“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”
—Seth Godin, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
Habit #7: Connecting the Connectors
Connecting the connectors will transition you from neophyte to expert in playing the Influence Game.
In Chapter 1, you looked at how to play big in a problem others want you to solve. In other words, what’s that reason people fall in love with you? What’s the problem you solve that’s a major challenge in their life?
Then you considered the realm of working in the one-to-many, moving out of working one-on-one, like a consultant or a contractor, and reaching a broader audience.
Next, you focused on influence being the currency of influencers. To really step into the Influence Game, you learned how to effectively trade influence back and forth.
Then you worked on skills for networking with influencers.
Finally you looked at the most powerful skill you could have, how to effortlessly and effectively create cycles of reciprocity with influential colleagues.
If you’ve been working through the exercises and solidifying all the skills we’ve covered to this point, what’s in this chapter should not seem like a big stretch. It’s been referenced several times and you’ve likely already started doing it as you’ve progressed through the exercises.
Influential people consistently connect other connectors. In other words, they connect people who are far more influential than they are.
When you become a connector of connectors, it starts to ramp up your game. This is where you start building that golden Rolodex of amazing people ready to blast out for you or support your work, and it’s the quickest way to building a large mailing list. As long as you’re in a strong relationship with other connectors, and have many people sharing your free programs or your newsletter, you’ll build that large following in record time.
Writing Introductions
Introducing the influential to one other involves etiquette. A common mistake I often see my students make is to only introduce one party, making the assumption that the more famous of the two is obviously known. This creates two issues. First, it puts the two people you’re introducing on an uneven playing field. It’s like announcing that one of them is more important to you. Second, your assumption may not be true and may create discomfort. It’s gracious to introduce both parties. Have fun and try to impress each of them with the other’s credentials. That sets the stage for strong collaboration and mutual respect between them.
If you’re asking an influencer to introduce you to another influencer, provide them with a pre-written introduction for yourself.
Since someone else will be delivering the introduction on your behalf, it’s acceptable to “big yourself up” in the introduction. Send a well-crafted introduction to make it easy for them to introduce you. They don’t have to think about what they’re going to say, only how they’re going to introduce the two of you. For example, here’s what I might send to someone from whom I’ve requested an introduction:
“Please meet Teresa de Grosbois, four-time bestselling author and international speaker. Teresa teaches people how to create word-of-mouth epidemics. She’s also founded an international invitation-only council of thought leaders who collaboratively work to help each other grow their influence in order to make the world a better place. You two have much in common, so I wanted to connect you to look at possible collaborative opportunities.”
Exercise 15: Add to Your Weekly Action Plan
Weekly