Entrepreneur Spotlight

 

Jared Stewart, CEO, Corporate Alliance

 

 

Jared Stewart, 36, is the founder and CEO of Corporate Alliance and its parent company Influence International, Inc., a membership-based organization that helps people create and manage successful business relationships.

"Getting people authentic in business is one of our core goals," Stewart says. "You don't necessarily hear relationships and networking in the same sentence. Networking implies that you are looking to get something from someone, whereas our focus on relationships removes the dine-and-ditch approach. Of course, this requires more patience and time. But it's much more meaningful."

The City of Influence, a 134-page book co-authored by Stewart and his sister, Sarah Stewart, was published earlier this year. The business book shares the corporation's nine core principles in a parable format.

One of the concepts found in the book in the importance of building a culture where relationships thrive. City Central, Corporate Alliance's relationships software, was built on that very concept. The software includes event management, scheduling, contact management, and group communication. With each contact profile, you can record specific relationship details, like a favorite dessert or a spouse's name.  "That way when you call them, you immediately have a way to connect," Stewart says. "Our goal is to eradicate the cold call."

Brent Crane, director of the Food and Care Coalition in Provo and a member of Corporate Alliance, says City Central has been a huge benefit to him and his team.

City Central software is an amazing platform that not only created greater organization and efficiency but provided us with an intuitive tool that maintains our current friendships as well as build new business relationships," Crane says.

           

Launch: One of the nine principles you teach in the book "City of Influence" is Relationship Arrogance. What do you mean by that?

Jared Stewart: Relationship Arrogance is prioritizing relationships based on a forecasted return on investment. We often view others as human ATM machines, instantly discounting those we don't see a possible transaction with. Relationship Arrogance can be fatal to a business' success, because it makes you incapable of building lasting relationships. People can sense self-serving motives and intuitively avoid you.

The best way to avoid relationship arrogance is to develop relationships "just because." Building relationships just because simply means that you realize that people are inherently valuable, even though you may not be able to see a specific outcome of your relationship. People sense your genuine interest, and begin to trust you.

 

Launch: To you, what's the advantage of face time versus online networking?

JS: While there is a benefit in the ease and efficiency of online networking, it can't replace the relationships that are built in face-to-face interactions. The reason golf is such a popular sport among businessmen, and lunch meetings fill so many afternoons is that it is necessary to remove people from their fast-paced work environment and connect as individuals. We try to help you get to know individuals, not just online profiles. 

 

Launch: Tell me about Corporate Alliance's social networking software Downtown?

JS: City Central is mainly for contact management, whereas Downtown is a new social networking solution that connects Corporate Alliance members. It allows them to view limited profiles of those they will meet at Corporate Alliance events. In addition, they can create their own "network" of contacts with those that they have built face-to-face relationships with. They can transact business, communicate with their network, and cultivate their relationships through Downtown. 

 

Launch: Does this software contract your core values?

JS: Social networking sites offer the potential to connect in a digital world, but the ability to forge new relationships and build meaningful connections cannot happen through a computer. Corporate Alliance provides opportunities to build relationships in a real-world setting, and only after relationships have been built do they use technology to communicate with and grow those relationships. Technology doesn't try to replace personal interaction, and computer screens don't compensate for real conversations. 

 

Launch - Spring 2009

 

 

For the full "digital magazine" version of Spring 2009, visit: www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/growutah/launch_2009spring/