JN: Network, network, network. Know the people who are working in your marketspace, learn what their interests are, how they do their business and establish friendly relationships with them and remember who they are. They will be going places in their companies (or maybe the one you work for) and become an amazing resource. And do not restrict yourself to meeting people in your specific business. If they are on your campuses or at the meetings you attend you need to know who they are and what they do. Having this kind of perspective not only will pay off in the future as references, it will enhance your work with your primary targets if you better understand all the work of the people in their world.
This is some of the same messaging we have been passing stores as we talk about the store of the future and developments in the digital space. No matter how good we are at relationships now, we must continue to get better. The value is in the network of relationships.
Anway, JOe Wikert's blog has a number of interesting postings, and certainly more of the interview with Jim Nye is worth reading for readers of this blog.