Knowing People Out of Sequence

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of GE, was being interviewed for a podcast I was listening to as part of a book tour he was doing.

The interviewer was well researched and spoke with him about a wide range of subjects.

One of the twists in the conversation involved questions related to the 2008 financial crisis.

Immelt had personal and professional relationships with the Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulsen, and his successor, Timothy Geithner.

Their relationships were built over many years before the financial crisis.

Trust existed before the crisis.

When asked about his relationship with them, Immelt remarked that he gets to know people “out of sequence.”

What was obvious that he meant by the phrase was that he builds relationships at a time when he doesn’t need anything from people.

Thus, when the need eventually exists, there is no need to do all the trust-building. Everyone knows one another and trusts one another.

As we wind up the horror that has been the pandemic, many of you successfully rode out the storm.

After the initial trauma of lockdown, everyone hunkered down and stopped speaking to one another…