Jewish country club on the map.
But he is currently enjoying a lifetime engagement at MCI Butner
Medium Security in North Carolina. His privileges there have been
extended for another 148 years.
Starting in the 1980s, Bernie Madoff hustled at least 25 Oak Ridge
members, who invested with him. He took a carload more to the cleaners at
his home course at Palm Beach.
The moral: What one bad apple can do to a barrel is grim. What one bad
apple can do to a network is unfathomable.
The rules I have learned for networking are vast and complex. Usually,
one keeps the best for last. I’m going to share it with you first.
There is a Golden Rule for Networking. It should permeate all your
networking efforts. BUT it goes against every naturally acquisitive, ambi-
tious and self-serving impulse in each of us.
16 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Surround yourself with talented people because they are your most powerful asset
I call it the Golden Rule of Networking: RECIPROCITY WITHOUT
KEEPING SCORE … which means … What can I do for you without
expecting anything in return?
Let me tell you how it works:
If we’re smart, we surround ourselves with talented people … the most
talented we can find. They are our most powerful asset.
That’s why I think of this select group as our own personal Brain Bank.
They include our friends, our mentors, our fellow workers, and our industry
contacts. Hopefully, the members of The Mackay Roundtable will soon
number among the senior and most trusted members of your Brain Bank.
You never know when you’ll need to draw on the “accounts” you create
with those oh-so-valuable resources.
With every contact within your Brain Bank — every call and every
visit — preferably near the conclusion, sincerely ask the other person
what you can do to be helpful to them.
Ninety-five percent of the time, people will thank you for asking and tell
you that there’s really nothing they need.
If, however, they do ask you for a favor, then your eyes should light up
like the New Year’s Ball in Times Square.
As you learn what is being asked for, note every detail with warmth and
urgency. Fulfill the request to the best of your ability.
17 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
The Golden Rule of Networking is reciprocity without keeping score
As you do it, and after it’s done, expect nothing, absolutely nothing, in
return. Don’t shop for gratitude in your phone calls or e-mails. Do the favor
because you like and respect the other person and honestly want to help.
If you manage your career and live your life in this way, two magical
things will happen:
1. Over time, people will find ways to do remarkable and unexpected
things for you that make your life easier.
2. And, when you’re hit by a storm in full fury, you are likely to find the
most astonishing human network of support you could ever imagine.
Every networking tip and suggestion I am about to offer assumes
your understanding of the Golden Rule of Networking: RECIPROCITY
WITHOUT KEEPING SCORE.
Let’s keep the ball rolling on networking favors. There are countless
ways business people can be helpful to each other that don’t even cross
our minds:
l Help a colleague prepare for a major presentation. Act as their
sounding board. Help your friend by pointing out what needs to be
clearer … what needs more emphasis … and what seems to drag.
l Be a source for heads-up information. Do it for other business
leaders in your community or your industry — perhaps not direct
competitors, but almost everyone else.
18 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
A critical key in peer-to-peer networking is managing first impressions
There’s a converse side to this positive attitude. Don’t spread trouble.
l Never abuse confidences and or share inside information. You only
have to do this once, and you’ll be marked as a security risk for life.
Worst of all: You’ll never learn what others know about you and why
they won’t trust you.
l Don’t export problems. Sometimes companies try to downsize high-
maintenance losers and stick them on another company’s payroll.
Believe me, if you do that, you will be remembered … and for the
wrong reasons. When you terminate people who aren’t performing,
do them the favor of leveling with them and constructively help
them readjust their career focus.
A critical key in peer-to-peer networking is managing first impressions.
Years ago, I remember being asked to participate in a televised roundtable
in Chicago sponsored by Chief Executive magazine. The other participants
were all CEOs of companies far larger than mine. I remember them being
“big cigars” of industry.
I insisted on getting the bios of the other invitees ahead of time. As it
turned out, one was a fellow marathon runner. Another was a big envelope
user. I’m still talking with and selling some of these guests today.
Everybody on the CEO roundtable was sharp, but I seriously doubt that
any of the others recognized the networking potential.
I have two simple words for that: Networking waste.
19 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
When networking, find common ground, and do your homework by researching your peers
Same theme: Do you cruise the name tags at the doorway of any event
you attend and plan out your contact agenda for that get-together? If you
don’t, then network waste looms on the horizon.
Plan which tables you’ll hit and when. Networking always has geography.
Your time is far too valuable to do it differently.
Big picture: Find the common ground. Do your homework. Research
your peers — therein lies the gateway to opportunity.
Reflect on your own achievements. They open many doors for you.
That leads me to my priority list of ways to stay in touch with your
network.
For the first 25 years of my career, I would pinpoint certain hours during
the week — including Sunday night — doing what I call Spin-to-Win: flip-
ping through my Rolodex (now my BlackBerry and contact management
system) with all the little notes that reminded me to ask Client X how the
kids were and how the surgery fared for the wife of Client Y. This process
led me to creative techniques for easily and reliably staying in touch with
clients. I could reach 40 people a week. That’s multiplied to 2,000 a year.
My #1 way to stay in touch is what I call clip and ship. It’s a near certain
way to fix you in the memory of any one with whom you happen upon.
When you scan your daily dose of media, keep others in mind. Send
Website links or interesting articles.
20 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Handwritten notes can make a huge impression on people after networking with them
For me, President Bush 41 — whom I call Father Bush — will forever
be the Immortal Undisputed Czar of Clip and Ship. Without his mastery
of Clip and Ship, becoming first Vice President and then President would
never have been possible.
He would be the first to admit how vital letter-writing was to his political
networking career. (Besides, how can I not admire a guy so deeply dedicated
to using envelopes!)
Let me share a personal experience with you.
Before he became Vice President, I saw him at an airport. I knew he had
been the college roommate of my very good friend, so I approached him and
introduced myself. It was a spontaneous encounter, lasting no more than 3
minutes. The very next day I got a handwritten note from him.
Can you imagine how that experience registered on me? Within
180-seconds, he turned me into a supporter, contributor and fan for life.
Bill Clinton had a similar penchant for acknowledging meetings with
letters. He also was a phenomenal note writer and could continue the last
conversation he had with someone, even though years intervened.
Another twist on Clip and Ship is Photo Op.
This too is the master stroke of a politician. In the case of Photo Op, the
wizard behind the camera was Dick Berkley, a fellow owner of an envelope
outfit — Tension Envelope.
21 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
You can use Photo Ops to follow up a meeting, which are the social equivalent of a sales call
Although Dick is a competitor, he is also a close friend. He served as
mayor of Kansas City between 1979 and 1991. Now think about this …
Kansas City is a blue collar bastion. Yet Dick was both the first Repub-
lican mayor in that town since the 1920s and the longest-serving mayor
in the city’s history.
How did he do this?
Dick would carry a camera in his shirt pocket so he could take quick
shots, have the photos rapidly developed and mail them off to people —
symphony balls, conventions, fundraisers … you name it.
In February 2010, Dick was walking in downtown San Francisco and
spotted my latest book in a Barnes & Noble window. He snapped a photo and
sent it to me. That kind of follow-up is the social equivalent of a sales call.
Of course, camera phones and smart phones have moved this mode of
communication to a whole new dimension.
My second tip for staying in touch is to watch the calendar. Use it
creatively. Use it competitively. Don’t time mailings to coincide with
mass clutter.
The list of calendar opportunities is endless.
Also don’t wait for Christmas or Hanukkah to write out your holiday
cards. This is something I learned from the old-time stand-up comedian
Red Buttons.
22 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Most people think that all big hitters know how good they are and don’t need any strokes, but nothing could be further from the truth
You would get a Christmas card from Buttons inscribed: “I’ll never forget
meeting you in April at the Stadium in the Bronx and getting the dish on
this year’s pitching staff.”
How the heck could he remember? Very simple. Of course, he didn’t
remember. He just wrote cards throughout the year and stashed them away
to send out at the holidays.
Investigate the firm SendOut cards for yourself and your sales force. I was
on the course in Scottsdale two weekends ago with my golf pro and my good
friend Lou Holtz. My golf pro took a photo of Lou and me, and by Tuesday, I
had a 4-panel copy of the photo he took along with a handwritten letter in
beautiful script to send to Lou.
His investment: 3 minutes on the computer and $1.50. You can use the
same service to send out brownies and motivational books. (Be sure and ask
me about this phenomenal company when we meet in person.)
Let me put a different twist on whom to be in touch with. Trust me
… I know that even the biggest names … the most famous people … and
the most powerful executives, are flattered to receive these complimentary
notes especially from someone they know. Don’t think that just because
they are well-known or huge successes, that they are used to it. They aren’t!
And let me tell you why. Most people think that all big hitters know
how good they are … and don’t need any strokes. Nothing could be further
from the truth.
23 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Stay in touch with people when they’re down
If you are really desperate to stay in touch, don’t overlook the calls of
nature: President Lyndon Johnson was a congressional aide in Washington
back in the 1930s, before he was ever elected to office. The aides had their
own symbolic organization called the Little Congress. Johnson got elected
president of this group because he got to know his fellow aides so well.
How? Well … He would shower 3 to 4 times a day in the cheap
rooming house the aides all stayed in just to lobby his counterparts and
really get close to them.
In my book, that’s what I would call “extreme networking.”
Another pointer: Stay in touch with people when they’re down.
Case in point: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Today’s he’s not
only the mayor of New York, for which he gets an income of $1 a year. He’s
also the richest resident of the Big Apple, with $18 billion in his wallet.
You might remember what started the chain of events that enabled
Mayor Bloomberg to become a billionaire: Getting fired at the Wall Street
investment banking firm of Salomon Brothers.
Bloomberg worked 12 hours a day, six days a weeks for fifteen years.
Salomon Brothers then merged into Phibro Corporation. Bloomberg was
not part of the plan. But his severance was a cool $10 million.
With his proceeds he founded Bloomberg LP and then was elected
mayor in 2001.
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People remember two things in life — who helped you on the way up and who kicked you on the way down
The Mayor confided in me something very personal. I asked him who
reached out to him after he got axed in the Salomon deal.
He thought for a moment and said, “I do remember who called me after-
wards. I remember the exact list. One’s dead, but the others are still alive.
If any one of them ends up in trouble, I’ll call them. If you see them on the
way up, you should see them on the way down.
“Whenever someone gets fired or has some real problems, I always call
to tell them my thoughts are with them. You say it because that’s what
people need. When times are good or when times are tough, you absolutely
remember your friends and stay in touch."
He continued: “People remember two things in life — who helped you
on the way up … and who kicked you on the way down when the sun wasn’t
shining.” As I put it: “Who kicked you on the way down and who helped
you on the way up.”
It is a different story when people sense trouble. The automatic instinct
is to dive for the exit or to evade sticky situations at all cost.
This leads me to the next opportunity to stay in touch.
Networks have troubles, too:
l Breakdowns in communication
l Personal slights blown out of all proportion
l Relationships sabotaged by third parties with an axe to grind.
25 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Community service is another way to keep your network fresh and alive
If you can be an honest broker … if you have the personal chemistry to
be a peace-maker … you can become a hero for the ages.
Community service is another way to keep your network fresh and alive.
You help your surroundings. You mature your character. In the end, you
can’t help but help your business.
My friend Muhammad Ali has always had a wonderfully simple, direct
and memorable way of putting things. The Champ was never more eloquent
than when he said:
“Service to others is the rent each of us should pay for our
room here on Earth.”
Wow! Without a doubt, more and more networking happens in cyber-
space … in global settings … and across borders.
Network global. Act local.
I learned this by means of the first power network I ever experienced.
At the age of eight, my father introduced me to the wonders of Perl-
man’s Barber Shop in St. Paul. I loved to tag along because of the shop’s
sports page selection and collection of Lone Ranger comic books.
Since my father was the Associated Press Bureau Chief in town,
Perlman’s held a different attraction for him. It was the clientele of cigar-
smoking, side-of-the-mouth talking guys. They always seemed to have the
26 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
The very idea that each of us has a single, comprehensive network is a dangerous illusion — we all belong to multiple networks
inside dope and guaranteed outcome of every local prize fight, ball game,
election, and murder trial.
At Perlman’s there were eight chairs. Seniority ruled. My father got
chair one and was barbered by Perlman himself. Why? He had been going
there since he was a cub reporter.
Every patron in the place had to go by my father to get in or out of the
door. He seemed to know them all, and each one had a tip or a scoop or
some gossip to lay on him.
Caution: the very idea that each of us has a single, comprehensive
network is a dangerous illusion.
We all belong to multiple networks. Each of them is of a different type
and has its own unique power rating.
All networks are not created equal.
Yesterday’s network is not today’s network.
Your social network is not your business network.
Your “money” network is not your “experience” network.
Don’t assume that one network automatically flows into another.
As we go through these techniques, remember not every networking
idea applies to everyone; but you only need just a few proven techniques
to materially advance your networking skills. Apply the ones you can
identify with.
27 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
If you build trust, the gatekeeper will share valuable information about the climate and timing of your message
You may have mastered these practices. But has your staff mastered the
basic networking skills repertory?
Oftentimes very senior people, I find, don’t even recognize their own
natural networking instincts. Nor do they point them out to their people in
ways that can be learned.
We were just talking about salespeople, and another networking “must”
comes to mind. It’s especially important for selling.
To oil the gate, you’ve got to lubricate the gatekeeper. It’s usually an
executive assistant or administrative aide. Sometimes it’s a chief of staff.
Somebody controls the calendar. Often this person is the crucial sounding
board. They can even control the budget. They almost always plot out the
seating chart for the next dinner.
As every salesperson knows, the key to the sale is knowing who’s got the
hammer. Let’s talk first about administrative gatekeepers.
Take time to learn a bit about the gatekeepers’ hobbies, their
families and their career aspirations. The small talk you exchange
while you are waiting to be connected to your contact can be invaluable.
If you build trust, and let me repeat that — If you build trust, the gate-
keeper will share valuable information about the climate and timing of your
message. Is it likely to be well received or even considered on that helter-
skelter, crisis-driven morning?
28 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Gatekeepers come and go just like everyoneelse, so know who their backup is
At MackayMitchell Envelope, we have 3,000 accounts. For each of
them, there’s no difference between the buyer and the gatekeeper when it
comes to amenities. They get the same treatment, the same gifts, whatever.
Be resourceful in the way you talk to gatekeepers.
Many times I’ve cultivated the Minnesota Governor’s assistant or Larry
King’s assistant or even the assistant to a key purchasing agent with some
magical words: “I prefer to work with you directly rather than with the
Governor or “The King.”
Now … Here is a real gem.
Don’t be satisfied with just knowing the A-team. Learn who the
gatekeeper’s backup is. This person absorbs the workflow and often the
phone calls.
And remember to factor in the Law of Large Numbers. What is the
Law of Large Numbers? It’s an insurance term.
There are 309 million people in the U.S. The insurance industry can
tell you within one quarter of 1 percent every year how many people are
going to die — what age, what color, what sex, what creed. There is only
one problem … They can’t tell you who.
Gatekeepers come and go just like everyone else. Gatekeepers are
promoted, fired, transferred, job hop, and even die.
29 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
You must understand the principle of the Law of Large Numbers and how it applies to your business
And that goes for every buyer in spades that you or your sales staff is
calling on. You must understand the principle of the Law of Large Numbers
and how it applies to your business.
As with anything else, when you call, bring something positive to the
party. When you call, being energized and uplifting will get you further than
being pushy and demoralizing.
Most of you serve as outside directors of other corporations and important
civic organizations. The competition is usually keen to become a member of
the prestigious executive committee or compensation committee.
Don’t overlook the often neglected nominating committee — head and
shoulders above all the other committees. What a networking gateway for
you! Here are two reasons why:
1. You will learn a great deal about the power structure of your commu-
nity and the Board candidates’ industry down to the W-2s and net
worth numbers.
2. You’ll also have a chance to influence the long-term direction and
culture of the organization you want to guide for decades to come,
because all nominating committees pick the organization’s officers.
As to social influence in general, here are some tips on social media and
networking which I believe have escaped the radar screen of 80-90 percent
of top managers these days.
30 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
This is a very fast-moving world, and the rules are changing nearly as quickly as they are being written
Surely, social media — LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook — are changing
the face of networking.
This is a very fast-moving world. The rules are changing nearly as quickly
as they are being written. In recent months, I’ve watched this sphere very
closely from the standpoint of executive recruiting.
This has been the tightest job market since the Great Depression. I’ve
been in close contact with the senior team at Korn/Ferry, which, of course,
is the largest and most powerful executive search firm in the world.
Networking for most of us is a pleasurable pursuit.
Networking is different for someone who has landed on the street and is
trying to cover the mortgage, tuition, or assist some member of the family
who needs help. That’s as true for folks in the C-suite as it is anywhere else.
For people in these straits, networking is bread-and-butter, life-and-death.
What are my sources at Korn/Ferry telling me about social media and
networking? Here are some direct quotes:
l “Even though computer networking seems more efficient, don’t lose
sight of what really influences potential employers to have a memo-
rable impression of you. Will it be a glitzy presentation on Facebook
or a face-to-face encounter?”
l “In Facebook entries on the Web,” they are “surprised at how few
people feature a bold, clear statement of what their core professional
31 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
At this point, social media is becoming something you must do to simply stay in the race
competency is. Giving that matter prominence in itself shows you
are a serious-minded person.”
I urge each of you to give your Facebook and LinkedIn entries a tough
once over. Whenever someone in your network suggests to a third party
that this individual link up with you, the very first thing that happens is you
will be Googled, Facebooked and LinkedIn.
This is the impression that was once made by a business card. Does your
Internet presence invite contact and inspire confidence?
l Third, and this may be the most important observation of all:
“These networks may offer connectivity. However, while you’re
using these networks, so are a million other people… So network
fatigue is setting in.”
That means social MEDIA is more something you must do simply
to stay in the race … It’s not a series of techniques that will auto-
matically give you an important new edge.
The entire game of digital communications is measured in nano-seconds.
You may think you are state-of-the-art. But never forget:
l There will be new ways to use social media.
l There will be new social media.
l There will be new protocols for using the Internet to make or rein-
force social contacts.
32 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Get people into your kitchen cabinet who are techno-savvy communicators
l There will also be new defenses to screen even the most imaginative
pitches and presentations, just as there are — Korn/Ferry reminds
me — very sophisticated programs to screen personal résumés.
My advice: Keep your ear to the ground, and get people into your kitchen
cabinet who are techno-savvy communicators. Note my emphasis: Not
just techno-savvy, but sensitive to the human communications nuances of
what happens on the Internet.
These hybrid types, conversant in both worlds, will be increasingly
essential to your networking potential overall.
The standards and expectations for personal presence change continu-
ally. I can guarantee you that the situation will only get more competitive.
We’ve come full circle to the Golden Rule of Networking: RECIPROCITY
WITHOUT KEEPING SCORE ... which I described earlier means … What
can I do for you without expecting anything in return?
But now let’s go to our introductions.
Wrap Up
So … Let’s wrap it up in the next few pages for this session. These
are some of the basics that will help you build, expand and energize your
network of contacts.
33 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Effective networking is a seamless combination of doing meaningful little things while staying focused on the big picture
As part of The Mackay Roundtable, you will be receiving documents and
addenda that summarize some of the key networking principles discussed in
this first teleseminar.
As with each of these teleseminars, you are invited to share this infor-
mation with your personal management teams.
As you have heard, effective networking is a seamless combination of
doing meaningful little things while staying focused on the big picture.
You will hear me make this point time and again throughout the year:
Little things mean a lot.
Not true.
Little things mean everything.
Your capacity to cultivate and retain powerful, influential contacts
will be absolutely essential to your realizing your professional and leader-
ship potential.
In advance of our face-to-face meeting, I would like you to walk yourself
through a personal audit of your own networks.
l When was the last time you scrolled through your PDA or your
Rolodex and saw how up to date it was?
l Not just the information in it, but the very people you had listed.
34 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
Your capacity to cultivate and retain powerful, influential contacts will be absolutely essential to your realizing your professional and leadership potential
l Do you have the right kinds of people to match your professional and
personal goals?
l Do your various networks have balance? Some people, for example,
have networks that are highly concentrated in their specialty but
very little diversity. (You need depth in those areas that you don’t
know about.)
l What are you doing to cultivate the future relationships you will need?
l Is this just a vague goal? Or have you created a timing-and-action
calendar that outlines what you will do to strengthen your network
… and when you will do it?
l What kinds of networking come naturally to you and how can you
leverage it better?
l What kinds of networking are you less successful at and how will you
improve your performance?
l Are you setting tangible networking goals? Make networking as
measurable a challenge as you can! And of course, the key word
is measurable.
l Are there entire groups of people that are totally absent or thinly
represented?
l Do you have reminder systems in place so that networking initiatives
coordinate with social and community events?
35 © 2011 The Mackay Roundtable
The breadth and depth of your networking possibilities are completely reliant on your ability to skillfully apply the Golden Rule of Networking
l Indeed, are you evaluating your participation in these events based
on their networking potential?
l What kinds of favors are you able to provide contacts you want to
cultivate? (That’s a biggie!)
l Are you planning your business travel with an eye to growing and
developing those contacts?
l Are you regularly monitoring the networking behavior of your key
subordinates and of your children?
l Are you making time to meet with people you consider mentors to
you … as well as younger executives whom you could mentor?
So, I really would like you to think about these questions in advance of
our coming together. If you spot tough challenges or nagging problems …
hey …be prepared to discuss them with your associates on the Roundtable.
That kind of dialogue is a central purpose of this group.
Never forget. The breadth and depth of your networking possibilities
are completely reliant on your ability to skillfully apply the Golden Rule of
Networking: RECIPROCITY WITHOUT KEEPING SCORE.
Well … That’s it. For our first session, that’s a wrap. And I really can’t
wait to see you in the Valley of the Sun. And please remember: If I can ever
be of help to ANY of you, just give me a call.
Goodbye for now.