Recently Michael Pollan (bestselling author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma) gave a talk at the Harvard Bookstore about his new book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, which I was lucky enough to get a ticket for (The line wrapped around the block with hundreds of people and an overflow line).
Throughout his speech Pollan told stories of all the different people that he learned from in the course of writing this book. From competitive BBQ masters to surf-obsessed bakers and cheese culturalists. As I listened to him talk about this extensive array of experts, one question kept riddling through my head. How?
How does he go about contacting these people? What methods and strategies does he use to connect with experts and build relationships that enable him to learn best practices on such deep levels with some of the best in the world?
After he finished his speech I asked him about this. Specifically, what would he recommend for someone who didn’t have tags like BOOK DEAL and BEST SELLER attached to their name.
Pollan offered a fairly intuitive guide to reaching out to these people.
“Flattery goes a long way,” he told me. You never want to start out directly with the ask. You need to at least build some familiarity first. Compliment their work and get your foot in the door.
Following the flattery, the next step is to ask for an interview, usually over the phone, where the bar is low and doesn’t put much pressure on the master.
If you get this far, congratulations! Now it’s time to advance the relationship. See if you can arrange to meet in-person for a few hours so they can show you what they do and how they differ from the other people in their respective field.
When a master gives you some time, their most valuable asset, they are investing in you. Understand this and be respectful of it. They are taking care in your work and this allows you to continually build upon this relationship. For Pollan, this eventually turns into a Grande Finale of an ask, albeit indirectly, “So, can you recommend any good hotels in your area?” Obviously hinting at the request to spend a couple of days with the mentor in order to get a comprehensive schooling in their craft.
All throughout this process you are trying to build value for the master, even if it is just through flattery and genuine curiosity. This is the essence of good networking. There is nothing slimy about it.
It is the art of building relationships.
Throughout his speech Pollan told stories of all the different people that he learned from in the course of writing this book. From competitive BBQ masters to surf-obsessed bakers and cheese culturalists. As I listened to him talk about this extensive array of experts, one question kept riddling through my head. How?
How does he go about contacting these people? What methods and strategies does he use to connect with experts and build relationships that enable him to learn best practices on such deep levels with some of the best in the world?
After he finished his speech I asked him about this. Specifically, what would he recommend for someone who didn’t have tags like BOOK DEAL and BEST SELLER attached to their name.
Pollan offered a fairly intuitive guide to reaching out to these people.
“Flattery goes a long way,” he told me. You never want to start out directly with the ask. You need to at least build some familiarity first. Compliment their work and get your foot in the door.
Following the flattery, the next step is to ask for an interview, usually over the phone, where the bar is low and doesn’t put much pressure on the master.
If you get this far, congratulations! Now it’s time to advance the relationship. See if you can arrange to meet in-person for a few hours so they can show you what they do and how they differ from the other people in their respective field.
When a master gives you some time, their most valuable asset, they are investing in you. Understand this and be respectful of it. They are taking care in your work and this allows you to continually build upon this relationship. For Pollan, this eventually turns into a Grande Finale of an ask, albeit indirectly, “So, can you recommend any good hotels in your area?” Obviously hinting at the request to spend a couple of days with the mentor in order to get a comprehensive schooling in their craft.
All throughout this process you are trying to build value for the master, even if it is just through flattery and genuine curiosity. This is the essence of good networking. There is nothing slimy about it.
It is the art of building relationships.