How to Enhance Your Reputation and Develop a Loyal Network

Growing up, I was extremely self-centered and most often thought of myself and what others could do for me rather than what I could be doing for them. This may not seem strange because it is how most of the world is. In my experience, most people are pretty much out for themselves in a very competitive, dog-eat-dog environment. Some people succeed in business by taking this approach, but I suggest that they are not nearly as successful as they could be if they had taken the opposite approach. Individuals who crush others on their way to the top develop no true friends along the way to their success. They do, however, gain allies who act in their own best interests. As soon as something is not in their best interest, the allies drop that person immediately. If these same successful individuals had changed their approach, they could have multiplied themselves in the marketplace with loyal friends, allies and fans, who would look out for their interests even when doing so goes against their own. However, their aggressive approach does not surprise me at all.???

When I was younger, I loved reading books such as?The Prince?by Machiavelli,?Winning Through Intimidation?by Robert Rinder and the?Art of War?by Sun Tzu, which validated my notion of winning at the expense of others. It was not until I picked up the Bible at the age of 24, while earning my MBA at Indiana University, that my views and approach to business really began to change. The teachings of Jesus were so radical, that they shook me to my core. Jesus said things like “do to others what you would have them do to you” and “he who wishes to be first, must be last and servant of all.” Wow! I had always wanted to be first, but I thought you got there by fighting your way to the top, stepping on others and pushing them down to get there. Could I have been wrong for 24 years? If I had been wrong, could I change my ways? Would the teachings of Jesus actually work in the business world today?????

As I thought about what being first, but at the same time, last and servant of all looked like, my military training as an Infantry officer came to mind. An officer in charge of a unit would be first in that he would be in charge of the unit, but when it came time to go through the chow line to eat, the officer would be served last, making sure the soldiers under his command were all fed and had enough to eat before he ate. In this respect, he would be last. Then I thought about the leaders I would have wanted to follow anywhere into battle. They were the leaders who would put everyone else’s needs before their own. I realized that Jesus was on to something, but I was not quite sure what this would look like in a business environment.???

When I took my first business development position with the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) in 1996, my job was to turn around 10 years of documented history of startup companies moving out of Fairfax County, Virginia to other areas of the country where they would be able to raise capital to expand their businesses. To be successful, I needed to find these companies before they moved away, meet with the CEOs and convince them to stay. I also needed to get to know the investment sources in, and outside, of the region and convince them to invest in Fairfax County-based companies. I also needed to get to know the other players and influencers in the venture ecosystem. It was a fairly complex problem to solve. I needed to make a lot of new friends and convince them to do what I wanted them to do.??

How was I going to get CEO’s and venture capitalists to want to talk with me? How was I going to get the companies to stay? How was I going to attract the capital to our jurisdiction? Rather than focusing on myself and what I needed, I fell back on the lessons I learned from the Bible and started doing for others what I would want them to do for me if I were in the same situation. For the CEOs, I figured out what was important to them, be it media coverage, speaking opportunities, follow-on financing or candidates for management team positions and I helped them with all of those. As I got to know the CEOs, my value to the service providers in the ecosystem increased. I became an excellent referral source for them and?benefitted?from those relationships by getting great market intelligence and introductions. Instead of asking venture capitalists (VCs) for money like most people who contacted them did, I approached them and figured out what I could do to help them. I got to know the sources of capital that invest in venture funds as well as the startup companies in which the venture funds were interested in investing. I helped the VCs raise money for their funds from limited partner investors and became a quality source of pre-qualified deal flow for them. The more I made myself last and servant of all, the more the players in the venture ecosystem wanted to meet with me and see what they could do to help me.?

To be clear, I did not willy-nilly go around helping everybody with everything in an unfocused manner, rather, I took a very targeted approach. I focused like a laser beam on who I wanted to influence, but I did not go right after them and try to get them to do what I wanted them to do. I approached them to see what I could do to be of value and assistance to them, putting their needs in front of my own. By doing this, I developed friends as well as raving fans. Just about everyone I helped would want to introduce their friends and contacts to me, and to see what they could do to help me.?

This effort was so successful, that we doubled the number of venture funds in Fairfax County during my two-year stint in this position. The loyalty I developed with the CEOs I got to know became so strong that they would actually check the zip codes of the office space they were looking at, to make sure that it was inside Fairfax County. It was an exciting time to be in this space because it was during the early stages of the Internet revolution and a great time to be building these relationships. The FCEDA job was also a great place to test these tactics because it was a quasi-public service position. My approach in that job was really validated when my phone rang in 1998 with a call to join the newly formed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as their first external business development representative.?

PwC explained they were hiring me to do there, what I had done at the FCEDA for them. However, at PwC, I had very quantifiable targets with a bonus tied to hitting them. Furthermore, the bonus was not capped, so my income was only limited to the number of new clients I could win and staff. During my two-year run at PwC, I helped bring in 85 new audit clients for a total market share increase of 33% of venture capital-backed companies. By the time I left, we had hit capacity and had even imported auditors from other countries to staff engagements. Ultimately, we had to start turning away companies who wanted to hire us. When I had to call the CEO of a company who had hired us to do an IPO to tell him we could not take his company on as a client, I realized that my work at PwC had come to an end.?

During these early career successes, I was figuring out what worked and testing it in the marketplace. When I was interviewed for the PwC position, the hiring manager said that in hiring me for this position, it was like he was leading me into a dark room and not showing me the way out. I suppose this would scare some people out of taking the job, but it excited me! The path out of that dark room was lit with those simple Bible verses I mentioned earlier. Even if you are not a person of faith, please know that this approach works incredibly well even if you do not believe in the Bible. You will be amazed at the good things that will be said about you in the marketplace.???

Long after I had figured out this approach to business, I picked up the book?How to Win Friends and Influence People?by Dale Carnegie and was blown away. This is a must-read book for anyone in?business. It is the “Bible” for human relations. Dale Carnegie takes the same concepts I was putting into practice and explained why they work. Carnegie explains human nature and what motivates people. He discusses the?individual’s?need for a feeling of importance, and how to arouse in the other person an eager desire to do what you want them to do. I only wish I was as good at winning friends and influencing people as Dale Carnegie must have been.?If you take my advice and study Carnegie’s writings, be sure to use the principles at home with your family in addition to your work. These principles apply for all human relationships.??

I also strongly recommend reading the?Go Giver?by?Bob Burg and?John David Mann, which is a great little book that explains the long-term value of taking the approach I have articulated. It really shows how being a giver in the marketplace, rather than a taker, can help make you and others you influence be more successful. The book was so impactful, that I have made the “five laws” it outlines throughout the book, my computer screen saver.

As you are developing your network, be sure to keep your eye out for connectors. It has been my experience that you can go into?any major city and find four or five people who know just about everyone you aspire to meet. They are the people that you will hear over and over that you need to get to know. Typically, but not always, these individuals work for service providers, in economic development or in the non-profit sector. These are people you will want to get close to, and with whom you will want to cultivate favor. When approaching them, try to get to them through a strong introduction. When you meet them, try to figure out how to be of value to them. If they don’t already know everyone in your network, try to introduce them to other contacts who might be of helpful to them. Also, while being respectful of their time, try to stay in contact with these connectors. They know and meet a lot of people and it can be easy to drop off their radar.??

To be successful at professional networking, when you meet someone, learn more about what the other person is doing, talk with them and learn what their concerns are, and see what you can do to help them. If you are effective at doing this, you will have a list of follow up items at the end of your meeting. Be sure to follow up on all of the introductions, referrals and offers to share information in a prompt manner. Often times towards the end of the meeting, the other person will ask you “what can I do to help you?” Don’t be quick to ask the other person for a bunch of favors. The “tit for tat” approach is not very effective. Wish the other person success and let them know you look forward to possibly working with them in the future. The less you ask the other person for, the more they will want to do for you.

By keeping?your?focus on the other person and what they need, rather than what you would like out of the relationship, you are building up personal capital in that relationship. When you meet with someone and do this, you will leave them with a very good feeling about you and the company you represent. They want more of what you just provided them and will be back to update you on their progress. Furthermore, they will want their friends to also be exposed to the generous help you have provided them. The referrals, over time, will mushroom and could be overwhelming, which is?a great problem to have!