Isaac Mashman on networking and introductions: why relationships are a form of capital, how a stranger becomes an acquaintance, and the daily habit he built for it, the Power of 3.
Isaac Mashman learned networking early, in network marketing, and kept the lessons that worked. In his telling, networking is not selling: it is gathering information, finding a connection, and laying the foundation for a relationship that both people tend over years. This guide gathers where he explains it.
In the course of networking, it is not your place to criticize, judge, or object to another. Networking is purely the gathering of information, finding pieces of connection, and laying the foundation for a forthcoming relationship. It is a time of fellowship, not a time to be adversarial in the slightest sense.
The same subchapter sets out FORM, the four things to learn about anyone new: Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Motivation. Isaac took the method from his early years in network marketing. Lines from 7.3, Networking and Introductions. The quote on its own page.
Each conversation opens at the moment the passage begins, in the full transcript of Isaac’s words.
“Introductions are how you figuratively skip the line and go straight into the realm of another.”
“At the start of every conversation ask yourself what can I give, not what can I take.”
As told in the Manifesto, his essays, and on this site.
Around 2019, Isaac developed the Power of 3 for clients who needed a simple way to grow their network: introduce yourself to three strangers every day. Ninety days produces 270 new connections, and a full year produces 1,095, before any compounding.
Using the Power of 3Isaac practices conversation with strangers wherever he goes, with three openings: a compliment, a question, or a joke. The coffee aisle is a favorite. He has been talked into a brand there, and has talked others into his.
The Craft of Making ConversationA tweet introduced Isaac and Eric Chow in 2019, and Eric interviewed Isaac that August. They have worked together since: Eric is Chief Operating Officer of Mashman Consulting Group.
More in the FAQThe free tracker on identitypositioning.com that keeps the count.
Power of 3 Tracker (opens in a new tab)Networking and introductions, on Mashman Consulting Group's doctrine page.
The FORM Method (opens in a new tab)Three new people a day, in full, from the firm's Doctrine Library.
The Power of 3 (opens in a new tab)
