The 40-40-20 Rule of Networking. The Top Secrets I Shared with Lexi B.

Hello, hello, hello, hello, Top 5% Collective. This is Katheline Jean-Pierre, your podcast host. And today I want to introduce an episode that had so much fun recording with Lexie Bee. She came to the pod a couple of months, even a year ago, but this one is different. We did co-hosted a masterclass where she interviewed me about career acceleration strategies. I thought, you know what, Lexie, give me the recording. I'll push it to the pod. Because I wanna make sure that you reconnect through all this good content that's gonna be coming your way. So I hope you enjoy it. I hope you find it helpful and you enjoy that episode with my girl Lexie Bee, who's the AI security product manager at Microsoft. Have a good listen. Bye-bye. Welcome to Driving Impact.

How do you get comfortable? Like, this is not your typical everyday training. This is candid, relaxed, bite-sized conversations where you can learn and leave inspired, maybe laugh a little bit, keep it real, keep it practical, keep it fun. And today I have the absolute pleasure of introducing two powerhouse leaders. So let me go ahead and get started and introduce these incredible women. So first, y'all, it's, it's lunch up, lunch down with Lexi. It is Lexi B. She's a strategic tech leader. She works in what she calls the risky risk space, which is basically building creative solutions for AI problems. And she has over 15 years of experience solving tech problems across engineering, legal, compliance, and regulatory spaces for global organizations like Twitter, Facebook, Airbnb, and NetApp. She is a trusted advisor to C-suite executives She's known for her integrity, her emotional intelligence, and her ability to manage confidential information at the highest level. She's also a pragmatic people leader with over 8 years leading diverse teams and critical company-wide cross-functional programs to streamline operations, prevent and manage risk, and grow revenue. What a stacked resume. I'm like literally obsessed. But basically, Lexi operates where most people are afraid to go, and she does it with grace, and she does it with results. The other end of our amazing duo here, Katheline Jean-Pierre, innovative catalyst. She is drawn to bold future-forward missions, the kind that demand reinvention and that challenge the status quo. She thrives on that intersection of innovation and impact. I'm a little obsessed with that line. So at LinkedIn, she led never-done-before initiatives across venture, electric vehicles, B2B retail, finances, DeFi, DeFi segments. At Google, she drove early adoption of AI-powered marketing solutions that delivered double and triple-digit growth to a billion dollars. Big bets are where she feels most alive and thrives. So whether she's shaping new business frontiers or pioneering industry shifts before they come mainstream, that is where she thrives. And here's one other thing that makes her even more extraordinary is she's coached more than 15 thousand women at Google through a program that continues to empower talent around the world. Guiding that next generation and then letting them step into their potential is not just part of her work, it is her life mission. Talk about some powerhouse figures. These two are gonna take us through some highs, some lows, everything in between. Professional growth, personal growth, and whether you're listening here, you're navigating career pivots, you're scaling your business, or you're just looking for a little motivation, this session is designed to leave you energized, and ready to take action. So before we dive in, just the last housekeeping. Anytime in the chat you have a hum, a hum moment, you're like, oh my gosh, yes, I needed to hear that. You keep that chat going. That keeps the energy going like crazy. If you have a question at any time, ladies, we're gonna do a live Q&A. So there's a little question box at the bottom of your screen. It's got a little question mark on it.

It says Q&A.

Pop any questions in there as we go, and they're gonna answer them live at the end. So are y'all excited? Like, let me know one more time in the chat that you're ready for some real talk, some real stories and real strategies from These two women who have done the work. Lexi, you do not sound exhausted. You sound freaking like power stacked and that's amazing. Without further delay, I'm gonna mute myself and I'm gonna just be quiet and absorb all the energy. Uh, please take it away, you brilliant ladies.

Awesome. Thank you so much, Kimberly. So my name is Lexi Bee. Thank you so much for that beautiful intro. And I founded this concept of lunching up and lunching down. Basically what it means is that lunching up and lunching down, building relationships with people is the most effective way to actually get things done. And this is how it works. You've got a problem, invite someone to a meal, step outside the classroom, the boardroom, the conference room, and start with actual human questions instead of starting to try to work out the problem. How does this work affect you? What do you need? How can I help you? That's when you'll actually uncover what the root of the issue is, and you will see this person as a human and not just their job title. Once you understand that, you can align their goals with yours and vice versa. The exchange becomes mutual. You figure out how you can help them and they figure out how they can help you short-term and long-term. Suddenly the work moves faster. The relationship deepens and trust is built, not because of a memo or another conversation, but because you took the time to lunch up and lunch down. So, Miss Katheline, Queen Katheline, the Katheline, how are you, sis?

I'm doing so great. I'm so excited to be here. Hi to everyone. I love to see all the cities in the chat. I'm gonna say hi, special hello to Alameda, cuz I used to live in Silicon Valley and it reminds me so many beautiful memories. Yes. I'm excited to be here.

I mean, people talking about that. So I, I do live in the Silicon Valley. I live in Oakland and I always tell people Alameda is where my heart is. I used to live in Alameda. I rented. For folks who don't know, Alameda looks like a Hallmark Christmas movie all year long. Without the snow.

Yes, it's a best kept secret. It's— I, I just could— I think Berkeley as well, and Oakland, and all that. So many. I love Los Altos. Here we go. I'm gonna say it now.

You do need about like $4.5 mil for a Victorian in Alameda, so just get your coins right, you know, add a couple together. But it's gorgeous. It's amazing. It's amazing.

It's amazing.

So Katheline, before we get into this topic, which I know that you are a star at, I wanted to ask you, do you remember how we met? Oh my gosh.

I don't know if we met in the DMs on LinkedIn and then I invited you to my podcast. No, where?

You spoke at an event for Black women on boards. And I was 6 weeks postpartum. I did not know my name. Um, but I was in the program and I said, let me, let me show up. And I was camera off and you were doing a presentation on how to sell yourself. To this group of women. And I remember I was the only person, camera off. I had no shame in the game because I was 6 weeks postpartum. And I was like, I'm trying to listen to half of it. I'm trying to understand what's going on as my hormones are at all these varying levels that are not stable. But I, I'll be frank with you. I forgot what you said about pitching yourself, but I remember leaving and saying, I want, I want to be her friend because she is dope. And I added you on LinkedIn. and then I found out that you were working at LinkedIn and I was at Microsoft, which is like your, it's like your parent company.

Yeah.

So then I slid in your DMs at work and that's what happened. Yeah.

That's amazing. Listen, but that's an example first of powerful networking because out of the group, because it was the board rising, so the future board members that will be the next to join eventually, uh, Black Women on Board. So you and another girl are the two that I speak to.

Right.

And that's powerful because you have the strongest LinkedIn presence and it's not a bias here, but I remember that you stroke really my attention. You got my attention because I started reading your post and I was like, who's this woman? Because you would just post something with like these emojis and it was pretty unique and very bold. And it was like, so that's really powerful networking because then I launched my podcast and then we reach 100,000 downloads. And then you were invited, right? Some people pay to play, some people are just invited. So, and that's an example of like having a seat at the table by really standing out and really owning your power and your voice.

I've been a fan for you for a long time, even in my postpartum haze where I barely knew how to spell my name, but I knew that you were phenomenal. That's a very big deal.

Thank you.

Um, so my first question for you is, you have been a sales leader in some of the world's largest consumer-based companies, right? Like these are companies that when people go home to their family for the holiday season and say, I work there, everyone at the table knows what it is from the 3-year-old all the way to like great uncle Tyrone who forgot where his nose was, but they, but he knows exactly what Google is, right? And I think sales is so interesting because sales, when you look at any other industry, you actually have to build relationships in order to sell. There is no selling without relationship building. So my question for you is, why do you think relationships are so important in any industry? Let's just start there.

Yeah. Yeah. I think, and I can start at home with sales, is listen, I was, I went in sales from account manager to managing director, and I've learned very early on because I'm, I'm a little bit, I'm somebody who can feel the energies in the room. So I learned very early on that if people like you, they're going to buy from you. Ideally, your solution has to work, but I'm going to give you an example. When I was selling in Montreal, I would go work from an agency and I would sit there and because I was present, like just proximity, and they liked me because I was the salesperson paying for the happy hours and whatnot. They would say, oh, I have an extra $100,000. Do you want me to put it on YouTube? Do you want me to? So it's just the proximity. And because also I was not coming with a condescending tone, ah, We have the best platform and you're— no, it's just like, I would really work at their level. We would partner together and be able to unlock opportunities. So I believe people buy from people and people buy from people they like. So if they don't like you, they're going to find a way to weasel out of buying from you or just reducing the budget. And that's just basic one-on-one if you want to survive in sales, if they don't really need you. So they're going to avoid you at all costs. And I think the power of networking, back to your question, is that how can you build real relationships with people knowing that we are stretched for time, we all have a million things or emails or priorities, and there's a strategy to be able to navigate your life such that I like to automate as much as possible and simplify, automate my wardrobe, automate my relationships. And one way I've done to do it is I audit my relationships every year. So when I moved, I was in the Bay Area for multiple years. So I'm from Montreal, Quebec. Bonjour tout le monde. And when I moved from Montreal, Kimberly's laughing. I wanted to make you laugh. So when I moved from Quebec, I had to reinvent myself and create a new community from scratch. And when I moved from the Bay Area to LA, after one year, just like you, I had a baby. I moved in 2018. I had a baby in 2020, and then it was COVID, and then I was at home. And then I reflected, where were my best relationships come from? And I see relationships not just like, oh, who's the most powerful in this? I look at people saying your net worth. Network is your network. No, your network is your generational wealth. It's going to dictate if your babies are going to be trust fund babies. I'm telling you, my baby's a trust fund baby, but don't go tell him that because otherwise it's never going to work. You know, the trust fund babies don't go tell them.

He doesn't have to struggle. Don't tell him. You got to give him a little bit of resilience. Give him a little, a little thug. You know what I mean?

I'm his mom, so I make him hustle. This kid is hustling. I told him. Has he got a long list of tasks? So, but something that's important is I had to audit and figure out what gave me energy, what did not give me energy. And I reflected there were two different organizations where I met the most valuable people for me. I reflected and I realized there's one community and it was not my neighbors who wanted to come for free bites and free wine and look at my kitchen. So it was not my neighbors. It was, there was one group from 2019. To today, that has brought the richest network to me of women, powerful women, also oftentimes are mothers who are reinventing the world. Those are people who are givers. People are gonna— when I was 9 months pregnant, I didn't know what to do. I had a little baby in COVID, and you know, you're kind of freaking out, and they both would give me gifts, but also give me the gifts of like bringing croissants and chocolatine and coffee and just presents and advice and, and That's very important. So I believe that you have networking seasons, but you want to figure out what is going to work for you such that you don't become isolated, right? At that time, I was not going to run and go to all these industry meetings or even meetups online. I was networking with my mom hive, and to this day, they're still very present in my life.

Tell me how you automate your wardrobe, because I tell people that I automate my wardrobe because my wardrobe is 80% all black. Or all brown. I was the monochrome queen before it was cool 2 years ago. So one, you're welcome.

Okay.

We've been doing that in my house for years. Um, and I do not wear a lot of color. And part of it was that I had to learn how to automate my wardrobe because I did not want to spend time trying to figure it out. But tell me about yours. I think automating your wardrobe is a very fascinating subject.

So my mom, my mom's name is Martine. She's a real, real Haitian woman, very driven. And she's like, when you find something that fits you and makes you look good, you buy at least 5 of them. So basically, if I have this dress and it fits me, I'm going to go and buy 10 because I know 3 years later I'm going to regret not having 10 copies because it's going to get old. And she was right. So basically, I have a dress that I really like. I bought it in black, right? It's a high-quality material from Vuori. I bought it in another color that's kind of like lavender, and then I have it like a grayscale. Oh, it's Haitian! Fania Franklin, bonjour! Comment yé la? Oh, so it's super important to have like, if you find, if I have, I like this, this is coming to an end. I don't think I'm gonna get another one, but I should have bought it in green, in blue, in white, because this is the most convenient thing. When I used to do work at LinkedIn and go from like the West Coast to the East Coast and the West Coast to the East Coast, this, you don't need to iron it, you don't have to think about it. But it's getting old. I have to check. So it's buy 10. If it fits you and make you look like a billion dollars, just buy 10 of it. That's it. Oh, somebody's husband is Haitian. Look at that. Look at all the families on that.

Talk about the mother hive. You know, before I became a mom, I was always mom adjacent. I knew women who had children. I knew powerful men and women who had children and/or were primary parents. But it wasn't until I actually had my own child where I realized the secrecy of, I call it the witchcraft of womanhood. And I say that with so much respect because in my next life, I really do want to be a witch. But there's something about this portal that opens if you have a connection to get to the seat at the table with high-powered women who are mothers. And for the record, this is not a billboard to become a mother. It is not. You have the right to do whatever you want with your body.

Whatever you want. You can do whatever you want.

If you don't want to be moms and every time that you want to be a mom, go plan a trip. Just go get on a plane, do things that moms can't do on a whim to remind yourself this is what non-motherhood is. But tell me more about that mother hive, because it is something very fascinating and very powerful that many people do not talk about, which is high-powered women who are mothers in a room helping each other. It's wild.

I think it's so— because you have to find your, you have to find your hive. So people like you who are driven in whatever they are driven. Like I have a girlfriend, she's a lawyer, she has 3 kids, right? But she's like, I'm gonna be a commissioner. I'm gonna be a judge. She's like the power networker of my city. She organizes things. It's like, I just, I'm like, you're the mayor of the city or what? So it's Knowing that she's a power networker, I can just flock around to and attend all her events. And I just, and cause I like to drop by, I don't like to organize the events, but I think it's knowing that you have somebody like that who also has a strong judgment, who's going to keep you in check, who's going to be there for you. We're going to have meal trains. So it's, you need to have a very strong support network. That's not going to be your husband. Right. And sometimes you need to have people who understand you. Right. And sometimes it can be moms and you need friends who don't have kids as well, because sometimes you need to go out. And you need to have fun and you need to be able to turn up. You don't want to be like, no, I'm talking, I'm going to keep it real. Like, I like my girlfriends who are moms. I also like my girlfriends who don't have kids because it's like, when are you free? It's like, Leo. And then we just go. And I have a girlfriend I go on trips with. And so you have to, you have to organize your life, right? Networking professionally, but also personally, what gives you energy, right? I have a girlfriend who was at Art Basel and Martha's Vineyard. And so you need this whole network such that you can just drop in when it suits you so that you're not just stuck in one single identity because we are multifaceted. So for my mom hive, I wanted people that I could trust. I wanted people that are going to give me the real deal. Me, you want to be my real friend, you got to keep it real. If I catch you lying, you, you're gonna be X'd out. I might forgive once, but the second time you're gonna be X'd out because I audit my relationships every single year. Come January, the bottom of the list just vanishes.

Tell me about that. I've actually never heard someone say they audit their relationships every single year. And that is a tidbit that I'm going to take. I may need to do some auditing in the next 3, you know, 3 weeks, because I've already selected my 2026 word. I always— and the word is access. And so I think that I may have to do this audit, but how— let's, let's go deeper. When did you start doing this audit? How did this idea come about? And how do you do it? Break it down for us. Cause this is fantastic.

I like Jacqueline. Is it Jacqueline Jones from LinkedIn? That mom voice came out. If I catch you. Oh yeah. That's what I was yelling at my son yesterday. What did you just do? And he was like, so basically a couple of things, right? I feel energies and I know, hi Jacqueline. Good to see you. I feel, I became, since becoming a mom, since I didn't know I was going to talk about becoming a mom. Since becoming a mom, I became way more intuitive, way more sensitive to people's energies. So I would feel energies. So I met this woman when I was, when I moved to LA. I really liked her. She was brilliant. She was beautiful. Her husband, they had 10 cars, like Teslas parked. She lied once at the dinner table about how her and I met. Once. I know it's going to sound crazy. She said, oh, Katheline was on Facebook, na na na. And she said, oh, we should be friends and stuff. I'm like, why would she lie about this? And then after that, I was invited to do a documentary about my career. Vashti, I invited her and then she went on camera and said something I, like, that was inappropriate. And I was like, that's it. I thought about it. I reached out and I was like, I'm out. I don't care how many cars you have parked. I don't care if you have the nicest house in the neighborhood. You're out because if I'm spending as much energy thinking, this is toxic, thinking about you and why you said what you said, and then somebody told me psychotic people lie about things that they don't need to lie about. And I was like, oh, maybe that's what it is. But I just, I can't, I cannot, I cannot, I have to protect my energy and I cannot surround myself with people where I'm never sure where the jab is going to come from. I'm not that person. I'm not interested in— and once you clean that, your real self blossoms and you become who you're meant to be. So yeah, I audit, but it's not like, it's not like it doesn't take me a lot of time to figure it out.

You're like, we don't get along because, you know, I'm the person, my mom, ever since I was little, would always tell me that I cut people off too quickly because I'm the person like, oh, you looked at me wrong, it's a wrap. I just don't have time to go deeper into why this happened. So we just, we just got to let go, let flow. Who gave you this idea? How was this idea developed initially for you? Was it, was it your Haitian mother? Was it an auntie or was it, was it you being like, I got to let some people go and that's okay?

I care about people. A lot and too much, right? If I manage a team, I'm gonna care about people. So I'm like a bit of an empath. So when you're an empath, you can't, you wanna carry the world, but you gotta, you gotta offload those babies, girl, or you're gonna go down, right? So you're gonna go down and you have to have this, your shield of light. And then, and then really you have to protect your energy. So for me, it's just a question of like, I know what my life purpose is. I know what I'm here to do and to be able to do my work. I need to clear myself from toxic people, environments, whatever that doesn't work. I need to let it go.

A question in the chat that's very relevant. Someone asked, so how do you actually do it when it's time to let people go? Is it a conversation? Is it just a loving, like, I may not respond to your text immediately anymore? What does that behavior look like?

I'm not a ghoster, so I don't ghost. I'm going to reach out and say, hey, do you have time to talk? And normally the—

Oh, you, oh, you. You like professionally divorce people? Like you conscious uncouple?

I don't necessarily want to have a meeting with every single person that has been hexed out.

Yeah.

It's not like— there's a couple of things, right? You can reduce the frequency, right? Because there's some people like you're going to see them. Some people it's a hard cutoff, professional divorce. Kimberly's like, professional divorce. That's another topic we can talk about. But it's the frequency. You can reduce the frequency, right? If those people are part of your blood family, So you might want to distance yourself. If those are people that it really takes a lot of energy and time, then you have to do a hard cutoff. If I reach out to someone twice and they become swirly and they don't want to talk, I'm just going to cut you off. And, and then I'm going to look at you in the street, like we've never seen each other or at the gym.

So you're a sniper about it. You're like, oh, you, who are you? Yes.

No, but if I reach out with, I'm a kind heart, right? If I reach out and say, let's talk, let's catch up and stuff. And then you. You know, serpents are going to be serpents. There's nothing you can do, right? And they're not going to change. So you got to remove yourself from the environment. So otherwise they're going to bite.

What about, jokes aside, what about when you have to professionally cut colleagues off? Because I've had to do this and I do think that, you know, we are all trained in this idea of like, don't burn a bridge. And I always tell people, sometimes you got to blow that thing up, but what weapon you use to blow it up. Silence can blow up a bridge. You know, machine guns can blow up a grid— bridge. Younger Lexi, you would have loved her, Katheline Jean-Pierre. Like, I was like, guns a-blazing at work. And I've become older, wiser. My knees can't go as low as they used to. I'm a little more stealth about it. But I really would like to know from your opinion, when it's time to let go of a professional relationship, where it's like, no, what's happening is bigger than just like, well, I'll just see you sometime maybe at a professional event. How do you handle that? Because it's just as important to understand how to decouple than it is to how to come together and network.

I think so. Sometimes some of those people are going to be your reports. So you can't really decouple. Like I've had some peers like, well, help them find their next play. Help them find their next play. Help them find their happy place. Right. But it's what, what it is, is that you have to, sometimes you have to send back the energy because you can't just cut off a report unless it's impacting their performance, the team performance. Oftentimes it does, right? So some people are energy vampires and it's unproductive. So you have to help them find their happy place, as the person said, or are you gonna help them by managing them out or finding whatever it is, or seeking deeper therapy? Cuz they all go to therapy, but I don't think they're listening. So I think what's important is you, you can't, you have to be professional about it in a way that you, if there's behaviors that are not working, you have to coach them towards a behavior and Document the behavior, but you can't just, if you, I've had reports that their goal in life was to be angry, right? And then people would come and complain that, oh, this person is always bringing so much anger and negativity, and then they don't want to do their job. Well, that's actually a reason to take some actions in terms of performance, right? So we'd have to be serious because if it's at work, there's a way to manage performance such that people come to a breakthrough and they realize, listen, I didn't realize that my way of looking at things was actually bringing the team down. Yes, you are bringing the team down. So we just have to make sure that we decouple, we understand what the issues are and we can act accordingly.

So Katheline, my next question for you really revolves around the strategy of your relationships. I think because of social media, we, we have access to millions of people a day and there's only 24 hours in a day. And so whenever I talk to folks about lunching up, lunching down, grabbing a meal, networking, I receive a lot of feedback. About where do I, who do I pick?

Who do I pick to invite to this meal or invite to this coffee?

Because there's just so many humans that I have access to. It's overwhelming. So I wanted to ask you that because I think this conversation has gone not from like how to network inside a company, but how to really utilize your network outside of where you are working. How do you select the new possible friend to Katheline Jean-Pierre's brunch?

You want to know who's that girl?

Exactly.

Okay.

Okay. Couple of things. I have a rule that's called 40-40-20. Okay. That's, that's the secret rules only for people on this call. And it's first, you want to look at networking with people, 40% of your time networking with people who are above you in terms of success. And I talked about success. Success could be like super duper fit friends with 8-pack abs, because if you hang out with them, I'm telling you, you're naturals in, in and, and hot dogs are not gonna fly.

You're gonna eat. You're not gonna eat. And then, and they're only gonna take you on hikes.

They're gonna take you on all those places where you're gonna get fit and suddenly you're fitter. Uh, 80%. And then 40% of the people are like more successful than you in one area. Let's say it's money because everybody cares about money. So for me, uh, how I did it is I realized I was going to a gym where my clients were there, right? So I had, I was working with the private equity firms and there was the angry partner who was there all the time. I'll be, hey, Hey, how are you, Rob? And then what happens in that gym, there were lots of CEOs. So I spent inordinate amounts there. And also I realized that one of my friends who sold— my friend, actually he was my customer at Google— who sold his agency for $100+ million was there. So then I would talk to him all the time. So it doesn't come a meeting, it's like it accelerates your life because the people you chitchat with at the water fountain are looking to be fit, right? And I'd rather be the less fit person at the gym, right? They're fit. And then they're successful and they're in the top 5% bracket or top 1%, really. And they talk about their stories and stuff. And so I would go to this gym for 7 years where all the CEOs were. So choose wisely where you spend your time. That's the 40%. The second 40%, and that's super important. You wanna spend the second 40% with people like you, your peers, right? Let's say we talk about money or network, whatever it is, because sometimes we don't spend enough time spreading ourselves cuz it's you. But in a different timeline. It's you in a different network, right? They get access to different people that you don't get access to. You get access to your people, but imagine if you spend 40% of your time with people at the same level as you, level of success, whatever you're looking for, right? You suddenly can triplicate yourself. Okay. And then the last 20% is mentoring people, helping people out. Because what I realized early in my career, I would spend 80% of my time helping people. And giving my, my time to people. But the thing is that I swapped this and I did the 40-40-20. So this is my 40-40-40-20 plan. The second rule I have, second secret, only for people on this call, is the 33% rule. So what is the 33% rule? So 33% of your time doing amazing work, like crushing it at your job. And that's a whole strategy that we might not talk about today. The second 33% is talking about the amazing work that you're doing, right? But doing it gracefully. You can do it in post, you can do it to the superiors. You don't want the, the haters to be too aware of it, so you have to navigate very craftfully. And then the other 33% is building a rich, truthful network. And most of the networks happen, the best networks is one-on-one or small groups, not like Like the working the room thing, I would come back at home with a box. I'm gonna pull a box that has nothing to do with this. I would come back with a box full of business cards, and then I would move from location with location with those business cards, and I was like, who's this person? This is no, this is mindless. I'm talking about the top 5% people, the network, one-on-one dinner, coffee, lunch. The principle never eating alone is real. 33% being the best at your craft, 33% talking about being the best, being visible, the right places, right time. And the other 33% is is who listened up. How do you accomplish this with co-located work environments? Okay. So the third 33% is, so doing the first one is being the best. Second, talking about it. Third one is networking, but really networking towards sponsorship, finding people who are going to talk about you when you're not in the room. How do you accomplish this with, with co-located work environments? Oh, this is not happening in the open, my friend, Leah Everett. This is the tea is being spilled in this group chat. We're not telling this.

We don't do this in the work hall ways. Or in the Zooms with the team. This is, you gotta, you gotta get to that happy hour.

Okay. This is not a good fit.

Yeah.

I'm gonna tell you the start to story. Okay. People think that people in meetings, um, were the loudest ones are the ones who stand up. No. Let's say there's a meeting. I remember I was at Google. There was a meeting. There was a complex problem. We had a managing director who was like, but who's gonna help me solve that problem? And then people would talk. And then my very slick colleague would send an email to the managing director, all organized before ChatGPT and stuff, all organized. "Hey Bob, I thought about your problem. It's something I've been thinking about for a long time. Here are my 3 thoughts about how to solve that problem." And he would send the email and then book a 15— let's talk about it for 15 minutes. And he was all, well, he would not even talk in the room. He would just make faces. And he was very close to the managing director. The thing that people don't know is me too, I got game. So with my game, managing director added me. He's like, "I was already talking to Katheline Jean-Pierre about it." Yeah, 'cause I know the networking game. He added me to the study and I was like, ah, That's what you're doing. So basically what's important to know is there's different ways to navigate and it doesn't have to be at a formal networking event. It doesn't have to be at a happy hour. There's so many different ways, right? The 40-40-20, the 33% rule are ways. There's really navigating, backchanneling is also very effective if you have, if you understand how your leader thinks, right? And then getting access to this really, and performance is a big deal. Like I was one of the top performing direct senior directors at LinkedIn. I got. My boss signed me up to meet with the COO of LinkedIn at a one-on-one, and he was like, ask me anything. And he was like, I was, all I cared about was my numbers were very good. And I was like, how do you do what you do? Because I was paralyzed about becoming an influencer, executive influencer. And, and he just told me and he introduced me to the community manager. And then that's how I got started. Having access to the information when you need it is happening sometimes in invisible networks. And those invisible networks are, are very important. And I didn't know that 20 years ago when I was starting my career. And, and that's why I launched the Top 5% Career Accelerator, because this is what I wish I knew. This is what I, I wish I had access to these circles. I wish I had access to this knowledge that is not spread out. And then it takes a lot of time until you get access and you're like, what if I had access when I was 25? How far would I be today? Right? Because there's a reason why Mark Zuckerberg is a billionaire. It's because he had the mentors from day one. Yeah, he had access. And that's the thing.

And that's why what you said earlier about your network being your generational wealth. We do have another question from the audience. Before we get there, I want to ask you a question because you keep on hinting at this idea of you have to be good at your job. And I think it's something that we don't talk enough about because either A, we assume that people know that, like, duh, be good at your job. But I do want to highlight that on this call. How, why is it so important for you to do well at your job? And how does that influence the networking and the lunching up and down? How does that influence that?

Because when you're very good, people are going to know, are going to want to know why you're good. What are you doing? Right. And if you're a Black woman, they're going to be like, prove me. That this is not a coincidence. And, um, if the numbers are not there, it's because you're not doing X. So you gotta be good at your job. So I'm, I'm gonna give an example, right? Let's say I turn around a book of business that was declining at -68%, right? And then let's say I go on mat leave, I come back and they give me another book of business that's bleeding and they're like, haha, let's see if she's really good. New team, new everything. And then I do it again and I do it again. I do it again. So there's an expectation first, if you're very good, you're gonna be able to codify how you get to the results that you do, right? And then once you become good at your job, the C-levels are gonna want you in the room to understand, listen, you've been good at this, how do we do it across the organization, right? And then that's like, you don't need to be a director to do that. Like I was an IC and people were like, how do you do this? Create a playbook, train everybody. I'm like, okay, I'll train everybody, but in exchange, can I have a level up? That's what I call the pact. Right? You have to make a pact with the people who want you to do extra work and stuff, because it's good for your visibility to create it, create that playbook. It's good to know how to write that playbook and create that path, because that's your personal branding. You create a brand that is so strong that people are like talking about you when you're not there. I remember, so I'm in LA, I used to work at the Spruce Goose hangar in LA, and I would have my heels, and one of my friends now, she said, listen, 'When we heard your heels clapping at the entrance, we knew Kat was in the house.' And I'm like, 'What are you talking about?' It's like, 'We knew it was your million-dollar heels.' So people create legends, and legends make your generational wealth, right? So there is a really a way to be able to advance, but you have to understand what the assignment is, what the playbook is, how to navigate, and also how to exit, right? Because there's a moment that you have to be like, okay, I'm done. And then you just exit and then you reenter when you're ready to reenter. So then that's the beauty of like becoming a professional career navigator. And because I'm gonna ask a trivia for the chat, cuz I like the chat. I like the chat room. Oh, I worked at Deloitte from 2006 to 2008. No, from 2008 to 2011, 2012, 2012 to 2022, I worked at Google. 22 to 2005, I worked at LinkedIn. When is the last time I applied for a job? I'm going to open the group chat. I'm going to say it again.

I want to answer, but I'm not going to.

You're the last one to answer. Okay. 2005. Yeah. So basically, Joe says 2005. So I said I worked at Deloitte was 2008 to 2012. Google was 2012, 2022, and LinkedIn was 2002 to 2005. When is the last time I applied to a job? Okay. Fania is 2012. Pia is 2008. I like, I like when the chat is Stop it. Everybody's 2008. Deloitte, 2012. So the last time I applied for a job was in 2006. So what I'm saying is that I was referred through my network for the past 14 to 18 years, right? If you hit my LinkedIn, you're going to see, but what I'm saying is that your network, where I am today is because people knew of me. Knew of the quality of my work. I was a very heads down, I'm gonna get things done. And I was referred into Deloitte, which was my first people management job. I was referred into Google, which was a dream come true. And then I was referred into LinkedIn. And what I mean referred is that they were look, they were in the market looking for someone and then they were like, do you know someone who's like, yeah, Katheline Jean-Pierre. And then for LinkedIn was my former Google coworker was like, oh, they have this job open. I don't know if it's good for you, but I'll introduce you to the recruiter. And I'm like, Yeah. And then the load was the same. So it means that I have not applied to job in a very, very long time. And that's the importance of your network. And I have only one career regret is not networking more, not working the room with 100 people, but like really like get out of the house, get out of the office, take that extra stretch, right? And figure out, do I really need to do that thing or should I build a relationship? So that's my only career regret is spending more time with the people.

I had a really dear friend of mine once tell me, Lexi, The career endgame, like the most successful person, you never want to apply for a job again. That's the goal. That you are minding your business, doing XYZ, and you get a phone call, or you get a text message, or you get a LinkedIn DM where it's like, hey, do you want to talk about this? And of course you say yes, because even if you're happy, you never know what people are going to offer you. And that is, that is the flex, but you have to have the network to be able to flex that out. But last question from the audience. Someone asked, Rachel asks, you mentioned becoming a mother being a career amplifier. Could you both say more on that topic? So how has becoming a mama become a career amplifier for you?

So it forced me to streamline. I used to like be a little hamster, just work around the clock. Yeah. And I recorded a documentary and I was like, you want a job to be done? Give it to a mom because we don't have time to play. Cause it's like suddenly when you have a kid, you're on the clock, you're on the clock. It's like, my last call has to finish by this time because I gotta go. You gotta drive and pick— if you don't pick up the child, they call the police.

Go pick up the kid.

Or they charge you $5 a minute or something crazy.

And then they call the police. Like, these are really high stakes.

Your child is gonna remember. My sister still remembers. I was always the last one to be picked up. So I always make it a mission that my son is never the last one picked up. I'm like, I'm gonna— it closes at 6, I'm gonna be there at 5:25. So why am I the last one? No, I don't want him to be the last one. You're not gonna be like my sister who talks about stuff that happened like 30 years ago. Why didn't she come to the right? But I was always the last one. It's like, okay, let's go move forward. So it changes your life because you become a streamliner. You go to a meeting and if people want to put you on busy work and you're like, uh-uh. This girl doesn't do busy work. I'm busy networking with people who sold their companies for $100 million. So it's just important to know, like, how do you get ahead and how you keep your energy, protect your energy, and how you want to keep advancing in your world. And it's important. Thank you, Jo. Jo Vachon. It's very Québécois, by the way. Thank you, Leah.

This was fantastic, Katheline. Thank you so much for coming and sharing your gems. As always, it is a pleasure. It is a lot. It's an honor to just be in your presence. I think you're really, really dope.

I do. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you. Think about 40-40-20 and the 33% rule. Don't play. YOLO.

And your network is your generational wealth.

Your network is your generational wealth. Yeah. It's, it's, I don't know if I want those kids to have a trust fund.

One they don't know about. One they don't know about.

Exactly.

Kimberly, back to you.

This was incredible. Thank you all. Thank you all for doing this. Everybody, thank you for showing up and being so active in the chat and like, this is incredible. This has been absolutely incredible. I look forward to seeing, um, what everybody takes from this and how empowered they are. And I look forward to networking with everybody on LinkedIn. Thanks everybody.

Bye everyone. Take care. Welcome to Driving Impact.