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Let’s face it. Business is about money and the most powerful networks are the ones which are involved every time money changes hands all over the world.  The powerful, well-connected law firms, the large banks, the big four accounting firms,investment bankers on Wall Street and throughout the country…… these are the people at the white hot center of power. Many of the people in these networks can make or break your career or your business, with a nod, a wink or an introduction. These are the interconnected networks, often known as the old boys’ networks, who can introduce you to each other, sponsor you, mentor you, guide you and usher you in to meet the people who can write the biggest checks and who might take a liking to your deal, particularly if their friends like it. After all, just as people promote in their own image, people like to hob nob, do business, chat and knock back a few scotch and waters, light up a few Cohiba cigars after dinner with others like them.

Let’s say you have a very hot tech start up and you want to present it to a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, but you don’t know any personally.  How do you meet one?  Basically, you can’t. Unless you know someone who knows one or works for one.  But your lawyer can.  You lawyer calls one of the ultra powerful law firms in Silicon Valley, whose clients include the biggest and hottest tech companies and a string of venture capitalists.  You lawyer gives you a good reference….basically assuring his colleague that  you are respectable, pay your bills and aren’t a con artist and that the deal you want to talk about is a real and viable one… then that lawyer arranges an introduction to a venture capitalist.  Voila! It’s done.

But how do you cozy up to a lawyer in the first place?  And not just any lawyer.  It has to be a civil ( as opposed to criminal) lawyer in an affluent, extremely well connected firm.  Rich people always have lawyers.  They need them for tax and estate planning.  If you are not yet in that category you may have to be on the look out to find the right entry lawyer.  I’ll explain what I mean by entry.

Lawyers are on the look out too, for clients.  Most of the big, affluent firms make a point of sending one of their lawyers to hang out with most of the important business organizations in town: the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the Chamber of Commerce, several of the leading technology organizations.  This is their potential client pool.   Sometimes they send a young lawyer or someone who’s trying to develop a particular practice, say , technology.  But it doesn’t matter who it is or what their field is.  This is your entry lawyer. He or she gets you inside the gates of power. Once you have a relation with a lawyer in the firm, they can produce a lawyer with any kind of specialty you need.  What you will need is someone with contacts in your field who can guide you in the right direction, get you connected with the movers and shakers you need to know, and help you make any deals you may need to make in the future.  If they think you are a comer, someone likely to do big things in the future, you will not have to spend a lot of money with the firm.  They are banking on your future.  And in the meantime, they will probably invite you to firm parties, which you should attend because you definitely will meet some movers and shakers.

So, here’s the sequence. Most of us network a lot of the time, at conferences, seminars, trade industry shows, associations and dinners. We get someone’s business card and we give them ours  We now have a contact within a certain company, someone who can tell us,we hope, who’s on first, who has the power, who to talk to about what, and which way to the water cooler. Good.  But minimal.

Next, we work our contacts to find out which professional organizations relevant to our field have enough juice to attract some power players. And we set out to join one or two of those organizations.  Once in, we look around for the outposts of the Most Powerful Network: the top law firms, accountants or bankers. He or she will definitely be there. ( If they’re not, that tells you something about the organization.  They may be nice, but they might not be powerful.) Then we have to put in the work it takes to develop a relationship and demonstrate our professional abilities.  One way to do this is by volunteering to be on a committee with some power players.  Sometimes these people are on the committee in name only, because they have a recognizable name which impresses people.  You, however, need to be a worker bee, until you achieve that kind of stardom.  You need to nurture those relationships and always give your best.

Once you’ve impressed the powers that be with your skills, your path into the Most Powerful Network and the white hot center of power should be assured.

If you think you have a different or better path, write us and tell us.  We’d love to hear from you.

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Here is a blog we are absolutely aching to get some comments on from women with different perspectives. Particularly such statements as :

“I don’t understand where women stand anymore. ’70s-style feminism is clearly defined in my mind, but it’s been a long time since then. What do women want most these days? Symbolic strength? A voice from a sister? Traditional roles?

Anyone?

From Conde Nast Portfolio:

Citigroup’s Sallie Krawcheck, one of the highest-profile women on Wall Street, will step down, according to the Wall Street Journal. She heads Citigroup’s wealth-management unit, which is being moved into the bank’s institutional group as a part of a broad restructuring.

Krawcheck was recruited by former chief executive Sandy Weill in 2002 to run the Smith Barney business. She rose to become the bank’s chief financial officer for three years until 2007, when she was moved to the head of Citi’s wealth-management business as part of an overhaul of the bank’s top ranks.

This is just the latest in a string of senior-ranking female departures on Wall Street. Last November, Zoe Cruz was asked to resign from her post as co-president of Morgan Stanley after the department she oversaw made a series of disastrous subprime trades.

And then in June, Lehman fired its chief financial officer Erin Callan after investors raised questions about the bank’s financial statements. Lehman’s bankruptcy filing early last week is seen by some as vindication for Callan.

Journalist Megan Barnett wisely points out that while investment banks recently fired several high-ranking women, the fact remains that there aren’t many investment banks left, either.

Does Krawcheck’s layoff mean anything for the women’s movement? Does it mean anything at all?

Looking at this from a women’s interest perspective, the moral of the story is that Wall Street will fire executives when in a pinch, whether they’re female or not. The message to women is that they, too, can become Mistresses of the Universe. Victory! Except that women, too, can be fired at the turn of the market. Darn.

There’s so much contradictory news circulating through the Internet today that I can’t make sense of what women’s interest means anymore:

1) Men with egalitarian attitudes about the role of women in society earn significantly less on average than men who hold more traditional views about women’s place in the world, according to a study being reported today. (Washington Post)

Moral: Empirical evidence has shown that men who know their place, and a woman’s place, make more money.

Message: Real men

2) A quote from Norla, a small-town American woman, on voting for Sarah Palin: “…if not [Palin], it’s just the old-boys network again.” Palin’s small-town credentials appeal to Norla, although she has questions about Palin’s experience. “But what the heck? A lot of people didn’t have experience before they got in, and she’s got a lot of good common sense.” (Salon)

Moral: This small-town woman thinks Palin, by virtue of being a woman, cannot possibly also be part of the old boys’ network. Gender matters more than experience or connections.

Message: You’re pro-woman if you vote for a woman. Any woman. Regardless of whether you agree with her viewpoints or not.

3) (Republican pollster Kellyanne) Conway said more women will vote than men this fall – as has happened in every presidential election since 1964 – and will be a deciding factor. Less than two months ago, Mr. McCain was trailing Mr. Obama significantly among women, and “now they are now pretty much neck and neck.” (Dallas Morning News)

Moral: Women have the power to sway the elections.

Question: Are you more pro-woman if you vote for a woman, in the flesh, or a man whom you believe stands for women more than the actual woman?

I don’t understand where women stand anymore. ’70s-style feminism is clearly defined in my mind, but it’s been a long time since then. What do women want most these days? Symbolic strength? A voice from a sister? Traditional roles?

Anyone? ”

Please send us your perspective, your thoughts and feedback.

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