Transcript
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ANDY LOPATA:
The first thing to be aware of when you want to engage with people who are more senior than you is that they will have limited bandwidth. They will probably have limited time. So you need to capture their attention. That doesn't mean be the peacock and flourish your feathers and be the most impressive person in the room. If you can do that naturally and you can really catch their eye, that's fantastic. But if everyone is preening in front of them, it becomes counterproductive.
Actually, for me, I think it's about being aware of your status and respectful of theirs without putting yourself down. So it's about respect. It's about understanding what the balance of the relationship is likely to be. So it's ideal if you know something about what they stand for, something they said at an internal company meeting or at a conference or they've written in the press or in a report. If you can turn round to them and say I really admire what you said about this, or I really agree with what you said about this and either follow-up with a question about it or tell them how the work you're doing relates to it, you can engage their interest because you know that that's something that's important to them.
The other thing that I think is really powerful is questions, not trying to show you know all the answers because they know that you don't, but respecting that they know a lot more of them than you probably do. So ask two or three intelligent questions. And when you get their responses, make sure you follow up with them. Connect on LinkedIn with a personal connection request saying it was really good to speak to you and tell them when you spoke and then keep them up to date with anything you do or you hear that's related to your conversation. It's that constant engagement that keeps you in sight and in mind and will make them start to pay attention to you.
The other thing is patience. If you want to approach a senior person to sell an idea or to get them to become your mentor or whatever it might be, if you do it cold on that first conversation, the chances are the answer will be no. But if you get them to know you over a period of time, you'll increase your chances of getting the response you're looking for. It's not guaranteed, and that reason may not be you. It may be their workload and other things. But you're going to have a better chance of a positive response if you build the relationship and the awareness over time. So for me, patience is key.
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