July-August 2009
The hoopla surrounding Senator Charles Grassley’s recent embrace of Twitter notwithstanding, social networking is nothing new to members of the tax community. (Many of us cannot imagine saying anything in 140 characters, but that’s another matter.) To be sure, the technological interface is changing as services such as LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, and Twitter proliferate, but networking has long been a critically important part of every successful organization. In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote perceptively in Democracy in America about the then-uniquely American practice of individuals of common cause coming together to form clubs, societies, associations — social networks, if you will — in order to share information and ideas and support one another.
The intervening 175 years have not done anything to undermine de Tocqueville’s thesis (other than to cause the adverb "uniquely" to evanesce as globalization takes deeper and deeper root). Thus, Tax Executives Institute is not unique among tax organizations in emphasizing the networking opportunities that members have. That said, there is something special — unique — about the depth and breadth of networking that has been TEI’s sine qua non since the Institute’s founding in 1944. Based on more than a quarter century of observation, I am confident in saying that, as a group, TEI members are more connected with one another than members of any other organization with which I’m familiar, and the connections often extend beyond a discussion of arcane tax rules, of the best tax lawyers in this state or that, of experiences with a particular revenue agent, or of what potential job opportunities exist. They include all those things — and everything else that a business association should reach — but in more situations than I could count, they blossomed into true friendships.
In June, I had the pleasure of attending a reception in honor of a true TEI friend, Chris Baldwin, who retired from Gannett Corporation earlier this year after more than 30 years. A long time member of first the Rochester and then the Baltimore-Washington Chapter, Chris increased his TEI activity after Gannett relocated to the Washington area in 1986. During his years with TEI, he served as a member of the Awards, Continuing Education, and Communications Committees, including serving as chair of the latter committee from 1990 to 1992. (Our first interaction dealt with the fringe benefit regulations the IRS issued after section 132 was added to the Internal Revenue Code by the Tax Reform Act of 1984.)
Perhaps Chris’s most sustaining contribution, however, concerns the Institute’s State and Local Tax Committee, which he success fully reinvigorated as chair from 1995 to 1997. During three decades of membership, he undeniably furthered the TEI’s mission "to enhance and improve the tax system." He also was fully committed to TEI’s educational and networking missions, instituting "bonus sessions" at our Annual and Midyear Conference devoted to SALT topics and taking up residence at the week-long State and Local Tax Course so he could demonstrate, first hand, the value of networking. He not only talked the talk, but he walked the walk, and the Institute is in his debt (as well as in his wife Mary’s debt for supporting his TEI efforts).
But Chris is more than the consummate tax professional and a consummate networker. He is also a good friend and mentor to scores and scores of other tax executives who enjoyed his Irish charm and benefitted from his deep experience and collaborative stay. I know that I did. And so did the members of my family. When Chris’s two daughters (Jennifer and Bridget) were younger, he and Mary brought them to meetings of TEI’s Board of Directors, where they not only got to watch and learn from their father, but hung out with my daughters. It would be an overstatement to say that the four girls became and remained fast friends, but they did keep up with each other’s activities and when I saw Jennifer and Bridget at Chris’s retirement party, the first thing they said was "How are Kathleen and Erin?" Clearly, they had not only learned good manners from their parents; they learned the value of networking and of always expanding the network.
I’m proud to say that my daughters learned the same lesson. Consider Erin, a bright, engaging young woman of 26. Erin attended her first TEI meeting in utero, and with her older sister Kathleen, she had the opportunity to meet many TEI members (and their spouses and children) at many meetings over the years. To be sure, she enjoyed going to nice places, but she also learned to introduce herself to people she didn’t know and to introduce those people to others — to make connections. I’m not sure whether it was her "TEI upbringing," but she went off to kindergarten the first day with an address book so she could write down the names and telephone numbers of all her new friends.
It didn’t stop in grade school. Her network expanded in junior high and high school, and then in college and graduate school. And now that she’s in the work force, it continues still. She keeps in touch with her former classmates at Kenyon College and in George Washington University’s museum education program. She attends networking events, not only to keep friendships new, but to learn about developments in the field and to bounce ideas off of more experienced museum professionals and to help those who have followed her. And she joined the American Association of Museums, offered to use vacation time to attend its meetings, and when she changed jobs in 2008, she secured her new employer’s commitment to pay her dues. She is a preternatural networker.
There is one disadvantage of having an ever-growing network: When you get married and the size of your venue and budget arefinite, you face the challenge of winnowing down your guest list. Erin’s list — she was married on July 26 — included pre-school friends, people she met in high school, college classmates, fellow graduates of GW’s museum education program, and her current and former work colleagues. Oh, and a huge family and her TEI network, too. She stayed connected with all of them, giving and receiving in equal measures, and adding to the quality of both her and their personal and business life. (More than one person at the wedding talked about Erin’s ability to plan events, and while her formal training extended to that area, I am convinced it started two months before she was born, when she attended TEI’s 1983 Midyear Conference.)
Those who know me know — before even reading this column— that I’m pretty smitten with my children (and now my grand children). While I would never even pretend to be unbiased, my point here transcends family: Networking is not something that goes out of style, loses its value or vitality, or "skips a generation" as the demands of the 21st century workplace bear down upon us. Its value is transcendent.
Lest you think I only have fatherly pride for Erin, think again. Her older sister is equally adept at building and maintaining her network, not only in the "real" world, but in the virtual one as well. Kathleen’s blog, Mamas Always Write, was recently named by Best Local Blog in Portland, Maine, by ParentsConnect.com. Seven years Erin’s older, Kathleen performed masterfully as Erin’s first attendant. For documentary evidence, take advantage of another piece of "new media" — YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzoOxXiD3TU&feature=channel_page.