Dealing with Tycoons

I was having tea with Ken and Harvey this afternoon. Ken told me that at a yacht event in Singapore last week, he met a lady who runs the Hainan Yacht Club and deals a lot with very wealthy people. He had asked her how she manages to deal with and interact with tycoons.

She told him that there are 4 critical rules involved. I was intrigued by what he told me and I wanted to write it down so that I could reflect on whether on these “rules”.

Rule one is that there has to be a reason for a tycoon to want to interact with you. There must be an expertise or specialty that you possess that is of use to them and which they need from you.

Rule two is that there must be chemistry between you and the tycoon so that they feel comfortable spending time with you. In that way, being a likeable person and having a pleasant personality helps.

Rule three was interesting. Whether a tycoon trusts you and interacts with you depends a lot on who recommended you. These rich people tend to be suspicious of outsiders and they therefore rely a lot of personal recommendations from people they trust. So having someone saying nice things about you certainly helps.

And the final rule is that it is important never to put any kind of pressure on them. They dislike pressure from anyone, especially from one providing them a service.

As I am writing this , I wondered if these rules were limited to just interactions with the ultra rich. On reflection, these rules are common sense principles which can apply in our interactions with clients, business partners and political leaders. But it is also sad because it reflects a utilitarian view of how the world operates. People will want you if they need something from you and if you and your services are no longer needed, they will discard you. It will only be a very small group of people who will be able to cultivate true friendships during this process.