The Currency of Networking

I recently, like most of us who have been in or around the talent acquisition space since the 70s, noted the recent passing of Gerry Roche the iconic executive recruiter who for years was the “franchise QB” of Heidrick & Struggles.

Indeed, back in the day when retained executive search finally emerged big time onto the scene in the U.S. the names that really became the face of the industry were Roche and Tom Neff who was then an emerging super star at Spencer Stuart and today is their Chairman.

Their names became so well known in part, because of the high profile competition between the two. They were in two of the top firms and they were the points of the spear when it came to the most senior searches. It was something that was fun to follow.

I can recall reading many articles that were focused on one or both of these guys, and one in particular that was in Fortune entitled Clash of the Corporate Kingmakers (it still makes an interesting read) stuck with me then and still does because it talked a great deal about how Roche had built his practice. I thought it was another important example of just how important networking is both personally as well as professionally.

One of the aspects of the story that really made a deep impression on me was when it was pointed out that even with people who turned him down, Gerry continued to make a real effort to build a relationship, and the key way in which he did so was by using the universal currency of effective networking (information) and giving it freely and with no strings attached.  We talk to ExecuNet members about this all the time. The phrase I have often used is “effective networking is about giving, not about getting.”

One could argue, I suppose, given that Roche effectively worked only at the most senior level of the Fortune 500 so that every player in that space would want to be his "friend”, and that could well be true once he became the face of Heidrick, but certainly that was not the case when he was building what his practice became. The relationships he built over the years came back time and again to help him as the years went on until he retired in '09.

Bottom line, when I read the article then (and even again now) it reminded me yet once again that effective networking is a process (an attitude) not a pick up, put down activity.  Said differently, and I can't recall where I saw this phrase but I thought it captured the core of what truly effective networking is all about:

There's a difference between doing something part time, full time, and all the time.