Work Your Network!

Leading Executive Recruiter Excerpt III

Steve tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey Joe, if I run for President will you be on my board?” Little did I know Steve was already slated to be the next President. Pretty slick, huh? Hey Steve, when are you writing your book? Put me down for a copy, would ya?

Nonetheless, I was grateful to Steve for giving me the chance. I had invited myself to a meeting of the Institute of Management Accountants a year earlier. I felt scared and outta place at first with all these degreed management accountants, all 20-30 years older than I was. Leslie Goode, the chapter President, took a liking to me and invited me to come to the board meeting. Next thing you know I’m on the board. I like what Fred Smith says in his great book You and Your Network:

“I have had a simple growth formula for myself: Try to be the smallest person in the group. Its tough on the ego but once you have learned to handle that problem, you are very appreciative of the opportunity to grow into your association with others—not just the money, but all the other traits of life which we have available to us. We associate up to learn and associate down to teach. It is difficult to lift another unless you are above him. Being above him increases our responsibility to lift. This keeps us operating in two groups—those from whom we are learning and those whom we are teaching. The wonderful thing about our human flexibility is that we can keep growing our whole life through. “

My friend Bob MacIntosh is CEO of PIER 39 but he wasn’t always CEO. He started at PIER 39 as the V.P. of Finance. He eventually became CFO and then COO and now CEO. Bob served as President in the IMA a few years before I joined but he would come to an occasional meeting and we would talk. I mentioned to him how surprised I was that on the board people would often take on certain tasks, I’m sure with good intentions, and then show up at the next board meeting with nothing but excuses.

Bob said to me something that stuck. “Well, I don’t know how you feel about it, Joe, but all I know is that when I was on the board, if someone would do that to me you can be sure I would never hire them. If the person can’t do something simple, in their capacity on a non-profit board, I just plain wouldn’t hire them for anything, period!”

Inspired by Bob, I busted my butt in the IMA. I brought in more members than anyone in the chapter. I came to ALL the meetings. I promoted the meetings like my life depended on it. I won an award and was given a plaque that said: Joe Pelayo, Most Valuable Member. The next thing you know they elected me President.

Often I think about what would have happened to me if Leslie, Steve and Bob hadn’t lifted me, and invited me to be on the board. I think the advice I would give someone is not to wait for the invitation. Go to the Leslies, the Steves and the Bobs in your life, the Presidents and the incoming

Presidents and ask them, “May I serve on your board?”

It’s a little forward, but it’s better to be forward than broke. It’s better to be a lot of things than broke. Sometimes you gotta take chances in life. I’d rather be a Rich Jerk than a Broke Polite Guy. If you think being polite is more virtuous then try missing a month of rent.

Listen, I’ve been broke. I’ve lived in a no bedroom apartment in a not so hot area of Oakland, stockin’ up on macaroni and cheese on payday just in case there was a little month left at the end of my money! Back then I was so broke I could walk by a bank and the alarm might go off. I’ve been broke and I’ve been rich I can tell you from experience for sure, it’s better to be rich!

When you’re looking for a job people will tell you, “You gotta network.” Sixty percent of people get their jobs from networking. So what is networking? Networking to me is a few things. First, you gotta get out there.

Woody Allen said, “Half of success in life is just showing up.” I remember a few years back I read where the World’s Fastest Reader was coming to town to teach reading. Wow! I thought, an opportunity of a lifetime. Many of the greatest minds that have ever lived have written books. The library offers them all for free. Here was a chance to increase the speed at which I could learn, from the greatest teachers who have ever written. I could hardly begin to comprehend the opportunity. But where would they host this, World’s Fastest Reader? Surely everyone in town would want to come and learn how to read faster. Would it be held at Candlestick Park where the Forty-Niners play? No, that was probably not big enough. Then I saw it was at the Hyatt Hotel. I assumed they had reserved the largest room in the place.

When I arrived, I joined 20 other people in a small room who showed up and learned how to read much faster.

Speed reading was a skill that served me so well that I went on to take a several week, Evelyn Wood speed-reading class, it was a lot of money to me. First I asked my employer if I could be reimbursed for the course. You see the faster I could read, the faster I could learn to make money for them, I tried to explain. Well, when they didn’t buy it I invested in myself. Ben Franklin said, “Empty the pennies of your purse into your mind and your mind will fill your wallet with gold.” It was one of the best investments I ever made. Among Ben Franklin’s inventions he is credited with the first public Library, when he was the ripe old age of 21 ! In your local Library, ask the Librarian to direct you to the Encyclopedia of Associations. Use this directory to get your arms around the associations in your field

You’re reading an excerpt of a leading Executive Recruiter’s book, Work Your Network! By Joe Pelayo.

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Leading Executive Recruiters Book Excerpt, Part III