Ask! You Shall Receive

In late 1984, early 85, Dr Ivan Misner, business consultant, formed a networking group. In this group, only one member of each profession was allowed to join. When the group filled up, someone who wasn’t allowed to join asked Dr Misner if he could help form another group. Dr Misner declined. “I’m a business consultant.” He didn’t want to form another networking group. But his friend persisted till Dr Misner relented. And then another person asked the same favor. Dr Misner said “no.” But “no” wasn’t in the cards. And so he helped form another group. A year later, without trying, Dr Misner had helped form another twenty of these special business groups. And that is how BNI was born. Today, there are 10,800 global chapters, with 291,000+ members. $19.4B dollars in member generated business.

When Mike Adray, Executive Director, sent out an invitation to an “Ask the Founder” event, I signed up immediately, even though I assumed it was going to be a remote feed. Turns out the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer showed up in person to answer our questions about business and networking. BNI members treat Dr Misner with a mixture of awe and reverence. In our meetings, we generally refer to him as “Dr Ivan Misner, Founder of BNI,” as if the other members don’t already know that. In person, he’s a casual, easily approachable guy. He’s friendly and asks questions, and he takes a genuine interest in whoever he’s talking to. Not a politician glad-handing the crowd, he’ll tell you what he thinks, even if it might not be what you wanted to hear. Genuinely helpful. A networker who believes in both the net and the work. The core values of BNI, like “givers gain” are his own core values. He reminds us we’re human beings, not human doings. Take time to think, know your numbers. Little to no regrets. He takes all questions and goes past the scheduled time, then wraps it up when it feels like just the right moment. Then pictures with anyone who wants pictures.

I catch up with friends I know through Oath to Country Foundation, not realizing ahead of time that they’re BNI members. I was unaware that Bill sells tickets to well-off VIPs, for events all over the world. He does a lot more than sell the tickets. Some competitors take the money and run. I meet Chaplain Tig, who helps kids of fallen Marines. He couldn’t enlist in the military due to a bad heart, but the Marines have made him an honorary Marine. Once, he died for a few seconds shy of seven minutes. I don’t know the details, but he was pissed when he came back. Took him months to get over his anger of coming back from that. And then one day, he realized why he was here, and he wasn’t angry any more. There’s Robert, the flood and fire restoration guy. He’s got some special tool that no one else in the State of California owns or knows how to operate, so he ends up going all over the place. Elisabeth teaches the ukulele. There are solar people and CBD people, a homeopathic doctor from Chennai, which used to be Madras, and he’s a mind reader, too. He asked Dr Misner the same question I was planning to ask. New members, old members, founding members.

After the photos, the room gradually clears. As usual, I’m one of the last to leave. Everyone got out ok, so I’m good to go. Till next time!