Episode 111: The #1 Way to Build Your Network as an Introvert in Biotech and Beyond (RE-RELEASE)

Want to learn how to network? Want to learn how to network as an introvert?

Or an extrovert-ish?

Listen to this podcast.

And we'll tell you our tips, secrets, and some of our stories.

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Welcome back to Bio from the Bayou. I'm James Zanewicz, the Chief Strategy Officer at Tulane Medicine.

And I'm Elaine Hamm, the Executive in Residence at Tulane School of Medicine. And James and I have had many years of experience with networking and networking events, and today we want to talk about our biggest pieces of advice from networking in biotech.

We don't have experience just going to them, we have experience producing them, so I feel like we understand it from both All the table sides of the table. And ways that we wish we never had learned.

Oh, 100%. And I had to learn it because I wouldn't say I was naturally good at it either.

Networking, I think, is key to not just success for companies or institutions, but for personal career paths. And, you know, I've been really fortunate in my life that a lot of deals that we've done when I was in tech transfer or collaborations in these BD roles have come from networking and talking to people.

And it's usually the ones that I wasn't strategizing about were the most interesting Yeah, because let's talk about one of the first jobs you had, which was for— what was that television show?

Oh yeah, Extra Extra.

Extra Extra.

Exactly.

And now you're Chief Strategy Officer.

Right.

And that probably wouldn't have come about without the use of networking.

Taught me how to communicate, as did standing behind a customer service desk at Kmart. But I think that really does come down to a lot of this. You have to learn how to connect with and talk to everyone in a genuine way.

That's hard.

And I'll say I'm very fortunate that I had a liberal arts college background because it exposed me to I'm into little bits of everything where I don't know a lot about anything, but I'm able to engage in a conversation about most topics. And I think, you know, if you read, if you like food, if you like wines, like you can pretty much always find something in common with people to talk about.

Yeah. Well, and we talk about networking and I hate that word. I mean, it just sort of conjures up very specific images of, you know, handing out business cards and wheeling and dealing and—

Which gives you social anxiety because I know you do.

Oh, just the very thought of it. I hate it. And the reason why is because as an introvert, I hate that type of thing, but I mean, It feels superficial. And so, when I talk about networking, I talk about connecting. And if I go in with a specific purpose of like, I'm going to get a job, well, you come off with that energy of like, I need a job, please give me a job, and you bring that with you. And so, you really have to go into it with like, I genuinely want to know about this person, and they may provide nothing to me right now, and they may never ever provide something to me right now.

Yeah.

But eventually, you know, they might cross paths with you again, and you might have an opportunity to work with them down the road. But you can't go into it with like, what can they do for me? Absolutely.

And I think that hits both for networking and partnering, because partnering is much more intentional. It's much more like online dating where people swipe right or left and you get super excited or super sad when they say no. But you know, you're going into the meeting with something they're interested in. You have a topic given.

Absolutely.

But then you go to the reception afterwards and you're bumping into people and you have no idea unless they're wearing their badge even who they're from, who they're with. And you have to, in the moment, kind of figure out how am I going to build a relationship? And I think the way to do that is just Being real and being yourself and being a person first and a scientist or business person second.

And if it doesn't come naturally to you, I have to say you have to practice. And, you know, I'm a trained sorority girl, so my networking came from my secret past of being a sorority girl. Well, we had to do rush and they— we had conversational starters and how to do small talk. And I mean, I read books about how to network because I needed that touchdown for myself of just always having something I can look back to, of just, you know, something that I've read in the newspaper. Well, we can talk about that today. So—

And then when you got out in the business world, you tried to ditch out on receptions and Oh, always. And you can find a friend who will give you a rule. What is your ruling?

Well, I have to say, you didn't come up with this idea. I did, before I would go to any networking event, I would 100% have a goal with me of like, what do I want to get out of this? Why am I attending this? And I wasn't allowed to leave until I accomplished that goal. And sometimes it was, you know, a very simple, I want to meet this very specific person, the keynote speaker, whatever it may be. Otherwise, I'm just gonna hang out by the buffet, and then I'll leave. And so what's the point of putting on Spanx if I'm just gonna like eat carrots and leave? That's dumb. So I would make small rules for But then you expanded my small rules again.

Because you said 3, and what did I say?

5. So yeah.

And 5 what?

5 new people.

Yeah, my first time I made this rule for Elaine at a reception, came back, she's like, I met 5. I'm like, how many were new? She's like, 2. I'm like, 3 more.

Yeah.

And my other personal favorite was she told people this rule at BIO Europe this year.

Yeah.

And one of the people retracted her meeting of Elaine and said, nope, I retract my introduction to you. You must go get a new one. Which was one of my favorite moments ever. It was amazing.

Well, and that's also just being real about who I am as a person of just like, you know, It's hard for me to do these things. And so just talking to people about that. And sometimes I just find an extrovert that can go and sometimes extroverts just really like to do that.

So it's pair up with somebody is some of your best advice. And for people who are perhaps like me, a little more comfortable talking to people at receptions or have learned to be, but maybe don't have as deep of a science skill, pairing with an introvert with deep science is really helpful too.

I think it's where we work together.

I know, right? But it is, it's find those people who complement you.

100%.

But don't do it alone, and you can make lots of friends at these events and do that.

But I would say going to these events, getting the name, you know, business card is one thing, but it's the follow-up. There's no point in putting on Spanx and eating carrot sticks and meeting those 5 people if you're not gonna do anything with that information afterwards. So, it's about following up afterwards and being genuinely interested to stay connected with that person.

So, what do you say when you're talking, if you're meeting somebody new, how do you start that conversation, that awkward conversation? If it's—

Usually awkwardly.

If it's networking and not, because partnering, it's easy, you know what you're going in.

You know what you're going into, yeah. But when you're networking, how do you do that? Oh, you know, I'm actually gonna throw that back to you because you're so very good at it because you go into it confidently without even thinking about it. I usually have to plan it in advance. So I have to know, you know, who's gonna be there. I will look at the guest list, I will look at the conference attendees, and so I'll already know, I'll stalk people before I go to those. So I mean, there's a lot of prep that I do ahead of time, but you don't do that type of prep. And so you just are very good at naturally just going into a situation and just there you are.

It's harder for me when it's like the very beginning of an event and I haven't seen stuff, but When you've gone to a few panels or something, I will try and spy somebody who I saw on a panel and go say, hey, I really enjoyed your insights on this or that. Where, did I do homework? No. But once you've met a person, it's like that old commercial for, gee, your hair smells terrific. And they told 2 friends and they told 2 friends and so on and so on. But you know, you meet a person and then they know people and all of a sudden you're much more comfortable at the party.

Yeah. I kind of keep sort of like in my back pocket practice topics, practice ways to bring people into the conversation because you'll see people sort of milling about and then you can tell they wanna join. And so you've had to find ways to graciously bring people in, and then you also have to find ways to graciously leave. And I used to use the one where it's like, I'm gonna go get a drink, do you want anything? But here's the bad thing about that, like, you have to come back, and that's not leaving. So, yeah.

But you can take a break at least.

Yeah, exactly. Like, I'm so sorry, I just saw a person. I mean, there's so many different ways that you can do it, but I have to kind of keep that list in the back of my mind so I don't get overwhelmed with social anxiety, which can happen.

Yeah, and I'll say, Dr. Nancy Martin, who was my vice president for research at Louisville, was seminal in some of this with me, where she was a woman in science very early on, and she told me stories about how she would just go put her tray down at the table with the other PhDs, because they were all men, and be like, hey, I'm having lunch with you. And that is how I will approach initial networking events. I'll see like a group of 4 or 5, and I walk up and say, hey, I'm James, I'm from Tulane, would love to meet you all. And I don't love that. It is awkward even for me. But once you do that, you have 5 new friends, or 5 people who hate you. But either way, you've met 5 people.

You've met 5 people, yeah. Well, and I want to talk about something that is networking adjacent, and that is something that you have honestly been for me over the many, many years. And I say this to women in particular, is to find people that will speak your name in a room that you're not in.

Mm-hmm.

That's another sort of side of networking and the benefit of networking, of like when people think of you when a certain topic comes up, or when a job comes up, of like, hey, you know who'd be perfect for this? It's so-and-so. And that doesn't happen if you don't get to know people and find the people that can also be as part of your network, Advocates for you.

That really comes down to getting help from people with larger networks potentially, because they may go to more events. But if they know about you and you've made your maybe your 5 friends, but those 5 people are super social, they're going to talk about you with all the people they meet, which expands your network. And they'll go find you on LinkedIn and connect and they'll be like, hey, so-and-so was telling me about you and you didn't have to go in public. You can stay at home and do microbiology in your underwear. That I've done. And actually accomplish networking by Leveraging smaller number of relationships, which is cool.

Yeah, absolutely. And there's other things besides sort of the networking event. I mean, you don't want to ever go to somebody when you have an ask. That is such an awkward, awkward feeling. And so touching base with people throughout the year, when you think of them, send them something. I even do this with my friends. If I'm thinking of them, I'll send them a text and just say, hey, I'm thinking of you. Because it's just really hard to maintain relationships as adults, honestly. I mean, it just is. And so same thing with networking of like, when I see an article, just like, hey, I saw this article, thought of you. That's it. And it's just sort of a touchstone. And again, that It makes it a more genuine sort of engagement that you're not just getting something from them, which is so gross to me.

And you can do that easily too if you don't want to send it directly, like networking on social media. You see that, you post that article and you tag those people.

Yeah, absolutely.

Whether it's Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, whatever you're on, say, hey, you might be interested in this. And they see that as a benefit to sharing.

Yeah, absolutely. That's fantastic.

The last thing I want us to talk about, Elaine, is just wrapping up with maybe one example of a personal networking success that you've had, then I'll give one too.

Is it bad if it's you?

Oh my God. No, it's not. As you say, my favorite topic, me.

Right, exactly. Well, we met at BIO now 15 years ago. I was sitting outside. It was after a cocktail reception. I was sitting outside. This was in the evening. I think I was trying to make a stuffed manatee smoke a cigarette.

You were?

So that's a pretty good way of starting the conversation.

I'm like, hey, who are you? You seem cool.

Yeah. So my network tip is to props. Prop comedy is always the best way to network. Just kidding. And you were a colleague of a friend of mine. So it was Hyder and Cameron introduced us.

Yes.

And, you know, we stayed in touch over the years. We genuinely wanted to get to know each other. And again, I go back to that thing that you have always done incredibly well is connect people. You were a connector and are a connector, and that you speak my name in rooms that I'm not in. I just think as a networker, you're an incredibly genuine person, so you want to help people.

And I think mine involves you, but one of my favorites is when we transitioned what Autumn had done, which had been kind of a talking to ourselves networking event for directors where I'm like, we all know each other and can call each other and email each other.

Yeah.

We don't want to do that. But we invited people from spaces that weren't normally there. We invited, you know, a third people in universities, but then a third people in companies and investors, and a third people in government foundations.

Yeah.

And we actually renamed it The Conversation because it was about driving a conversation with no PowerPoints in a way. And that was one of my favorite success stories because networking was built into the event panels, but also we had a lot of networking time and we kept it at like 100 people where you're not going to a 14,000-person reception at a massive conference. But, you know, it's easier when it's organic and you're bumping into people multiple times. And I love crafting those events as much as attending them. And as I've gotten older, like in my younger days, the large, huge party blowouts were super fun. And now I'm like, I want to go to the little cocktail reception and maybe get room service or some sushi with you at Nobu after and be done.

Yeah. Networking events should feel like the best dinner party you've been to, right? I mean, Yeah. You wanna have the interesting people, an interesting conversation, and leave feeling like you did something and accomplished something. Yep.

And so with that, I guess for anyone who's listening to this and wants to network, when you send a LinkedIn request, always tell people why. Here's our tip for you. So when you see our LinkedIn in the show notes, don't just click, you know, request.

Request.

Request with a note and say, hey, loved your podcast on networking, would love to expand mine. And I will accept if you do that, 1,000%.

If you don't leave me a note and it doesn't feel like it's just like AI generated, I will ignore it 100%. And there's your helpful tip for today. Yeah.

Oh, we have, yeah.

Yeah, out of everything, there's our one tip.

Exactly. Well, I love doing this. Elaine, thanks so much.

Yeah, we could go on and on about this.

And I look forward to doing this with you again, probably in 10 minutes on a different topic.

Probably so. Always fun to chat with you.

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