To business mentor Charlie D’Agostino, few things are more valuable than a strong professional network.
The ability to pick up the phone and hear “yes” on the other end can make or break a new company and can help advance careers. Establishing a thriving network of reliable connections has to be front and center for anyone trying to do business, he says.
“It is absolutely critical to success,” says D’Agostino, executive director of the Louisiana Business and Technology Center, the 26-year-old business and technology incubator at LSU. “And you have to spend a lot of time doing it.”
D’Agostino, a Baton Rouge native and LSU alumnus, says he has spent most of his adult life building contacts, some of which were first fostered in high school and college. They’re contacts he says he’s happy to share with the startups housed at the LBTC.
“I tell people all the time that I have a phenomenal network that I share with all my companies,” D’Agostino says. “If one of them needs a contact or an introduction, I can call somebody, and busy business leaders will take time out of their schedule to meet with my people. That is the greatest service I can provide.”
In Baton Rouge, networking has long been a fundamental part of doing business, but it has evolved. The classic rules governing networking remain the same: Young professionals (and their bosses) recognize the importance of joining established networking organizations flush with prominent business and community leaders.
But here and around the country, face-to-face networking opportunities are supplemented by social media platforms. Traditional goal-oriented networking, in which participants want quick ROI, is being outpaced by organic networking groups that emphasize socializing or volunteerism.
But what ultimately makes networking succeed, says marketing professor Thomas Karam of LSU’s E. J. Ourso College of Business, is the ability of the networker to “swim beyond the splash,” or to deliver a clear sense that he or she can add value beyond an initial introduction.
“You need to think about exactly what you are selling and communicating, your brand, your business and who you are,” Karam says.
At its essence, networking is about developing relationships with people who might provide some future benefit, and who might similarly seek benefit as well. Karam says networking succeeds best when the people engaged in it are genuine and likable.
“People like to do business with people they like,” he says. “You have to think about who you are and how you want to be seen. There’s been a lot of research done on likability, which is the emotional impact you have on somebody. I can’t imagine someone not likable being able to get through all the clutter and be noticed.”
More than ever, Greater Baton Rouge is awash in both formal and informal networking opportunities—entry points where both natives and newcomers get the chance to develop relationships with peers, community leaders and potential clients. The local Rotary Clubs, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, the Baton Rouge Chapter of the American Advertising Federation, the Public Relations Association of Louisiana, the Louisiana Chemical Association and many others draw young and veteran professionals to regular educational forums and meet-and-greet lunches. In addition, organizations like Forum 35 and the Junior League of Baton Rouge give members a chance to build leadership skills and relationships through community service.
“One of the major appeals of Forum 35 is that it has a little bit of everything, from leadership development to the arts and cultural diversity,” says former Forum 35 President Kasey Henry, who recently left Baton Rouge for a post in Houston. “You can really make it what you want it to be.”
Networking veterans like D’Agostino say Baton Rouge, despite its growth, has its own brand of highly personal networking. Here, the networking infrastructure sometimes values family connections and alma maters as much as it does credentials. That bodes well for natives, but it can be more challenging for the growing number of transplants moving into the Capital Region. The good news, say D’Agostino and others, is that Baton Rouge still rewards friendliness, energy and sincerity.
“Baton Rouge is very open,” he says. “If you’re a ‘good guy’ and you’re legitimate, then they’re going to let you in.”
Below are profiles of four prolific networkers. Also read quick tips from six veterans and get advice from Breaking Vases founder and former IBM executive Dima Ghawi and Louisiana Business Inc. President Julio Melara.
Eric Dexter
Director of Business Development, Civil Solutions Consulting Group
Eric Dexter claims he’s an introvert at heart, but his 10-year tenure in Baton Rouge has been defined by tireless networking. A graduate of Northwestern State University and a native of Alexandria, Dexter arrived in the Capital Region with few personal or professional contacts. His parents were both deceased by the time he was 19, leaving him without the familial influences that give many young professionals a leg up.
“The thing that I figured out when I first got here was that I needed to be in as many places as possible, so I just started using my before or after work hours to do that,” says Dexter. He sought out art openings, concerts and community events in addition to traditional business lunches, he says.
After a few years in Baton Rouge and a couple of job changes, Dexter landed a position at payroll firm ADP.
“That’s where the networking piece really took off,” he says. He joined a local chapter of Business Networking International, or BNI, a global networking organization in which small groups of business people who represent unique sectors meet weekly. Dexter ended up becoming president of his chapter.
He also joined Forum 35 and became heavily involved in its events. The organization hosts several annual fundraisers and community events, and it helps train young professionals for board service with local nonprofits. Dexter worked on several committees and then served on the organization’s board. He was elected president in 2014.
“It was important to me to establish genuine relationships outside of work,” Dexter says. “Business becomes a byproduct of those relationships.”
Dexter wasn’t just networking locally. He was also an early adapter of LinkedIn, making new virtual connections, joining issue-based discussion groups, offering commentary and reaching out to companies in his field. The relationships Dexter built on LinkedIn led to his next two positions, each with a different payroll software company.
By 2014, Dexter’s local networking helped him land a spot in the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s annual Baton Rouge Area Leadership Program. In the 38-member class, Dexter met Kahli Cohran, founder and president of Civil Solutions Consulting Group, an engineering consulting company. In February, Cohran hired Dexter to lead the company’s business development.
Dexter’s networking, particularly through Forum 35, also led to several nonprofit board appointments. He serves on the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and is a founding member of Apex Collegiate Academy, a proposed charter school. He also serves on a sustainable transportation committee and the Complete Streets Citizens Advisory Committee for the City of Baton Rouge.
Dexter says he has scaled back on intentional networking and is at the point where he’s turning down board service.
“I’ve taken it from ‘get as many at-bats as possible’ to figuring out how to make what I do as impactful as possible, not just for me but for the other person I’m networking with,” he says.
Ben Nguyen
Founder, Cyber Fision
Tech startup founder and Vietnam native Ben Nguyen attests that being a tenant in the Louisiana Business and Technology Center incubator has given him fast access to a solid network. His company, Cyber Fision, launched at the LBTC in January. In seven months, the company has expanded to six employees. The firm provides lower cost web development, apps and e-commerce technologies for small to medium-sized businesses and nonprofits.
Until this year, Nguyen had been developing his business ideas at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, but he moved to Baton Rouge specifically because of the LBTC. He says the business climate in the Capital Region is dependent on strong networks.
“I’ve done business in big cities like Chicago and San Francisco, and it’s very different here in Baton Rouge,” Nguyen says. “The culture in big cities is exclusively about price and efficiency. Here, doing business is very personal. It takes time getting to know the right people.”
He says the LBTC has delivered “first-class networking opportunities,” both internally through other tenants at the LSU Innovation Park where the LBTC is housed, as well as other potential clients and networking organizations. Nguyen has joined the Southeast Louisiana Chamber of Commerce, the Ascension Chamber of Commerce and a BNI chapter.
“I can say that all the business owners I have met in our network are about collaborating and supporting one another, not just for one business but for the whole regional economy,” Nguyen says. “My business friends are great about introductions. We give referrals, and we invite each other to go to other networking events. These are very personal connections.”
Those face-to-face personal connections, says Nguyen, help build trust.
“It opens the gate for us and makes business happen,” says Nguyen. “We have spent a lot of time building relationships, and our business has experienced a big shift in last couple of months.”
Jessica Gagliano
Development Manager of Distinguished Events, American Cancer Society
Until recently, Jessica Gagliano had run a small decorative arts and faux finishing business from home. Then in March, she accepted a position as development manager of distinguished events with the American Cancer Society—a leap she was able to take, she says, because of the network and skills she developed through the Junior League of Baton Rouge.
The Junior League’s identity as a refined club for ladies-who-lunch has shifted considerably nationwide. The organization’s open membership process invites diverse women who are motivated by volunteerism and leadership, says Baton Rouge Chapter President Kate Grant Seba. In 2012, 75% of the women in the Junior League of Baton Rouge were working professionals, up from 64% in 2009. The chapter is the 14th largest in the Association of Junior Leagues International, and one of the most fiscally sound.
Gagliano says she joined the Junior League as a way to reconnect with the Baton Rouge community. She had grown up in Baton Rouge, attended Parkview Baptist School and LSU, but she moved to southern California to pursue a career in fashion merchandising, working for the Nanette Lepore company for three years.
Shortly after joining the Junior League, Gagliano was placed on the committee that runs Hollydays, the annual shopping bazaar at the River Center and the Junior League of Baton Rouge’s largest fundraiser. Hollydays attracts 12,000 patrons over three days and clears about $450,000 annually.
Gagliano spent the next four years volunteering on Hollydays, serving as committee chair in 2013. She says she quickly learned that the project’s success depended on maintaining and developing a strong network of vendors, donors and community partners.
“It’s truly about relationship-building. It’s about building relationships in the community and keeping those relationships going,” she says. “I think it’s about being genuine and sincere and connecting with people you’re networking with on a personal level.”
Gagliano says that through Hollydays she discovered a facility with fundraising, and she began to consider leaving her small business for a nonprofit career. She applied for an open position at the American Cancer Society, using her Junior League experience as the most tangible proof of her ability to work with donor and execute events.
“The Junior League was such a great network to get into,” she says. “It’s a lot of work, but everybody wants to do a good job.”
Jesse Hoggard
Vice President of Marketing, Cellcontrol
Jesse Hoggard jokes that his career trajectory in Baton Rouge feels like six degrees of separation. “I’ve pretty much stayed in the same world, and I’ve definitely benefited from having a strong network,” he says.
Even as an LSU student, Hoggard was focused on developing business relationships. An internship in 2003 at the interdisciplinary Center for Computation and Technology led to a permanent position with the organization. At the time the CCT was involved in organizing the Red Stick Animation Festival, which gave Hoggard a window into other organizations in Baton Rouge, including the Louisiana Technology Park, where he would later work.
In his next position as marketing director for the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum, Hoggard became involved with the Public Relations Association of Louisiana, or PRAL.
“I got intentional about being part of PRAL and started to participate heavily,” he says. “That grew over time into board service.”
Hoggard later took a job in business development with the Louisiana Tech Park, where employees were encouraged to serve on boards and network with local organizations. Hoggard expanded his community involvement to include Forum 35, serving on the board of directors and as the organization’s president in 2013.
“Board work puts you into contact with a lot of different people,” Hoggard says. “It’s really valuable.”
Graduating from LSU gave him an advantage in local networking because so many alumni remain in the Capital Region. But he says he also had to overcome small disadvantages in a city that values granular personal connections.
“It’s hard at times to break in professionally if you’re not from here or you weren’t in a fraternity or in some other network that’s been entrenched forever,” he says. “Joining organizations like Forum 35, and really working hard in them, helps. It just takes longer.”
Hoggard recently left the Tech Park to go to work for one of its tenants, Cellcontrol. Over the course of his career, he says he has watched the networking culture in Baton Rouge continue to change and become more organic, with organizations cropping up like Creative Louisiana, a monthly meeting focused on harnessing creativity, and Refresh, a group of designers and developers pushing the envelope on new media in Baton Rouge.
“People I know in other places are blown away by the number of networking groups here,” he says, “and I think people have the attitude that if they can’t find something they like, you can just start something new.”
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