Golden Rolodex still valuable but ability to mobilize, provide data more important

The most effective association leaders combine constant relationship-building with knowledge of their members' issues, a unified board, a knack for finding common ground and the ability to turn crisis into opportunity, experts told executives at the CEO Update Live: Power and Influence event Feb. 4.

Nels Olson, vice chairman of recruiting giant Korn Ferry, said perception and relationships are still important in the nation's capital, but that industry knowledge has become a more valuable currency.

"Relationships mattered more 20 years ago. With the gift ban and the laws that have changed, you can't wine and dine policymakers like you used to," he said. "Today you need substance."

Margery Kraus, founder and CEO of APCO Worldwide, said that substance has become more important than the golden Rolodex of old.

"The idea that you can figure out how to either mobilize a constituency or provide high-quality information or very targeted ways to show people that if you do this, this will happen, has increased in value over the so-called thousand-dollar phone call," she said.

But Kraus, Olson and others on the panel said building solid relationships with policymakers and the public in good times can make the difference between a problem and a crisis when adverse events occur.

"Relationships don't happen overnight, it takes putting a brick in the wall every day," Olson said.

Build coalitions

Other panelists included Matthew Shay, CEO of the $36 million-revenue National Retail Federation, and Anita Dunn, managing director of SKDKnickerbocker and former White House communications director for President Barack Obama. The event was held at SunTrust Bank's Washington, D.C., headquarters on New York Avenue.

Shay said relationships don't mean much if your board and industry are not behind you. Earning the confidence of and credibility with the board allows members to delegate more to the CEO, which can prevent decisions from getting tied up in bureaucracy.

"You can move almost instantly," he said.

Dunn said executives can build good will for their groups, even in this politically "bipolar" era, by finding areas of agreement with adversaries.

"Some of the best leaders are reaching out to the people who are on the other side of issues to try to find common ground," she said. If groups oppose each other on one set of issues, there may be others where they can act in concert.

"It's just much harder to have that intensely personal, negative, polarized relationship with somebody you've worked with in a coalition," she said. "Look for an issue where you can work together. Build a trusting relationship so you can discuss issues in a less contentious atmosphere."

Shay said executives identified by their background on the Hill or in elected office with one party can still do business with officials of the other party.

"You can't change your stripes to a certain extent," he said. "You're clearly going to be associated with that brand, but it's the way that you use it. When you get invited to the White House to discuss immigration, are you going to come in and be a bomb-thrower or are you going try to be solution-oriented?"

Kraus said CEOs shouldn't let their titles inflate their egos, because they may overlook their areas of weakness.

"Sometimes humility and being underestimated is actually a great strength in leadership that's overlooked," she said. "You learn a lot about your deficits and assets quickly."

Dunn agreed, and said CEOs should build staff to complement their abilities.

"The leaders who understand their own strengths and weaknesses and therefore are able to compensate for their weaknesses, who know what they need to hear from other people, who know when their own instincts can be trusted, are leaders who are much better to work with."

Dunn said playing the "outside game," communicating with the public and encouraging members to do so, is increasingly important, and executives unused to it should get coaching.

"Establishing yourself as a spokesperson is an important part of being a good CEO," she said. "First impressions do matter and it takes a long time to overcome a bad first impression."

Building credibility, substance and integrity in the eyes of the public pays dividends.

"Nothing happens in secret anymore," Dunn said. "At the end of the day, lawmakers have to go home and explain why they did something."