Page 126 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

You Accept the Need to Stand Out and Be Visible • 107

How much is too much? If it substantially takes away from
your work and family obligations or you’re doing it for reasons of self-
aggrandizement—it’s too much.
Eighty percent of networking is just staying in touch. Fast Company
wrote about the CEO of Ya-Ya, Keith Ferrazzi, as a “master networker....
He makes hundreds of phone calls a day. Most of them are simply quick
hellos that he leaves on friends’ voice mail. He sends e-mail constantly.
He remembers birthdays and makes a special point of reaching people
when they have one. When it comes to relationship maintenance, he is,
in the words of more than one friend, ‘the most relentless, energetic
person I know.’”
When you take a break, say, for the bathroom, go (be sure to wash
your hands), but then walk around and talk to people who you don’t “have
to” for a half hour. Giving each four minutes, you can engage seven people
in a conversation in that amount of time—and learn seven new tidbits of
information or help seven people with something they are working on.
Take a pause between meetings and phone home for four minutes.
When you’re energy lulls, instead of drinking a Red Bull, get up and get
out of your work space. “It’s very well received when the CEO schedules
minutes a day walking around—which he does because I’m the one who
finds the time,” says one executive secretary.
If you initiate one contact a day, taking from five seconds to four
minutes, you’ll spend less time than it takes to pick out a tie to wear. You
don’t have to take more than minutes away from your obligations at
the office or at home. Neither suffer. It’s only minutes of resourceful
other-oriented effort that I’m asking for. As Lu Stasko, CEO of The Stasko
Agency, says, “You’re only a phone call away from changing your life.”

Stave Off Jealousy and Loneliness

If you associate with a wide variety of people, you stave off jealousy and
loneliness. At the top, your usual mechanisms to connect with people are
cut off. You’re the leader; you’re no longer a colleague. The people—your
friends, peers, and mentors—who you hashed out problems with on the
ascend are now part of the group reporting to you.