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Three weeks ago we went inside Position. Two weeks ago, Signal. Last week, Target. This week we go inside the fourth move.
Relationships. The move that turns the other three into actual calls.
Position gets you known for a specific thing. Signal makes that known visible. Target names who needs to know it. Relationships are how you actually become known to them.
Without Relationships, the first three moves are theory. With Relationships, they compound into a career that starts finding you.
This is the last of the four moves. Which means today we also close the series and land the whole method as one.
What Relationships is not.
▸ Not networking. Networking is transactional: you meet people because you might need them. Relationships is reciprocal: you invest in people because you might help them, and they might help you, over time.
▸ Not a LinkedIn connection count. Having 5,000 connections and knowing three of them well is not a relationship base. It is a distribution list.
▸ Not extraction. Reaching out only when you need something reads as extraction, no matter how politely you phrase it. Executives notice, and remember.
▸ Not calendar-heavy. You do not need 40 coffees a month. You need the right conversations, with the right people, at the right cadence.
The three forms of relationships that matter at senior level.
Not all relationships compound the same way. Senior careers get built through three specific kinds.
Peer relationships. Senior leaders at your level, across sectors and geographies. They will not hire you, but they see roles before recruiters do. They recommend the names they trust.
Decision-maker relationships. The specific people who create your opportunities. Chairs, CEOs, PE partners, executive search partners. Fewer in number. Harder to build. Longest to compound.
Advocate relationships. People who talk about you when you are not in the room. Not the same as fans or followers. Advocates specifically recommend you for specific things, without being asked.
Your Career Practice needs all three, and needs them in balance. Peer relationships give you introductions. Decision-maker relationships give you the direct approach. Advocate relationships do the work for you while you sleep.
How to build them.
Every relationship worth having is built the same way. Reciprocity, over time.
▸ Give first. Offer something specific and useful without expecting return. An introduction they would value, a piece of insight they cannot get elsewhere, feedback on their work.
▸ Show up consistently. Not once. Not when you need something. Small touchpoints, monthly, that keep you known.
▸ Remember what matters to them. Their work, their goals, their situation. This is what separates a peer from a business card.
▸ Ask for help when it is mutual. Reciprocity means asking is fine, as long as you have given first. Executives who have been helped are usually eager to help back.
The compound.
Six months of consistent Relationship practice produces more career optionality than five years of applying for jobs.
That is not marketing language. It is what actually happens.
At the six-month mark, you have twenty to thirty senior peers who know your current chapter. You have five to ten decision-makers who have heard your name in a specific context. You have two to three advocates actively looking for reasons to recommend you.
At the twelve-month mark, the calls start coming in. Not from job boards. From the room. Roles you never applied for. Opportunities you never chased.
That is the Career Practice at work.
How to practice this.
Take one hour this week.
Write down the names of ten people in each of the three categories.
▸ Peer relationships: 10 senior peers you would value hearing from.
▸ Decision-maker relationships: 10 people who could shape your next role.
▸ Advocate relationships: 10 people who could recommend you if asked.
That is 30 names. Some will overlap categories. That’s fine.
Now identify the three names in each category whose relationships have gone quiet or never got started. Nine names total.
Reach out to those nine over the next 30 days. One a day, three times a week. Not asking for anything. Giving something. Even if it is only a specific thoughtful note.
The compound starts on day one. It just takes a while to become visible.
Closing the series.
Over the last five weeks, we have gone inside the full method.
▸ Position. How you appear at senior level.
▸ Signal. What decision-makers see when they scan.
▸ Target. The specific people who create your opportunities.
▸ Relationships. How you become known to them.
Four moves. Each essential. All compounding.
Together, they are the Career Practice - the alternative to The Application Economy. The intentional monthly discipline that turns senior careers into compounding assets, so decision-makers approach you instead of the other way around.
What comes next.
Next week we shift out of the framework and into what practising the method actually looks like, month by month. What August has felt like inside the Career Practice. What Members are working on. What is landing and what is not.
See you then!
Cheraine
Stop Applying. Get Approached.
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