Early in my career I took a very wealthy man named Harvey Baskin to dinner so I could ask him every question I had. When the check came, he slid it across the table to me. I slid it back. He slid it back again and asked me a question I have never forgotten: do you want to pick my brain or pick my pocket? One of them lasts longer. I paid that bill with money I did not really have, and it was the best investment I made that year.

This episode makes a case some people will resist. Relationship capital may be the most important capital you will ever hold. Investment capital matters. Credit matters. But money follows trust, and trust is built one relationship at a time.

I share how relationships opened nearly every door in my life, from selling to my teachers as a kid, to landing at a Hollywood school I found in the Yellow Pages, to a banker named William Hannah who overrode his own chief financial officer to extend a line of credit to a young Operation HOPE. I paid him back early, because my name was riding on it. That one kept promise grew into far larger lines of credit over the years.

Networking is a taking business. Relationship capital is a giving business. Ask people about their children and their dreams, mean it, keep your word, and stop showing up only when you need something. When people like you and respect you, they will want to build with you.

🎧 Listen now — wherever you get your podcasts, or simply click below.

Prefer to watch? The full episode is on YouTube.