Well Connected: An Unconventional Approach to Building Genuine, Effective Business Relationships

243 Pages·2010·1.336 MB·English

by  Gordon S. Curtis

PRAISE FOR WELL CONNECTED C G O R D O N S . C U R T I S In today’s uncertain
business
U
R environment, the best way to succeed is through
T partnerships—with colleagues, with vendors,
“Is it time to develop your personal networking strategy? Learning the nuances of I
networking isn’t easy. Read Well Connected and get ahead of the competition!” S with GREG LEWIS with competitors, with anyone who might share
—MARSHALL GOLDSMITH, best-selling author, Mojo and What Got You Here a common goal and can help build mutual
Won’t Get You There success. Such partnerships require strong,
WW
meaningful relationships. In other words, these
“Your network is your net worth. It is your greatest ‘enabler.’ Well Connected gives relationships require that you become well
you a clear strategy and solid how-to’s to build your ultimate business network. connected.
EE
This book will challenge how you see networking and how you can go about Savvy executives who want to reach virtually
building relationships. Read this and get connected.”
any business goal—from raising capital to fi nd-
LL
—TIM SANDERS, author, Love Is the Killer App: How To Win Business
ing sales leads to fi nding the perfect job—know
& Infl uence Friends WW EE LL LL
LL that networking is the key to their success. But
traditional networking approaches—meet as
“Today’s world demands that executives manage their time more effi ciently than
many people as possible and amass huge num-
ever before. Well Connected provides sophisticated business leaders and
CC
bers of “connections” and “friends” through your
novices a unique and refreshingly actionable approach to minimize time spent
social media networks—rarely produce more
GORDON S. CURTIS is an executive transition while maximizing effective networking. Readers will build better business
connections with the right people after unlocking Curtis’s code and following OO CC OO NN NN EE CC TT EE DD than a handful of relationships that pay off.
coach, agent, and principal of Curtis Consulting.
his breakthrough framework.” In this groundbreaking book, you will learn
His fi rm helps top executives accelerate and
—CAMERON BROWN, president, King Fish Media, LLC NN how to achieve your goals by selectively engag-
succeed in the critical leadership phases of
ing the right people and connecting well with
realignment, advancement, career transition,
“Well Connected teaches the art of connecting with the right people. From NN them. Networking maven and coach Gordon
and assimilation. Before that, Curtis served as
personal experience I can tell you Curtis has a gift for this—and in this book he Curtis explains that the secret to building truly
director of career services and alumni relations
shows you how to do it!”
effective relationships is to narrow—rather than
EE
at Boston College Graduate School of Man- —BILL GHORMLEY, senior vice president of business development, Xconomy
widen—your network. His proven system for
agement and as an account executive at Right
CC building key relationships, the Right Person–
Management Consulting. A sought-after speaker, “Networking is a practice that requires personal transformation to be good [ ]
Right Approach method, delivers results every
he has been featured in the Financial Times, Wall at—and Gordon will teach you how to master it in this groundbreaking book.”
TT time: fi rst, identify a “critical enabler,” someone
Street Journal, Boston Sunday Globe, and Fast —LOUIS CARTER, founder and CEO, Best Practice Institute
who has access to the knowledge you need and
Company, among others.
EE is inclined to help you; second, unlock the criti-
BUSINESS cal enabler’s willingness and ability to provide
DD what you need by offering her or him something
U.S. $26.95 | Canada $31.95 Unconventional Approach
An to Building
valuable before you ask for anything.
Filled with success stories, Well Connected
Genuine, Effective
www.josseybass.com provides an accessible playbook for sophisti-
cated business people who know there’s a better
Business Relationships way to connect with the right people to get
things done better and faster.
Photo by Ruth Lee Photography
ffffiirrss..iinndddd vvii 55//2222//1100 11::3311::2200 PPMM
Praise for Well Connected
“I f you want to turn your networking activities into a
predictable process with measurable results, read Well
Connected.”
—David Stone, CEO and cofounder, CashStar.com
“ Curtis’s Well Connected framework provides the structure
for leveraging your connections selectively. Today, more
so than ever, networking is about quality, not quantity.”
— Gisele E. Garceau, senior human capital strategist,
EMC Corporation
“ In our hyper-networked world, managers who read Well
Connected will fi nd its practical advice invaluable for
success.”
— Amit Mukherjee, author, The Spider’s Strategy,
and president, Ishan Advisors
“G iven the fl urry of ‘networking activity’ driven by today’s
social media trends, Well Connected is a timely and welcome
read. Curtis forces readers to be both thoughtful and stra-
tegic about how they connect with others. Well Connected
will help you increase your networking success.”
— Melissa Raffoni, president, Raffoni CEO Consulting
“ Surviving—and thriving—as a leader in business is all about
connecting with others. Well Connected is a well- considered,
practical book—and couldn’t be more timely. The case
studies resonate and make this a useful and enjoyable
read, something all too rare in business books.”
— Joe Knowles, executive director, Institute for
Health Metrics
ffffiirrss..iinndddd ii 55//2222//1100 11::3311::1199 PPMM
“ Curtis’s Well Connected is a must-read for anyone who
doesn’t have the time to network the ‘old way.’ ”
—Robert Picardi, CEO, Raid, Inc.
“ Curtis’s Well Connected approach to networking enabled
GiveUsYourPoor.org to connect to new board members,
partners, and funders who were passionate and perfect
fi ts for our organization. His approach is easy to replicate
and will help you succeed, too.”
— John McGah, managing director,
GiveUsYourPoor.org
“ This is not ‘Networking 101.’ Curtis’s Right Person–Right
Approach method brings the art and science of mak-
ing productive business and career connections to a new
level. I’m hard-pressed to think of anyone who wouldn’t
benefi t from Well Connected.”
— Sandy Lipson, executive recruiting and
organization development consultant, and
former vice president of talent management,
Fidelity Investments
“ I have worked with thousands of executives and profession-
als over the years, building collaborative communities and
customer programs. In one book, Gordon has captured
the principles that took me a decade to fi gure out. The
Right Person–Right Approach method in Well Connected
is right on the money. It removes the wasted effort from
social networking and replaces it with results.”
— Mark S. Bonchek, founder and CEO, Collab-
orative Revolution and Truman Company
ffffiirrss..iinndddd iiii 55//2222//1100 11::3311::1199 PPMM
W E L L
C O N N E C T E D
An Unconventional Approach to Building
GENUINE, EFFECTIVE BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS
GORDON S. CURTIS
with
GREG LEWIS
ffffiirrss..iinndddd iiiiii 55//2222//1100 11::3311::2200 PPMM
Copyright © 2010 by Gordon S. Curtis and Greg Lewis. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
A Wiley Imprint
989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or
otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright
Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through
payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222
Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone], or on the Web at
www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the
Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken,
NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for
further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written
and when it is read.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used
their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties
with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifi cally
disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fi tness for a particular purpose. No
warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials.
The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You
should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author
shall be liable for any loss of profi t or any other commercial damages, including but not
limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores.
To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within
the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax [phone].
Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that
appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Curtis, Gordon S.
Well connected : an unconventional approach to building genuine, effective business
relationships / Gordon S. Curtis with Greg Lewis.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-57794-3 (hardback); ISBN 978-0-470-64232-7 (ebk);
ISBN 978-0-470-64234-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-64233-5 (ebk)
1. Strategic alliances (Business) 2. Business networks. 3. Interpersonal
relations. I. Lewis, Greg. II. Title.
HD69.S8C87 2010
650.1’3—dc22
2010013841
Printed in the United States of America
FIRST EDITION
HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ffffiirrss..iinndddd iivv 55//2222//1100 11::3311::2200 PPMM
To my loving wife, Bobbie,
and our children, Lydia and Will
—G.S.C.
For Catharine
—G.L.
ffffiirrss..iinndddd vv 55//2222//1100 11::3311::2200 PPMM
ffffiirrss..iinndddd vvii 55//2222//1100 11::3311::2200 PPMM
CONTENTS
1 Redefining Networking for the Twenty-First Century 1
2 Prep Work: Rethinking Your Networking Strategy 22
3 Articulating Your Objective 52
4 The Right Person: Identifying Your Critical Enabler 73
5 The Referral: Landing an Introduction to a Critical Enabler 92
6 The Right Approach: Providing Value to Your
Critical Enabler 111
7 The Right Person: Selecting a Critical Enabler Who Is Inclined,
Available, and Like-Minded 151
8 Putting It All Together 170
9 Conclusion: Using the Right Person–Right Approach Method to
Gain Clarity, Control, and Confidence 201
Acknowledgments 215
About the Author 219
Index 221
vii
ffttoocc..iinndddd vviiii 55//2222//1100 11::3311::3355 PPMM
ffttoocc..iinndddd vviiiiii 55//2222//1100 11::3311::3366 PPMM