Bob Beaudine knows a lot of people. As head of a leading executive search firm specializing in sports and entertainment, he knows how to find and connect people who need each other. Sports Illustrated called him the “top front-office matchmaker in sports.” The president and CEO of Eastman & Beaudine also has interviewed and coached senators, governors, generals, CEOs, university presidents, studio presidents and even President George W. Bush. Beaudine shared his networking know-how in The Power of WHO: You Already Know Everyone You Need to Know, published by Center Street in January. He talks with SUCCESS about the highlights.

What’s the difference between using the “Power of WHO” and the ways people typically network?
As a budding entrepreneur with a business plan, you may need an investor to turn that fantastic idea of yours into a real-world business. In a very challenging and uncertain marketplace, who do you think is more likely to make it happen—someone who doesn’t know you or someone who is a personal friend who knows your talent, energy, drive and ambition fi rsthand? You already know the answer! Cold calls, mass e-mail blasts, business cards passed out to near strangers, strategic plans mailed to someone you once shook hands with—it’s all ignored and never addressed! I know, because after 25-plus years as a top executive recruiter, I’ve been on the receiving end of way too much of it.

The problem with networking as people practice it today is that it implies friendship with people who are actually just mere acquaintances. People have been taught—incorrectly—that “friends and business are taboo.” Somehow, pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps has come to mean doing it all by yourself with help from only strangers. But the truth is, you have a powerful network—it’s your “Power of WHO!”

How did you develop your networking strategies?
I’ve developed a database of more than 5,365 people in my WHO world that can say, “Hi, Bob.” That really doesn’t mean a lot except that I know a lot of people because of my business. I had what I thought was a great networking strategy, but I was about to discover I was dead wrong. I used to try to touch 1,000 or so a year with notes and calls and visits. It was exhausting. I have more than 5 million miles accumulated on American Airlines to show for it!

One day I stopped and studied who had actually given me business or touched my life in some significant way over the last 10 years. I can’t tell you how shocked I was to learn that there were only 87! Eighty-seven out of 5,365! How could I have missed that? My strategy was to run all over the country giving out little pieces of Bob to thousands of people, and the return, in actual business, was nil. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy meeting people, but I should have been spending more time investing in the 87 who were actually impacting my life in significant ways. Now, I focus a larger portion of my time interacting with the people on my “100 List,” the people who impact my life in significant ways.

What does “connecting to your WHO” mean?
Friendships are as vital to our dreams and goals as food and water is to our bodies. True friendship is based entirely on love, loyalty and mutual regard. There are no strings attached. Friends can help you move your dreams and goals into the real world. If you have 100 friends and I have 100 friends, how many do we have? 200? No, 10,000! It’s exponential. When you consider that each of the people in your circle of friends has great influence with their circle of friends, you can begin to grasp the true power of WHO!

The strategy I teach to find your WHO begins to work when you remember, reach out and reconnect. It all starts with a list! The great thing about a list is that it really helps you clarify your priorities, your values and your personal preferences. This exercise will leave you astonished as to the great relationships you already have and the resources they offer you.

Most people rarely think of their friends as conduits to achieving their dreams and goals. But friends come pre-wired with a strong desire to help us. Maybe it’s an old highschool friend or a roommate in college with whom you haven’t talked in years. Maybe it’s someone you worked with a long time ago who liked you then and still holds you in high esteem. But you haven’t thought about them in a long time. They genuinely care about you and when you think about them now you might find yourself asking, “Why haven’t I stayed in touch?”

As I show in my book, your “WHO World” actually has many layers. The three most important are your inner circle of 12 friends, three close friends and one best friend. There is a heart connection here that you just don’t have with other people. Next are your WHO friends, people with whom you felt a special connection, whether at work, church, school, a service organization, etc. Then, there are allies or people you connect with through your inner circle and WHO friends.

Please describe the connection between the What and the WHO as it pertains to meeting goals and dreams.
The “What” in life—what you want and what you have done— will take you only so far. Eventually you will come to a chasm you cannot cross without someone’s help. People are bridges you must cross to get where you want to go. That is the “WHO” I am talking about. Understand that your “What” will never come into play until your “WHO” brings you across. So ask yourself, should you spend all your precious time studying, researching and meditating on the “What” without having a plan for the “WHO?” No! Go deep with your friendships this year—not wide! Your “WHO” are the people that truly know and care about you, far more authentic than the masses of names that people attain passing out business cards to strangers and through online social links. Be transformational—not transactional.

What are some of the best ways to cultivate these existing relationships to reach our goals?
I worked side by side with my dad for more than 20 years in the executive search business at Eastman & Beaudine Inc. He always told me the key to success was to make friends, help your friends in every way you can, and then don’t be surprised if you do a lot of business with your friends!

Giving is such an essential part of The Power of WHO. Once we change our paradigm from “Me first,” “Me alone,” and “I can do it by myself,” to “How I can help you?” “What do you need?” and “Yes, I will help,” then everything in our lives will change for the better. Zig Ziglar said it best: “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

You recommend forming a personal board of directors. Could you explain?
None of us can see every possibility coming our way, so we need a self-protective strategy in place, like a firewall that protects computers from destructive viruses that try to sneak in undetected and wreak havoc. I’ve come to believe one of the very best strategies you can implement to achieve maximum protection is to create your own “personal board of directors.” There are seven categories that make up your personal board of directors: mom and dad, mate, best friend, legal counsel, career or life coach, financial adviser, spiritual adviser. There is a well-known Proverb that says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”