Keep Every Business Card

Teaching Elephants to Talk Tip
By Matt Lewis
Mar. 14, 2005

So what’s the key to getting ahead in politics? If history is a guide, the answer may just be networking.

• George H.W. Bush recorded the name and personal information of every person he met at every political event he ever attended. He made it a point to write them frequent notes. By the time he ran for president, Bush had a Christmas card list totaling tens of thousands of personal “friends.”
• Bill Clinton listed every contact he made and wrote it on a 3 x 5 card, before going to bed at night. Clinton started networking early. In fact, two of his kindergarten classmates later were part of his administration (Webb Hubbell and “Mac” McLarty).
• Lyndon Johnson once took six showers in a single day – just so he could “bump into” his roommates (he was living in a rooming house with other congressional staffers). According to Chris Matthews’ book Hardball, the stunt worked: Johnson was elected president of the congressional aides’, Little Congress.

I don’t know what your future will hold, but I do know this: Your success or failure in politics will likely be based on the contacts you are making today.