Become Your Network’s Biggest Cheerleader

You’ve mapped out your skills matrix. Scoured LinkedIn to find the best contacts to turn into connections. And even (cringe) swallowed hard and asked for the favor. Now, you’ve got the start of the crew you will lean on (often heavily) as you build up your business.

But first you’ve got to lean in, and keep leaning in, to nurture these relationships, cheer them on, and make them thrive.

Before you go grab your pom poms, here’s a quick review of the Rule Two: Female Maverick Must Dos you’ve already done:

What’s always amazed us later in our careers is how terrible women can be at maintaining the connections they’ve worked so hard to build. One simple and obvious imperative: when you have asked, and been granted, a favor, always, always follow up with your benefactor. No matter how things turned out. Or how busy you get.

When we get asks, the absolute best part is hearing how our help actually helped (or not). If all went well, we are ecstatic. If it didn’t, we are invested, so we figure out another way to make a difference. Either way, following up with the people willing to support you is a critical relationship-building step you can’t afford to skip.

Make reciprocating part of your DNA.

Following up is good. Returning the favor is even better. For our part, we’ve made it a top priority to help the people who give us access to their precious time or network. We invite them to events where they might broaden their own networks, or at least have a heck of a time (on us, of course). We give their kids internships. We never say no to a charitable donation (even if we have to shut our eyes at the cause de jour).

And, whenever we can, we approach our connections with valuable support rather than waiting for a specific request. For example, when we meet someone with skills or relationships we think might intrigue a member of our cabinet, we offer an immediate connection without being asked.

Keep up the contact.

Remember, in business as in life, you get what you give. It’s up to you to carry the load on maintaining and enriching your kitchen cabinet relationships. We are, and always have been, ardent at keeping in touch with our peeps, both formally and informally.

Here are a couple of really easy hacks to keep the communications lines open and keep enhancing your relationships in the process:

Show them they’re on your mind. Forward smart, relatable content, or just plain interesting stuff, whenever it makes sense. We got into the habit of sending articles to individual members of our network along with a quick note explaining why the piece made us think of them.

Share your own related work. In all our businesses, we’ve prioritized authoring a good deal of thought leadership content for marketing purposes. We would cherry pick the smartest stuff and most relevant topics for each member of our crew, and we sent it along. This might take an hour per week to customize, but it is very rare that we don’t get an immediate “thanks for thinking of me” in return.  

Spread your (relevant) good news. If we have good news about ourselves or our business that is pertinent (and, if we haven’t been beating our connections to death lately), we send out brag sheets. If it’s not so relevant, or if we’ve already filled up their inbox that week, we leave it to our social media channels to share our news.

Shout their good news from the rooftops. Smart women tend to be terrible at taking victory laps. (Many men, ahem, do not seem to have that problem.) Do it for them. When a member of your inner circle does something great, promote the hell out of it. Share their news across your network to help them expand their own. In general, never miss an opportunity to publicly cheer for your peeps and get some much-deserved attention for the amazing women around you.

What’s Next?

You have done all the Female Maverick Must Dos for Rule Two: Build your Kitchen Cabinet. One final ball we fumbled but hope you don’t: take the time to formalize this network. Do twice-annual zoom or in-person meetings. Drinks. Spa days. Whatever it takes to bond these people together (and to you). Next week, we move on to growth, and ensuring you aren’t sacrificing success for a good night’s sleep. Cheers!