Relationships Matter
Two seemingly unrelated events over this past week inspired me to write some thoughts on relationships, networking, and mentoring.
The first event was the announcement that Ginkgo Bioworks will become a publicly traded company later this year by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in a deal that valued Ginkgo at $15 billion, not including the $2.5 billion they will raise in conjunction with the merger – making it the largest SPAC deal to date. This valuation is 100x projected 2021 revenues, making it appear overpriced, but I’m personally thrilled that the market apparently sees such great potential in this company. Quoting from an article in Forbes (5/11/21): “It’s a really fun time now, actually,” says Ginkgo cofounder and CEO Jason Kelly. “Covid-19 has had a weird effect on biology awareness. Proteins are on the cover of The New York Times. I was on ‘60 Minutes.’ My parents know what PCR is now. I think it’s a really good moment to bring more of this into people’s lives.”
The second event was a “mentoring circle” meeting, organized by the MIT Club of Boston. I recently became intrigued with the idea of formalized mentoring programs, as opposed to the limited informal mentoring which I’ve been doing for years just because I enjoy talking with people about new ideas, and helping them think through business strategy and tactics, especially when they are early in their careers and could use some guidance. I had participated in a prior meeting of this group but missed this week’s meeting, where the main topic of discussion was around networking and relationship building as part of career development. One of the mentees shared this YouTube video on networking obtained from an MIT Sloan Career Advisor, which I enjoyed watching and will comment on below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltiDbJU6LQo&t=2s
Before I connect these two events, I’d like to share a few personal observations and perspectives. Based on many years of experience, the fact that relationships are critical to success in business (and in life!) may be common sense to some, but apparently not to all. When I speak of relationships I’m not referring to special favors, or anything that might be considered unethical or illegal. Quite to the contrary, I’m referring to the simple fact that people like to work with people they know, people in whom they have confidence, people with whom they have shared past successes – and even failures. Sometimes you learn a lot about an individual’s capabilities by how they behave in the heat of battle, and you don’t always win.
Many of my views on relationships have been influenced from early life experiences. There’s one in particular I’d like to share today given that it is the 98th anniversary of my father’s birthday. Born in Hamburg, Germany, on May 17, 1923, Hans Ludwig Rosenstern led a fascinating life that instilled in him a strong belief in the power of the human spirit, the value of personal and professional relationships, and the positive impact that bonds between people can have. As a young teenager of Jewish descent, his parents sent him to a Quaker school in the Netherlands in 1936 rather than have him forced to attend the segregated Jewish schools that Hitler was requiring in Germany. Over the next two years his parents would often get warnings from friends in Hamburg that Nazi raids were coming, and they would go spend time with business associates in Denmark before returning when things quieted down. By summer 1938, however, they decided that the Nazi movement had gained too much momentum, so one night they left everything behind and fled for New York. Hans stayed behind in Holland, but in 1939 a Nazi invasion was rumored to be imminent so he left school on his bicycle, rode across Holland to Rotterdam, and eventually made his way to Antwerp where a family friend arranged a ticket for him on one of the last freighters leaving for America. On arrival at Hoboken, NJ, his name was changed to John Louis Rose. All through this experience John was assisted by extended family relatives and professional friends of his father. Among the many lessons conveyed in this family story, clearly relationships matter.
At the most basic level, relationships are simply the connections we make with other individuals, and the impact they have on our lives. We each learn from family and friends, and the people who have acted as educators, mentors, coaches, leaders or role models in our early growth and education, in our personal lives and our professional lives. We each in turn leave our mark on those whose lives we touch.
You can tell a lot about a person by the people they grew up with, played with, served with, and fought with, loved and hated. By those who they studied with, or worked with. Those who speak highly of them, or don’t. And others will judge you by the same criteria. So the people you choose to spend your time with, and the organizations you choose to affiliate with, really matter. And how you handle yourself, how you interact with others, creates long lasting impressions. When people debate the influence of nature or nurture on one’s development, your relationships are a key aspect of nurture.
Over the years I’ve been fortunate to have formed relationships with, and learned from, many special people who introduced me to new people, places, concepts, approaches, and ways of thinking. Many times these gifts were not provided in return for any kind of immediate or even implied future compensation. In a similar manner, I’ve always tried to “pay it forward”, to be helpful to others in need without expecting anything in return. Not as some kind of Godfather gesture (“someday I may ask you for a favor”), but rather to create good Karma. I’m a big believer in “what goes around comes around.” If you give out good energy, it will come back full circle. A good justification for performing random acts of kindness.
So it was back in 2008 when, just coming off the sale of NimbleGen to Roche, I was spending time assessing various new opportunities, trying to learn about emerging technologies, and meeting informally with scientists and entrepreneurs. A colleague who was a professor at MIT asked me if I would be willing to speak with two graduate students who were about to complete their PhD work and were in the process of starting a company in the new field of synthetic biology. I agreed, and we first met in the Stata Center at MIT, a very memorable Frank Gehry designed building. The interaction was very casual and friendly, and I recall being immediately impressed by the intelligence, vision and drive of these two individuals. These were times when they had little money, might get meals from a vending machine, or sleep on the lab floor rather than rent an apartment. None of that mattered because they were driven by a passion to learn and to succeed.
We had a series of discussions followed by phone calls and emails. The students had very little funding but some intriguing ideas, and were trying to hone their business strategy. They had identified some opportunities for funding through corporate partnerships, and were unsure what rights they should give up as part of such a deal. It was important not to compromise the future value they might create by being short-sighted in how they raised money early on. These were fun conversations with smart driven people who were on a mission to create a new field. There was no formal relationship here; just an informal series of interactions based on mutual interests and the hope that some good might come out of it. I moved on to other activities, and they continued the long hard work of developing their business. These were the founders of Ginkgo Bioworks, a company today valued at $15 billion, and I couldn’t be happier for them.
Fast forwarding to this past week, at the beginning of this story I spoke about my recent interest in formalized mentoring, and getting involved with the MIT Club’s mentoring circle group. I’ve been mentoring informally for years, but only to those few I worked with, or in certain situations for friends (or as favors for friends). Having missed the circle’s discussion of “how to network”, and watched the YouTube referred to above, I sent the following email to the group:
Thanks for sharing. I found the video especially interesting since I don't use LinkedIn. Long story behind that... but if I were earlier in my career today I'd definitely take advantage of it.
Although there are plenty of examples of dysfunctional companies that appear to be doing well, successful startups are generally comprised of teams of people with complementary skills and networks, who function well together. More often than not, people really are a company's most valuable resource.
Taking the time to meet and get to know others in your field, adjacent fields, other areas of interest, or (especially) with no particular agenda, provides you with future opportunities to leverage those relationships in ways you may never have imagined at the time. Perhaps to meet future team members, collaborators, partners, service providers, investors, friends. At a minimum there's always something you can learn from others. This video provided some useful suggestions as to how to get the most out of those interactions, which may or may not come naturally to everyone.
Stan
My views on mentoring and relationships are anchored by many of my core values, and so ingrained as to be second nature. From an early age, in many subtle and not so subtle ways, my family encouraged me to set challenging goals, to be self-motivated in pursuing them, take personal pride in the quality of my work, and respect others and be open to different points of view. To value the diversity of life, and the range of human experience that different people have lived. To not be too quick to judge others, and to try to learn from those who have taken a different path, regardless of whether it was by their choice. To seek guidance from those who may know more, but make decisions for myself, and to take responsibility for those decisions. To question authority, to speak up when necessary, and be willing to take a stand for things that matter. To value and be thankful for friendships, and the actions others take on my behalf. To have a strong sense of loyalty to family, friends, co-workers and teammates. To help others when you can, just because it’s the right thing to do, without necessarily expecting anything in return. These are important values to me, and my chosen role models over the years have reinforced this way of thinking.
I can share countless stories of other times where my relationships had an enormous impact on my personal and professional life, but you should get the point by now. I hope you’ll consider this as you pursue your career, build a great network of contacts, and always remember how much these relationships matter.