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to fall into the trap of focusing on using a spreadsheet or a time clock to measure your

progress, but in fact, it's the investment you make in your interactions that will pay off.

Creating a Culture of Connection

Think about business-to-business sales. The key point of distinction between vendors

calling on a company is rarely price. It's the perceived connection between the prospect

and the organization.

Now, consider job satisfaction. The key point of distinction between places to work is

rarely the work you'll be asking the employee to do. It's the perceived connection

between the employee and the people she works with.

Thus, the individual in the organization who collects, connects, and nurtures relationships

is indispensable. This isn't about recording the information in a database somewhere.

This is about holding the relationships as sacred as they deserve to be.

Only a human being can nurture relationships. It has to be done with flair and

transparency, and it can't be done from a script. The memories and connections and

experiences of the person in the center of this culture are difficult to scale and hard to

replace. Which makes this person indispensable. Not anyone who has that job--only the

people who have that job and act like linchpins.

Return on Connection Investment

Two people work in an investment bank. One has an MBA in finance, with a focus on

using the Black-Scholes asset pricing model to value options. He's a quant jock, and a

pretty good one. The other has pushed hard to become adept at working with people, and

as a result has personal relationships with twenty-seven of the bank's most important

clients.

Guess which one adds more value and is more difficult to replace. . . .

The Black-Scholes model is important, but it's easy to outsource or to do with a

computer. Sure, a world-class quant jock, one in a million, that guy you want to hold on

to. But a pretty good one? I'll take the human being over the computer every time.

The Secret of Frank at Comcast

He's a real person.

That's the secret.

Frank Eliason has been featured on the front page of The New York Times, on television,

and online about a million times. Frank is the online face of Comcast Cable, the

occasionally loved, frequently hated cable behemoth.

Frank figured out that angry customers were often using Twitter to vent their rage about

Comcast and their service or lack thereof.

One day, Frank tweeted back.

He showed up. Not because it was in the manual or because someone told him to, but

because he wanted to help. It was a gift, not his job. Frank was honestly interested in

connecting, and his generosity came through.

And you know what happened? The tweeters rejoiced. They were so stunned that a real

person (with a name!) was listening that they instantly became fans. In less than a minute,

they were converted from enemies and trolls into raving fans.

That's how desperately we want to be touched by another person. That's how much the

gift of attention from a person means to us.

He's Good with People

Paul works at ConEd in New York and has been recently promoted. Paul's team visits

neighborhoods that need new gas lines. His team digs up the streets, shovels dirt, lays

pipe, and keeps the system from falling apart. He's the young guy on the crew, but he

makes more than most of the team.

That's because Paul is good with people. Paul is the guy who rings the doorbell, deals

with angry neighbors, gets access to basements, replaces shrubs--stuff that is essential,

but is improvised.

ConEd can easily replace the flagman and the guy who runs the backhoe. Even the pipe

fitters do a job that can be outsourced. Paul, on the other hand, is the key man, the

linchpin.

Why is "being good with people" so diminished as a competency? Is it because we can't

easily measure and quantify it? I think it's an art, which means that the person who

provides it is an artist.

Paul