CEOs, Don’t Skip the Networking

What do you do if you’re one of thousands of important people—including 1,600 business executives (more than 900 CEOs among them) and several hundred government leaders—who are gathering in a small Swiss town for a few days?

You had better network, experts say, or you might miss out on a massive business opportunity or insight. “There is real value for executives at the peak of their careers to continually expand their networks,” says Alan Guarino, vice chairman in Korn Ferry’s CEO and Board Services practice.

Networking—the practice of actively expanding and maintaining a group of professional connections—is virtually every senior professional’s go-to advice for any early-career employee. Networking is about developing relationships and exchanging information and, over time, it’s a far better way to find new career opportunities than just polishing a résumé, experts say. Formal or informal, networks enable an exchange of ideas about industry trends, regulatory issues, and best practices, says Joe Griesedieck, vice chairman and managing director of Korn Ferry’s Board and CEO Services practice.

Yet many CEOs and other executives skip networking, be it at the World Economic Forum in Davos (happening this week) or other high-profile confabs. Ego is involved, of course; these leaders are already at—or near—the top, so who could possibly help them? Others fear that a request for help might be seen as a sign of weakness. Executives have privacy concerns, too—that by talking about certain situations, they might inadvertently reveal critical information.

But interacting with leaders in other industries can expose them to different perspectives or new approaches to problem-solving. As long as the executives aren’t direct competitors, they’re unlikely to go so far into the weeds that they reveal trade secrets.

An executive can network in many of the same ways an early-career employee can—by sitting next to someone at a forum, asking someone to chat over coffee, sending an introductory email, or grabbing a few minutes to talk at a conference. Experts say savvy leaders also can expand their networks by soliciting ideas from former team members about anything, such as potential new talent, that might help their business. There’s a reciprocal benefit: These former employees or other network members can discover their own business opportunities during these conversations.

Executives also can take advantage of a growing variety of senior-executive-only meetups. These small groups are designed to bring together high-powered executives from different industries to talk about common issues. They offer leaders an opportunity to candidly talk about the unprecedented number of so-called breaking points they face, among them increased geopolitical uncertainty, empowered employees, and a growing number of activist-investor campaigns. In these small groups, fellow executives provide an empathetic audience. “Networking at this level is critical to grow,” says Kevin Cashman, Korn Ferry’s vice chairman of CEO and enterprise leadership, who organizes these exclusive forums.

Learn more about Korn Ferry’s Board and CEO Services capabilities. 

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