282 – The NCG Factor With Larry Kaufman

John (Intro): Over the last two decades, I’ve been on an insatiable quest to learn everything I can about leadership. What makes the best leaders so good? After running companies small and large over the last 20 years, today I speak on stages worldwide to audiences interested in that same question. My name is John Laurito. I’m your host, and I invite you to join me on this journey as we explore this very topic and what makes the best leader so good? Welcome to Tomorrow’s Leader. 

John: Hey, there Tomorrow’s Leaders. So, as always, I bring your great guests and I do not disappoint, including today. This is a great one. Larry Kaufman. He was introduced to me through a great friend, Peter Velarde, another great individual. Larry’s super interesting background. He and I had a great conversation about leadership and in particular about the importance of networking and connecting people and giving. He wrote a book called NCG Factor. I’m in the middle of it. It is a great book. Take a look at it. But here are some really cool things about him. 

John: First of all, he’s a LinkedIn pro. He’s got like 29,000 connections on LinkedIn, which if you know LinkedIn, that’s huge. He teaches globally, and speaks around the world for the last 15 years, I think he is on LinkedIn. That’s how great he is at connecting through that platform. But he also is a very successful leader. He runs a region for the Jefferson Wells Company, which is a company under the umbrella of Manpower Group. And just really interesting, guys, I mean, random facts here. I didn’t even ask him in the interview about this and we should have talked about it. 

John: But he’s been in seven movies in different roles like behind the, I think, kind of extra type of roles, but really cool Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, backdraft, a few others. He met his wife through a drive-thru at McDonald’s three years ago. I got to bring this guy back out and ask him this. Wouldn’t even get to these fun questions. But just a few fun factoids on today’s guests. But super cool, interesting guy. You’re going to get a lot out of this. I know. I did. Here is Larry Kaufman. 

John: All right. Welcome to today’s episode of Tomorrow’s Leader, where we dove deep into all things leader-related, related to leading yourself and leading others. I’m John Laurito, your host. Got a really cool guest today. I’ve got Larry Kaufman, who resides in a suburb of Chicago where I was near where I was born. Fond, fond memories. He’s a regional managing director for Jefferson Wells, which is a division of Manpower group. You may know that organization. He’s the bestselling author of The NCG Factor, a great book, I’m in the midst of reading, and he is also a global speaker and trainer on LinkedIn. So, Larry, welcome to the show. 

Larry: Thanks for having me, John. Great to see you. Thanks for it. Thanks for having me as your guest today. 

John: Great to see you, too. And for those watching this on YouTube, they can appreciate that you look sharp, you look dynamite. You look like a global speaker and trainer. 

Larry: I feel like one author.

John: Awesome. Well, I’m excited to have our conversation. I know you and I got to know each other recently, which is really kind of interesting because the premise of what you do and what you wrote, your book about which we’re going to get into, is really how we came to know each other. And that was being connected. And then you connected other people in my circle, and that’s kind of interesting, but you and I came together that way, so I love that I’m grateful for being introduced to you because I think this is the beginning of a long relationship and lots of introductions. 

John: So you wrote the book, The NCG Factor, and I’d love to dive into this a little bit because I think there’s so much that leaders can get from this. I’ve already gotten a lot from it. And regardless of where somebody is at their stage, in their leadership journey, this is so applicable. So I don’t want to steal the thunder, but why don’t you just share with the audience what is the NCG factor? And then I’d love to dove in a little bit into the conversation about it. 

Larry: Thank you, John. So, so end stands for networking C connecting, key giving. So it’s a formula for building life-changing relationships from college all the way through retirement because we get to cover that full spectrum I think in my college days I didn’t think about networking, connecting, or giving, but hopefully, we can still do that in our college kids today all the way through retirement. So that’s kind of the baseline premise and breakdown of the NCG factor. So happy to go deeper. 

John: Yeah. So let’s talk about that because I think, you know, I remember starting my career and I don’t think I was ever really good at networking or connecting people. And I, I think it’s so critical because when you think about how everybody is so close and maybe one or if not, you know, two degrees of separation for probably anybody and everybody that they would want to get to know. Why do you think people are not more kind of tuned to do it right from the start? Is it just something we’re not trained to think about and we’re kind of just living in our own world so much? 

Larry: You know, I think we’re all getting better in college training. Some of the kids are starting to do a little bit of that. But I think it’s one of those things where you. You’re either mentored or coached to be that really good networker or connector to understand the value and power. And I know like when I worked in companies and we had like a new leader come in when I was in sales capacities, I was excited to hear that. Well, Tom or Mary, they’re super connected. Like that was really great to hear versus you get that leader will. 

Larry: Do you know anyone in the market? Not really. You know, but I know your business now that’s great. But you’re hoping you can get some of their contacts and some of the relationships. And so I think that’s something that is learned. And I wouldn’t say I was a natural connector and giver. You know, I had a life shift to get there. And so I think you have to have that person in your life that says, Hey, John, I know you’re working your butt off, but here’s a different way than you could live your life as a leader and even in your family world, too. 

John: So, Larry, when did that journey begin for you? What was that moment that kind of shifted you down this road of going down this path that you are now?

Larry: That’s a great question. There was a there’s a woman in my network I’ve known for many, many years. Great connector. So, Larry, I want to introduce you to a gentleman named Brian. He’s an IP intellectual property attorney at a law firm in Chicago. And I was at a company that was headquartered in New York and I was in the Chicago office in a leadership position. I had no reason or purpose to meet with an IP attorney, but she said he does something quite different than you see most attorneys and how they bring clients. 

Larry: And I think you’re going to learn a lot from meeting with them. So, okay, so I meet with Brian, great guy, I have a great meeting and at the end of the meeting says, Hey, Larry, I’m going to introduce you to two people that you don’t know. And I said, Why? Why would you do that? He said, Well, this is sort of my thing enables, you know, network-based relationships. And I want to put you in touch with two people I think would be good to know that you don’t know. I said, awesome, fantastic. 

Larry: That was my aha moment, my light bulb going off and going, okay, this is different because I go through the motions of having meetings with people and networking, but am I really thinking about that person and who they should know? In my world, I don’t think that way. I wasn’t thinking that way and that made me think differently. I’m not going to say, John, after that meeting, it was like, Oh my God, now everyone, I mean, I’m introducing that to people, but I started thinking differently. So that was the start of it. And then I started incorporating some of that into my world, into my meetings with people, and starting to learn more about people and making those introductions and connections. 

John: So and what goes into that? Is it more of just, hey, I want to connect you with two or one great people who are just, you know, a good person to know, or is it trying really to find the right person for what you’re looking for and forge a business relationship? I mean, how I guess, thoughtful are you about that and what’s going in your mind and try to make the right connection? 

Larry: That’s a really good question. And so I’ll start us off with a quote. This is mine. No royalties on this one. But if you lead with yourself, you’re going to live with yourself. Thinking of this as a leader, at any stage of your career, it matters what you do. But if you open up that conversation where I’m networking with you, John, and it’s all about me, then I’m leaving with me, right? So if it’s all about you and I learn about you, you know, you have these meetings with people and you go, Well, how can I help you, John? And I’m good. And Larry, how can I help you? 

Larry: But if I ask questions honestly, it may not be that I’m connecting you to someone. I may find out that you have a child that’s looking for a job or a family member that needs something or whatever it is. You know, I was talking to a friend that reached out and said his kid can’t get into medical school and it just can’t make any headway with this one here in Illinois. And I made headway for him. It’s a matter of asking questions and learning more about people, and then you can make a connection with them because now you understand more about them. I think we go right to business even as leaders, instead of getting to know our staff, our team, our clients, our channel partners, our referral partners, and learning more about them personally and what they went through during COVID, you know, and, you know, different aspects of them personally and professionally, the more. That you learn.

Larry: Then you could start to make those connections. Oh, I see that. You know you came from Ameriprise and you’ve been speaking. And so, John, do you work with this organization? They’re looking for great speakers. And so then I, I learn more about you, and I can make those connections. And you go here with me later. That’d be great. Fantastic. And they pay Hillary even better. So yeah, I think it’s learning more about people is really helpful to make those introductions and connections. 

John: So, what was so that moment? The gut has shifted your own beliefs and then change your own behaviors. Was there what then took it to the next level and said, okay, I’m going to be the champion of this and actually teach this and write a book about this. Was there a string of great experiences and you just saw the kind of the rewards of that? I mean, what happened? 

Larry: So I made a shift in my career at one point and went into public accounting. So your account in your CPA becomes a great trusted advisor. And so I, I was observing, you know, the partners at my firm and how they cultivated relationships and, you know, and they really got to know their clients personally and professionally. And I saw them making connections. They became their go-to and so I started to emulate some things they were doing. 

Larry: So I would say probably in oh nine when they started to do more of it, where I was networking with a lot of these trust advisors, meeting with a lot of people and learning more about people and learning about them personally and in helping them with things that really hit home and making connections, introductions on many levels, you know, John, to where, you know, I’ve got a couple married. I put people on dates, so I’ve helped their kids, I’ve coached their kids and in sales and I’ve made connections for people at their charities. And I have a whole list of, you know, weird things they do. But I started to realize the importance of being indispensable. 

Larry: Not only you should be indispensable as a leader to your people, but indispensable to your relationships. And you know, any leader that’s listening in, you know, I challenge my staff. Your clients think that you’re indispensable to them. And it’s kind of a loaded question. And so when you start drilling down into that, we’ll take it into like public accounting. There are a lot of accounting firms out there, so it’s very easy to replace someone who’s doing your auditor tax, maybe in some cases not as easy, but it can be pretty easy. Competitors are knocking on the door all the time, but if you become indispensable to your client’s competitors, it doesn’t matter. 

Larry: So if I have a client, we’re doing audit work for that client and I help that particular client get other clients. I help their child get a job. I help their charity because things the things I want to do and I posture myself as, hey, when something comes up if it’s ordinary or way out there, ask me, you got to get into Mayo Clinic. If you have a sick family member, you need a connection. I’m that guy. And so when you build those indispensable relationships with your clients, but also with your staff through COVID, I let my staff know, Hey, don’t think of me just as, you know, leading, you know, our region. If something comes up with a family, something you need, just reach out and ask me for anything. I want to be helpful. And people did reach out. 

John: And that’s got to feel great. I mean, when you have and you’ve brought people together that have got married and things like that, I mean, that’s not obviously your purpose

or mission in life, but that’s a pretty cool thing when you’ve changed people’s lives that significantly. That’s a big deal. 

Larry: I love it’s like, you know when you make a sale, you feel really good and I make a great connection. And, you know, someone tells me, hey, we got married or we fell in love or I got a client because that or boy, the person who introduced me, we’re, we’ve become great friends as Larry hit it out of the park. There’s like a euphoric feeling, and it really is just it’s transformed me as a person. 

John: I love it. So is there somebody who may not be very good at this, is there a right way and a wrong way to connect to people? 

Larry: So in my book, I have talked about creating your own introduction. So that’s helpful. When you’re connecting someone to someone you create an introduction and really it’d be hard for me. John introduces somebody for a speaking opportunity. So I would say, John, can you send me now your bio a paragraph introduction in the third person as I wrote it about you. That’s really, really helpful. So then I could present you to someone in my network. Say, Hey, you need to meet Tom or Mary. And. But I’ve written. Looks like I’ve written your introduction. But you wrote it for me. So that’s a good best practice is, you know, create your own introduction. 

Larry: So even as a business leader, it’s a good thing. Create your own. And then when someone wants to tap into your network, you go. John, you go there. I see someone in your network. I’d like to know. Okay. Do you have your own introduction? You know, let me send you what mine looks like. Can you craft one so I don’t have to think about it and introduce you properly? Because I’m never going do it justice. You’re great. Or this great speaker and you’ve done so much in your career and you know the podcast and so much more. But I’ll never do you justice. Hey, you should meet John. He’s a great speaker and he’s a good sales guy. You’re like, I’m not a sales guy or good networker. I’m going to misrepresent you. 

John: Yeah, that’s a great point. I’m thinking about that as a leader. I, I, every leader needs to do that, you know, what is your introduction and, and doing it in that sense of writing the paragraph for somebody who’s introducing you and connecting you? I love that. What a great and easy exercise and hugely impactful I would think. 

Larry: Definitely. I mean, leaders want to be connected to, you know, their board members, board of advisors, to trusted advisers, channel partners, referral partners, potential clients. And you’re asking for that help at times it’s like, well, hey, you know, here’s my introduction. Can you facilitate this? And it works perfectly. 

John: Because it’s a great point because what it does is overcome what tends to be sometimes an obstacle. People don’t know how to introduce somebody. They don’t know how to refer somebody. They don’t know what to say. I don’t know about you, but there are so many people that I meet and I couldn’t tell you what they do or what they describe. And I’ll be honest, I was just on a call earlier this morning with somebody who I couldn’t after 15 minutes, I couldn’t figure out what they do. And there are so many people, I think, that are really ineffective in explaining that, you know, I was part of years ago when I started my business in financial services, I was part of something called the Leeds Group, Leeds Club, I think it was, which was one of this B and I networking groups.

John: And one of the best things that came of that was we had to introduce ourselves that way. Hey, my name’s John Laurito, and it wasn’t just I’m a financial advisor, it was a good lead for me would be this. And it was just that forced you to really kind of now there’s an example of okay taking but it helped you on the giving that it helped me understand everybody else in that group exactly how I could help them and what they were really looking for and how they could help people. So I thought it was a really kind of goal exercise. Most people, I think, lack that skill. 

Larry: It’s really helpful. And I would say, like as a leader for your teams, anyone who’s on the sales side of the business, you know, you get referrals from clients and so sometimes they don’t materialize because the client’s like, hey, you know, Larry, I’ve got an opportunity for you. I’m going to make an introduction. A week goes by and like, Hey, where’s that opportunity, John? And you’re like, I get really busy and another week goes by, Hey, John, don’t mean to bug you, but I know you had a referral for me and I’ve been really busy. I’m sure I’ll get two and then I just forget about it, right? 

Larry: Because I feel terrible bothering you instead right away when you say, I’ve got that opportunity here, John, let me send you my introduction. It looks like you wrote it about me. You could email me and that other person just to make it easier for you. Wow. And then they happened, like, immediately. Like, it’s awesome. 

John: It’s perfect. It makes it so easy. That’s exactly right. And I’m thinking, as you’re talking of a couple of individuals where I’m dealing with that, you know, roadblock there. So I will take that action myself. So I love your book, one of the things you go through is, is how you got into your global speaking business and being an authority on LinkedIn. And it’s kind of an interesting story about how that happened. I think the audience would love to hear you want to share it? 

Larry: Sure. Thank you. So I’ve been speaking now for 14 years globally about LinkedIn. You know, I’ve done this in corporate America for associations all over. I have an internal. Ross ManpowerGroup And basically for me, you know, LinkedIn has been a great way to be a better connector giver. Now, you know, going back in time, you know, LinkedIn, I joined LinkedIn. There are almost 800 million members today. I joined when there were just about a million. 100,000 could have joined sooner. I thought it was a scam and it was something that worked for me, sent an invite. I just blew it off. I could have been in the 100,000 range. 

Larry: So anyway, joined in 1,000,001 or so and I’m getting to know the tool, the platform, and using it. It’s not very widely known. So my friend Mary I here in Chicago knew that I was an active user of LinkedIn. She was running a business networking group of about 35 small business owners, and they met monthly interests. And hey, could you come in and do a talk demo presentation on LinkedIn? And, you know, I was not, you know, out there speaking on the circuit about LinkedIn. It’s been the first time. But I gladly accepted and I went in prepared and I thought I did a terrible job. You know, I because I’d been speaking about this for years, but they actually loved it. 

Larry: And the reason they loved it is when you know something more about a topic than anybody else in the room. You’re the resident expert. And I was. And so, of course, as more critical, but they’re like, Oh my God, this is fantastic. And they learned so much. I love to go back to those 35 today because I think I blew them away, but I think I did a good job. I vowed

after that, though, to immerse myself and really do a great job and become that expert. And so since that time, I’ve been all over, I’ve been, you know, virtually live, you know, across borders, all across the U.S. I’ve done probably every industry. And from your, you know, CEOs, board members, salespeople, CEOs, rose, you name it, I have done it. I love it. And it’s just it’s such a great compliment I wrote about in the book. It’s just made me better at everything that I do and connecting people. 

John: That’s amazing. So that was the beginning. And I find that really interesting that there wasn’t anything you set out to do. You had a specialty, somebody saw it, and they invited you to speak. And that began this huge speaking career and long-lasting speaking career that you have. I find that that’s inspiring. 

Larry: It’s opened up a lot of doors and it’s helped me to brand myself, even at my company, external and internal. They know I’m on LinkedIn. Larry So that’s a name someone gave me years ago in Vegas. It stuck, but it’s helped me internally because our brands are divisions. We’re a $22 billion company. They will come to me to speak internally and externally, so it’s really helped me to build my own brand as a business leader and as a speaker expert. 

John: So how many LinkedIn connections do you have now? 

Larry: So your cap at 30,000. So I stay right under the cap. I’m in the 29,000-plus range. Always. 

John: Well, they won’t let you have more than 30,000, huh? 

Larry: Yeah. They feel, you know, it’s you’re getting, you know, too big of a network. How do you manage it? Yeah, you know, so I’m a paid member. Even paid members. It doesn’t matter. So they can’t be interesting. 

John: Well, you’re probably one of the few people that set that cap or come close. There’s. 

Larry: There’s a number of us. But yeah, some folks head in excess of 100,000. When they camped it, they took away anything in excess of 30 by date, you know. So a lot of people lost a lot of connections. 

John: Take a rosebush. You got to prune it back, I guess. And that would take some away at some. Well, that’s pretty fascinating then. What is not to get too much into LinkedIn, because that’s probably a whole nother conversation. But what is in your mind is one of the big missed opportunities with LinkedIn or with people that there are so many users of LinkedIn, as you said, 800,000 or whatever, or 800 million, rather. Most people probably don’t even tap into it. What’s the big thing that they might be missing if there is one? 

Larry: And there are a lot of big things. One big thing is, you know, it’s a branding opportunity. And I think that as a leader, you know, people meet with you internally, externally. And I find that even a lot of leaders now, may not have a great picture. Their headline is president, CEO, Vice President, whatever, no flashy headline, but no about section, really highlighting their career, what they’ve done. And a lot of people think LinkedIn is just a resume and it’s really not because there are things that I put in my profile, I would tell people, Go look at it that are things I would never, ever put on a resume.

Larry: Me because you would never hire me if the things I put in my about six foot on my resume. And that’s saying you put in weird things, but you could show another side yourself besides the philanthropic. Something fun and interesting that you would just never put on your resume, you know? And you could be a seven-degree black belt, you know? So you still wouldn’t put that on your resume. Some do. But you yeah. On LinkedIn, you could do that. And seventh-degree I was tae kwon do, all I did, I could probably hurt people that are much smaller than me. 

John: Well, I wouldn’t mess with you now, if that’s all I show here, I’ll keep my distance from you. I won’t get in a fight with you. 

Larry: Thank you. 

John: Well, that’s interesting, though, but and it’s it makes a lot of sense. I think there’s there are so many people that probably, you know, are using it 5, 6, 7, 10% of what you really can use it for. And, you know, to go back to a comment you’d made earlier, which I think is really valid and it opens up another question, you’d mentioned that when you had a new leader come in, you had asked and wanted to know about their connections, which I think for a lot of leaders, they don’t necessarily realize the value or the power of that. Why is that so important in leadership as to be a truly effective leader? I mean, why is that so important? 

Larry: Well, look, we could do our day-to-day job as leaders, whatever business industry we’re in. But if we have relationships with potential referral and channel partners to direct potential clients and we’re bringing in business now, I paid for myself many times over. I think it’s kind of nice for me to tell the people I work for at my company that look, I’ve introduced my team to a lot of business from all my speaking business comes in, all the networking, all the giving, connecting I do, it just comes in. I don’t seek it out. I’m not in sales, but it’s pretty powerful. If you have leaders in your company, you’re a leader that the teams know. 

Larry: Hey, you know, Larry, so connected. He’s opened up a lot of doors, set up meetings for us, goes to our meetings, and taken one of my team members tomorrow to lunch with an executive at a big company just through my relationship base. How powerful is that? Then a leader who is. Yeah, just doing the day-to-day. But by the way myriad your time you know everybody and they’ve really brought in a lot of relationships to the firm, you know. So you hope that that leads to like some job stability. But I think it shows that, hey, Larry is not only leading, he’s also, you know, helping us grow our business. 

John: And it says a lot about you as a person, the people that you’re connected with and have relationships with. I think that’s extremely important. And I find people are surrounded. They’re people. They surround themselves with people like them. And great effective leaders are surrounding themselves constantly with people that are better than them. And building this circle. And I think a lot of leaders and I was there for a period of time myself as a leader, thought that I had to be the one that did everything and provided everything. And somebody put it to me in a different way. They said you really need to be a resource broker. You’re the person that is connecting your people with what they need and who they need. And it’s not just it’s not you. You’re the leader that’s making everything happen. But so much of that is bringing the right people together, bringing the right teams together. And that’s where this comes into play so much on that.

Larry: And I think for me, seeing that example, I’ve also shown my teams how to do that and some of them just were doing that already and I just enhance that and some of them weren’t doing it at all. And you know, I call it showing up and throwing up or lead with yourself, lead with yourself. That it’s easy for people to just come in and, you know, talk all about themselves. But the more that, you know, you come in and foster those relationships and that’s how these come back, as, you know, clients, because I, I fostered these relationships and so I teaching my teams to do the same. 

Larry: And they’re seeing a difference just in their life and they’re feeling better about who they are as people. And, and, and building those connections and putting other people first. Sometimes, salespeople have a real hard time. They just want to sell, you know? And so you have to step back. And I think, you know, COVID made us more empathetic to people and more interested in people and wanting to help people. And, you know, some people didn’t change, but a lot of people did. Now, they were better at connecting, and giving. And it’s good for business, but it’s good for ourselves. 

John: I remember reading a story in your book about somebody. Saying that you had connected him with so many individuals and had been so good with that that your name was referenced. I think it was something like 300 emails in 900 days. So it basically like every third day your name was there because of how many people you had connected him with. Am I getting that story right? 

Larry: I think it’s cause there are a lot of stories in there. I think the gentleman you’re talking about, you know, I, I made like I don’t make connections just to make them. They’re well thought out. And so I think, you know, you start making those connections. You put people together, people start talking. You know, I think what I hear a lot from people, it’s like 12 people told me, I need to know you, Larry. Yeah. You know, so my name’s out there. And not just because I’m out there, it’s because I’m putting people together. So I never want to be known as a networker. 

Larry: John, I really like to be known as a connector because a lot of networks now network or show up at events and places, but they may not be doing things for people. They’re just showing up and I’m a connector. So when I meet people, I’m thinking about how can I help them and connect with them? I just came back from Seattle and I was talking to this executive on the way to a speaking event, and we were talking and he said, Is his daughter in New York? What is she doing? Well, she just got her graduate degree and now she’s looking for a job. Doing what? And he told me, like, oh, I can help her. Can you connect us? Sure. And nothing happened after the event. And I paid him. I said, don’t forget, you’ve got to connect me to your daughter. And I think he was surprised that I actually did the follow-up on that. So it wasn’t just me. 

John: Yeah, I wasn’t just saying it to say it. You really had an intent to help. Larry: And I do. Yeah. And you got to follow through. It can’t be lip service. 

John: Yeah, I may be overthinking this, and tell me if I am, but is there you know, as you build and make connections, I mean, it can almost sometimes be overwhelming because okay, you think in you say, oh geez, I haven’t talked to Larry. And it’s been a year. It’s been two years. What not? I mean, is there a certain method to how you’re keeping the relay? So

it’s one thing to make an introduction. I mean, I know I’ve been introduced and have introduced so many people, but what does it look like to make sure that these people just don’t come into your life and then fall out of your life, and then that’s it? 

Larry: Well, I will tell you, it’s hard to, you know, especially that the leaders who listen to your podcast, to, you know, keep in touch with everybody and I’ve got 29,000 connections. It doesn’t mean I know everybody, right? You have your inner circle of people and then the next layer, the outer circle. So it’s a core group that you keep in touch with. But I’ll tell you, there’s a gentleman I hadn’t spoken to who is pre-COVID, but if you left people in a good way and you had a good, warm relationship, I remember those people. So I just made an introduction to that gentleman today. He’s in Chicago. I was talking to a gentleman yesterday in Irvine, California. 

Larry: And they both come from the kind of the health and fitness arena. They have some experience there, some investments, etc. And I thought they should know each other. So the gentleman Schickel I’d talked to a number of years pre-COVID, he called me up and I made the introductions like Larry, it’s been a long time. And he told me the amount of time that lapsed, I’m like, no way goes, yeah. I mean, how old are your kids? I’m like, Oh my God, you’re right. So we’re like, Well, we got to get together. And it’s like we just spoke yesterday. So it depends, you know, how some people in your world, how you left that relationship was a good thing. You could pick it up any time. 

Larry: So sometimes you can’t talk with everybody all the time or you change your career. And so that person doesn’t really apply directly today, but they may surface in something you do, and that’s what happened today. So don’t worry that you have to talk to everybody every single day. You know, sometimes putting messages out on LinkedIn during your network, they see you. 

John: Yeah, that’s a great point. I love it. Well, well, I’ll tell you, I could talk to you for hours. This has been really a lot of fun and very, very valuable. I know my audience will take away a lot from this if they want to either learn more about you or get the book, which I highly recommend, I’m really enjoying it. How do they do that? Where do they go? 

Larry: Okay, so first of all, you can find my book, The NCG Factor on Amazon. I have a website as well. Kauffman-Larry.com. I know it’s kind of backward, but it works. And then you could find me on LinkedIn. Larry Kaufman. In all caps in Chicago at Jefferson Wells, so a lot of different ways to find me and reach out. 

John: Excellent. Terrific. Well, Larry, I appreciate greatly your coming on. I’m sure we’re going to get a lot of positive reactions from this episode. We’ll have all that info in the show notes, by the way, for all of you listeners out there. So you’ll be able to get Larry’s book and connect with him directly and learn more from Larry. But Larry, I really appreciate you joining us today. I hope some time we can have you back and do a part two. 

Larry: I’m ready. Great time today, John. Thanks for having me. And thanks to your audience for listening. 

John: You got it. And thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ve been here with Larry Kaufman, who is the bestselling author of The NCG Factor. Great, great book, highly recommended.

As I said, the link will be in the show notes. He is also a global speaker and trainer on Linked In. As always, like, share, subscribe, and make sure you give feedback on this episode. Go down below, and give it five stars. And as always, I greatly appreciate your ideas for future content and guests, and we’ll look forward to seeing you next time. 

John (Closing): Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of Tomorrow’s Leader. For suggestions, or inquiries, about having me at your next event, or personal coaching, reach me at john@lauritogroup.com Once again, that’s john@lauritogroup.com. Thanks! Lead on!