Power Play: Don’t use a sledgehammer to break the ice

Power Players know to chip away gently at the relationship ice. They put the sledgehammer away because it would be like using a bazooka to kill a mosquito.

Ice-breaking is a fine art and it doesn’t have to happen all at once. Power Players know that it’s usually awkward getting to know somebody new in business: people are guarded, unsure of whom to trust and nervous about crossing any lines.

Power Players always walk softly when attempting to create a bond with someone new.

Remember these three golden rules: don’t get too familiar too fast, don’t act like a friend when you’re not, and if the person you’re courting gives you a red light, stop talking before you humiliate yourself.

Power Payers have a deft touch with the ice-breaking skill required in business today. Watch them and learn. It’s one of those terrific lessons that no business school in the world can teach you.

The story

It takes me years to make a real friend, through lots of small moments over time. My friendship with one friend whom I love tremendously was made in such a way; it was probably three years before we felt we could tell each other absolutely everything. We knew we were building a friendship for life and we were both of the opinion that trust is the most important thing in any relationship.

Over the course of the past eight years we’ve built the kind of friendship that is stronger than oak. It’s the type where if you were in a fix and only allowed to make one phone call, it would be to that person.