4th Edition

Foreword by Graham Weihmiller, Chairman & CEO, BNI

BNI Global LLC

Givers Gain®
The BNI® Story
© 2004, 2008, 2012, 2017 Ivan Misner, Ph.D.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
“Givers Gain,” “BNI,” and “BNI Connect” are registered trademarks of BNI
Global LLC.
“Certified Networker” and “Referral Institute” are registered trademarks of
Asentiv.
Permission to reproduce or transmit in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by an information
storage and retrieval system, must be obtained by writing to the author.
Published by BNI Global LLC.

The authors may be contacted at the following addresses:

BNI Global Dr. Ivan Misner®
11525 N. Community House Rd., Ste. 475 [email protected]
Charlotte, NC 28277
1.877.401.1394 (toll free, US only) Jeff Morris
1.704.248.4800 (US & international) [email protected]
1.704.837.7491 (fax)

Credits
Editing: Elisabeth Misner, Bobbie Jo Sims
Proofreading: Deborah Costenbader
Text Design/Production: Jeff Morris
Jacket Design: Damian Greenwood, D&M Creative Limited
Index: Kay Banning

First Edition: September 2004

Second Edition: March 2008
Third Edition: August 2012
Fourth Edition: February 2017
 To all the members of BNI,
who have made Givers Gain®
the world’s most successful
organizational principle
Contents
Foreword
Graham Weihmiller, Chairman & CEO . . . . . . . . . . . vii
1 First Things First
Why I Wrote This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 The First Chapter
1984–1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3 The First Year
1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4 Steady Growth
1986–1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5 The Way East
1988–1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6 Coast to Coast
1990–1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7 Going International
1995–2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
8 A New Audience
1995–2000 (continued), 2001–2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
9 A New Millennium
2001–2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
10 BNI Core Values
Things Every Member Should Know . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
11 Lessons Learned
The Value of Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
12 A Better Business World
Into the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
BNI Code of Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Member Launching Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
One-to-One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
BNI: Garage to Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
BNI Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
 The BNI Vision

Changing the Way the World Does Business®

Forewords
Graham Weihmiller, Chairman and CEO

Welcome to BNI! In the pages that follow,

you’ll uncover the story of the world’s largest
business networking organization and the in-
dividual stories of passionate business leaders
who have a far bigger purpose in life. While
we’re inspired every day by the sheer volume
of business that our members generate within
BNI, we’re even more inspired by the ways in
which BNI touches the lives of individuals like
you and like me.
Let me say that it’s an extraordinary
honor to write the foreword to this seminal
book. My thanks go to Dr. Ivan Misner, Norm Dominguez, and Andy
Hart — three former CEOs from whom I have the privilege of continuing
to learn. My journey to BNI was like many of yours. I first heard about
BNI from a business colleague, and I was immediately intrigued: an
organization that builds successful businesses, creates tremendous good
in the world, and has a heck of a lot of fun in the process? It sounded
too good to be true. But it’s absolutely true. As I learned more, I saw
that what Dr. Misner started over 30 years ago rests on high-minded
values, sound business fundamentals, and a way of doing business in
which we can all take pride.
Throughout my career, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to
work within great organizations. That said, I’ve never seen an organiza-
tion — particularly one that is spread out across so many time zones,
languages, and cultures — so universally focused on a single philosophy:
Givers Gain®. BNI members live out this philosophy every day, and it
greatly enhances both their business and their personal lives. Of all of the
gifts that Dr. Misner has bestowed on us, perhaps none has been more
impactful than the development and continuity of this single organiza-
tional philosophy.
Within BNI, we very much believe in the “upside down” organiza-
tional chart. In other words, the guy writing this is at the very bottom
of the “totem pole” — as he should be. I focus on leading the Global
Support Team; we’re the team that supports National Directors, who vii
viii G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

in turn support Executive Directors. Executive Directors support Direc-

tor Consultants, who in turn support Chapter Leadership Teams. And
Chapter Leadership Teams support the most important people in the
world — BNI members. Each and every day, we work to make the BNI
experience the best it can be for our members. How do we do this? We
focus on enhancing training programs to help members grow their busi-
nesses, developing cutting edge technology to help connect members
in ever more meaningful ways, and raising awareness of BNI’s culture
and way of doing business.
While BNI has experienced tremendous growth year in and year
out for over three decades, it has not even scratched the surface of its
potential. When discussing the opportunity that I see ahead for BNI
members, I often mention the feeling of standing in front of an enormous
mountain and needing to step back to take in its full magnitude. And
with each passing day, I feel the need to keep stepping back further
and further to see it all. It is truly a beautiful sight. But where does this
opportunity come from?
As we say in BNI, “Though we may speak different languages and
have different customs and different cultures, we all speak the language
of referrals.” In other words, people want to do business with people they
know and trust. At its core, BNI is an exceptional trust-building system.
When the system is followed, it works really well. As I travel the world
meeting with BNI members, I can’t tell you how many hugely successful
businesses have been built solely on BNI. Of course we encourage all
members to be plugged into other organizations, like Rotary and their
local Chamber of Commerce. Beyond being great organizations unto
themselves, membership in these types of organizations enables BNI
members to refer more business to their fellow BNI members. And we
encourage BNI members to be active in social media and to leverage
emerging mobile apps and other technology to enhance their visibility
in the business community. We also encourage BNI members to pursue
other types of marketing. All of these activities complement BNI’s simple
yet powerful model.
We’re now laying the foundation for the next 30 years of BNI’s
story. I’m often asked about how BNI will be different 10 years from now.
My first answer is that Givers Gain will be at the center of all that we do
then, just as much as it is right now. And while we’re developing exciting
new programs and technology to benefit BNI members, the time-tested
fundamentals that were developed over 30 years ago, and that are used
in over 7,500 chapters worldwide today, will very much be in place then.
 F O R E W O R D S ix

What role will you play within BNI? I can tell you that the sky’s
the limit here. So I encourage you to jump in with both feet, learn all
you can, meet great people, and have fun along the way. Keeping the
fun in the fundamentals is important and something in which we very
much believe.
Sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy the pages ahead. From
my personal experience, I can tell you that BNI can change your life.
It has changed my life, and I’m forever grateful to Dr. Misner for the
opportunity he’s made available to me and to you.
Onward and Upward!
 c h a p t e r

First Things First

Why I Wrote This Book

I already know why you’re holding this book in your hands. It’s
because you’ve become a member of an organization that you feel
pretty good about — an organization that has grown from one chapter
to thousands since 1985 because it has earned a reputation as a potent
referral generator for business people around the world.
I also know that not too many people can tell you how this came
to pass. It’s true that many of BNI’s current members and leaders have
been here a long time, some even from the beginning. They can tell you
their own personal history in the organization, because many of them
were the first BNI members and leaders in their part of the country or
the world.
But none of them can tell you, from a single viewpoint, exactly how
it all began and how it got to be the organization you see today. That task
uniquely falls to the Founder. And it’s not really a task, because I enjoy
telling stories. Many of my friends and colleagues will attest to that, and
usually they’re polite about it.
More and more over the last few years, I’ve become aware that
it’s not only a story that I’d like to tell, but one that needs to be told. 1
2 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Until now, nobody has written down the whole story, or even
tried to tell it in more than generalizations and anecdotes. Truth be told,
telling the full story out loud would require an audience equipped with
monklike stoicism and flanks of iron. That’s why books were invented.
In the pages that follow, I’ll try to recount for you, as succinctly
and vividly as I can, how BNI sprang into existence and how it became
so large and successful in such a short time. This won’t be the whole
story by a long shot — but I hope it’s enough to give you the picture,
the sense, and the flavor of the fine organization you belong to.

One of the secrets of our success is that BNI is made up of a lot of

people who bring talent, skill, and dedication to the job. BNI is not built
on me, or on the National Directors and me, or even on the Executive
Directors, Area Directors, or Director Consultants and me. It’s built on
all of us — thousands of directors, tens of thousands of Leadership
Teams, and hundreds of thousands of BNI members, not to mention a
lot of support people.
And yet — if you add up all these people and their time and dedi-
cation, it still doesn’t account for the phenomenon that BNI has become.
It’s a familiar mystery. BNI is a classic example of the whole be-
ing greater than the sum of its individual parts. Every one of us adds
something good and positive and significant to the organization, but
when the recipe is put together and cooked in a unique way, the result
is far beyond anything you might expect. BNI has taken on a life of its
own, creating results in surprising ways and in surprising places.
I think one reason BNI is so much greater than the sum of its parts
is because the parts are encouraged — more than encouraged, they’re
trained and exhorted — to interact with one another. The key to the
effectiveness of networking is forming relationships based on trust in
an atmosphere of generosity and selflessness. This is the key to BNI’s
organizational health, as well. The only competition among members is
a friendly scramble to see who can do the most good for others. That’s
constructive competition.
What’s behind this generous organizational spirit? It’s a philosophy
that’s expressed in the title of this book. This philosophy sets us apart
from other organizations and enables us to build a company that is
uniquely positive. It is an organizational culture unlike any other in the
world, a culture that can be expressed in two words that are foremost
in the mind of every member: Givers Gain.
 F I R S T T H I N G S F I R S T 3

Inspiration shows itself everywhere, and it too is shared. Our direc-

tors are among the most skilled and innovative organization leaders in
the world, and they are not shy about expressing their opinions on how
BNI could be made more effective and its members more productive.
In an organization composed top to bottom of business leaders, no
one has a corner on the idea market. I would estimate that three-quarters
of the most useful ideas occur to a director, or to me personally, after one
of us sees something new being tried in a chapter meeting that might
work well in all the other chapters. I get a lot of satisfaction watching
this great assemblage of minds create its own “Eureka!” moments, over
and over again.
This collective creativity is awe-inspiring — and unlike many
other organizations, BNI has a central philosophy that encourages the
sharing of good ideas. People say to each other, “Hey, this has worked
well for me — you should try it!”

Aside from the unpredictable synergy of philosophy and func-

tion that characterizes BNI, there are other factors in its phenomenal
growth — factors that are common knowledge and certainly no secret
to successful people. One of them is the art of making decisions.
Someone I respect once said to me, “Look, Ivan, not every de-
cision you make has to be right. You just have to make more right
decisions than wrong ones. And when you realize you’ve made a
wrong decision, you’ve got to fix it quick.”
This is a wonderfully comforting thing to hear, especially for a
person who never expected to end up running a worldwide organiza-
tion with a life and a mind of its own. What if we take a wrong turn?
Will we suddenly find ourselves on the rocks?
I’ve made my share of wrong decisions, but I’ve learned to correct
them quickly. On the whole, my advisors and I have made a lot more
right decisions than wrong ones. The essential thing is to make decisions.
Deciding not to decide is always the wrong decision.

Another factor is the quality of the people who are attracted to

BNI. Because the up-front philosophy of BNI makes receiving secondary
to giving, you won’t run across many selfish or self-absorbed people.
You’ll find very few members who are pessimists, naysayers, or dyed-
in-the-wool cynics. The negative types tend to weed themselves out. It’s
tough to commit to something you’re not wired to believe in.
4 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

What you will find is members and leaders who are wholeheart-
edly positive about life and generous toward others. If they get down
in the dumps about anything, it’s about not having enough time to do
everything they want to do for their families, their businesses, their fellow
BNI members, and anyone else who crosses their path. Their altruism
is rather daunting; among people who are naturally competitive, the
competition becomes who’s tops in doing things for others.

What you read in the pages that follow will be a quick history of
BNI from the first glimmer of inspiration to its full flowering as a global
organization. But I don’t want this to be a dull recitation of names and
dates, or a geography lesson, or a collection of charts and graphs, as
impressive as any of those pieces might be on its own. Instead, I want to
show you the thinking — by me and by others — that went on behind
all the big decisions and actions. At heart this is a fully human story —
not just my story, but the stories of scores of other thinkers and leaders
and business owners who are the driving force behind our success.
For that reason, I’m going to reminisce a bit. I’ll tell you what we
were thinking and when, who was involved, what we decided and why,
what we ended up doing, and what we learned along the way. Like
Uncle Ed on the front porch, I’ll tell you some stories that are slightly
shaggy but that you may find entertaining or educational — or even both.
In a later chapter I’ll sum it all up by telling you about the things
we consider to be BNI’s traditions. Some of these — most of them, prob-
ably — you will have gathered from the pages of BNI history that follow
and the personal anecdotes embedded in them. In that chapter you’ll
get a better picture of how these traditions work together to make BNI
not only a powerful business tool but a uniquely effective force for good.

Most of all, I hope that when you finish reading this book, you’ll
have a bird’s-eye perspective of BNI to go with your experience of its
day-to-day, week-by-week functioning at the chapter level. You already
know that you’ve joined the world’s most successful referral networking
organization. You probably have your own stories to tell about the good
it’s done for your business. Now you will know how it got that way.

Finally, I encourage you to think of BNI as an investment in your

future. Membership in BNI is not a guarantee; it is an opportunity to
turn your time and commitment into a lot of money. The question is,
What are you going to create with the opportunity that you have?
 F I R S T T H I N G S F I R S T 5

There’s an old business truism that’s useful here. Think of your

investment in BNI as a bar of iron. A plain bar of iron is worth about
$5. But if you turn it into horseshoes (I said it was old), it’s worth $10.
If you turn it into screwdrivers, it’s worth $250.
If you turn it into needles, it’s worth $3,500.
If you turn it into balance springs for watches, it’s worth $250,000.
You have a membership in this organization, and turning that
into value involves understanding the traditions of this organization.
It involves Givers Gain — giving to other people in order to get
business from other people.
It involves going to every single education and training opportu-
nity that we can offer you.
It involves keeping the fun in the fundamentals; you’ve got to
have fun while you’re doing this.
It involves learning how to do effective testimonials.
It involves showing people that you truly care about their success.
And it involves walking the talk.

These are the core values and traditions that, as you will see, have
made BNI the world’s most successful referral networking organization.

So . . . pull up a rocker, get comfortable, and let the story begin.

 c h a p t e r

The First Chapter

1984–1985

“When you started BNI back in 1985, did you ever think it would
get this big?” That’s a question I seem to get asked a lot these days.
Well, as I often tell people, it’s good to have goals. But I can’t hon-
estly say it was my goal back then to create an organization with tens
of thousands of members passing billions of dollars worth of referrals
in thousands of chapters in dozens of countries on several continents.
Nor did I have any idea such a thing could happen so fast.
When I started that first chapter, I wasn’t even thinking of BNI
as a business. I already had my own company; I just needed a way to
round up more business for it.
But somewhere along the way, I got sidetracked. Funny how things
sometimes work out, isn’t it?

Starting Up
Let me back up a bit and get a running start. I was born in Pittsburgh
and raised in Southern California, with a strong family background that
included terrific parents. With help from them, a couple of scholarships,
and some student loans, I worked my way through college and earned
a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. After a brief stint in
the US Department of Commerce, I decided that private business was
where the future was.
Before long I was not only a partner in a trucking company, I also
worked part time in my own company, AIM Consulting, in La Verne, 7
8 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

California, about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. With my aca-

demic background in organizational behavior and development, I special-
ized in helping other companies hire, train, and evaluate employees and
create personnel policies and procedure manuals. I also guided marketing
departments, especially in the growing retail computer field, in hiring
and training people before they brought in permanent managers.
By early 1984, things were changing. I was consulting full time.
Business was good enough to let me invest in a new house, but no sooner
had I moved in than I learned I was losing my biggest client, whose
business, unbeknownst to me, was in the process of failing.
Banks are funny about home mortgage loans. Mine felt I should
pay every month. I had to bring in more business, and fast. What was
the best way to do that?
I looked at my options. Advertising? It’s a necessity for many busi-
nesses, especially retail, and it can be very effective — but my market
was limited and hard to target. A barely adequate ad campaign would
cost a lot more than I could afford.
I tried direct mail. The experts say a 2 percent response is consid-
ered good in a direct mail effort. As a business consultant, I got zero.
I could put together a massive public relations program, but as a
consultant, my costs and limitations were a lot like those of advertising.
I could lock myself in my office with a coffee pot and a telephone
and start cold-calling people to ask for their business. I knew how to
cold-call. I had trained whole marketing departments on how to do it.
In fact, I worked with them so long that I knew I never wanted to do
another cold call — ever again. There had to be a better way.
Actually, the answer was fairly obvious to me. I was already getting
most of my new business from referrals and from speaking engagements.
I knew that my highest-quality, longest-lasting, best-paying clients were
those who had been referred to me by other clients. So I began contact-
ing my remaining clients to get referrals.
Then I started thinking. Of all the kinds of business that came
to me, the best business came in by referral — yet I had no reliable
way of increasing the number of referrals I received. Like most busi-
ness people, I got referrals through an informal network of business
acquaintances, but mostly as an afterthought. If the opportunity arose,
and if the thought occurred, one business person might say to a client
or acquaintance, “You ought to go see So-and-So — he can get that done
for you.” Then he might or might not call to let you know he had sent
that person to see you.
 T H E F I R S T C H A P T E R 9

What we needed was a networking system designed from the

ground up to do a single thing well: generate the largest possible num-
ber of high-quality referrals for all members, from as many different
sources as possible, for the mutual benefit of all — members, customers,
vendors, friends, and everyone else — and to do it in a positive way.
I felt there was a huge, untapped potential for creating and shar-
ing referrals among business people like me. Was there a systematic
way to tap this potential? In the closing months of 1984, that became
my challenge.

Referrals, Please
I was already getting occasional referrals by participating in a variety
of networking organizations in my area — service groups, for example.
Their primary purpose is to provide service to the community, and that’s
the reason you join, although many will tell you that service groups
are also a good way to make business contacts. As an active member,
you naturally meet a lot of important people and form relationships.
But these relationships don’t necessarily lead to business referrals very
quickly. In some service groups, you end up competing with fellow
members for referrals.
I was a member of the local Chamber of Commerce. That was a
good place to meet other business people, especially the movers and
shakers, but it became obvious to me that unless you sat on commit-
tees, attended mixers regularly, met with the officers, or volunteered to
greet visitors and members, the contacts tended to be rather casual, not
focused on giving or receiving business referrals.
Because my partner in AIM Consulting was a woman, I joined two
women’s networking groups that were strong on education and had a
clear and coherent vision. One was a nationwide knowledge network­ing
group, the other a business referral group. Knowledge networking is
important in business and professional development, but the national
group was more suitable for women than for men, and it didn’t focus
on referrals. The other group, a local women’s referral group, was not
particularly effective in fulfilling its nominal purpose. However, I did get
a number of referrals — because, as one of the few men in a women’s
group, I stuck in people’s memory.
Some of the organizations I’ve mentioned are what is known as
“casual contact” networks. These are somewhat haphazard in their ap-
proach to generating good, productive, long-lasting, referral-generating
10 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

business contacts. I also joined a strong-contact group, whose members

were dedicated to getting and giving referrals. Unfortunately, this par-
ticular group treated its members like junior high students, penalizing
trivial missteps and oversights. Over time, its leadership tended to drift
off the organization’s procedures and mission. Nobody had a good time
in this group; if you were one minute late, you were fined. If you forgot
to hand somebody your card, you were fined. If it was a full moon on
a Tuesday, you were fined.
I felt that each of the groups I joined had different things to offer
in terms of personal relationships, business development, referrals,
service to the community, contact with people in different fields of inter-
est, frequent regular meetings, consistency, and discipline. However, no
single group satisfied all my requirements. None embodied the main
thing I was looking for, which was a system of mutually beneficial
networking based on business referrals in a positive environment.

New Ideas
Finally, in frustration, I approached several business people I knew and
trusted, and who knew and trusted me, who were in these groups. I asked
them if they would be interested in forming a new type of group — a
focused, positive organization that would be structured and operated
entirely to promote networking.
I told them some of the things I had been thinking about.
I wanted our group to be built around the idea of mutual benefit,
the concept that our first duty would be to help others in the group get
high-quality business referrals and to help them in any other way that
we could. The breadth and depth of such a network would automati-
cally end up helping us as much as everyone else.
I wanted the meetings to be command performances, with every
member required to attend every week without fail, so the network
would stay close-knit and strong.
I wanted to take the best features of the many different networks
I was involved in and create a single, powerful group. I also wanted us to
play around with new ideas, to find a formula that would bring in plenty
of lucrative business referrals for everybody, to change things to see what
would happen, and to stick with whatever we found worked best.
I wanted us to enjoy ourselves while we were doing it, to look
on it not only as a business function but also as a network of personal
relationships, like an extended family.
 T H E F I R S T C H A P T E R 11

Three of my networking acquaintances jumped on the idea. Yes,

they would be glad to meet and talk about forming a new kind of net-
work. They would call their friends and invite them to join us and con-
tribute their own ideas. They agreed with me that there must be a better
way to market their businesses and interact with other professionals.
That’s how we came together at our first meeting, in Arcadia,
California, December 1984. Joining me were an insurance agent, a finan­
cial planner, and a CPA whose son now represents her business (Denny
& Co.) — BNI’s longest-lasting business membership.

The Network
We didn’t get going officially that December; instead, we decided to hold
our first formal meeting the following month, January 1985. I didn’t live
that close to Arcadia, but most of my interested colleagues did, so we
chose to meet there. We spent most of our December get-together talking
about our goals and how to run the meetings to achieve them. We also
decided to give ourselves a simple, descriptive name: The Network.
(From here on out, though, I’m going to use the name we decided on a
few years later, the name we all now know and love: BNI.)
I offered at least one of my fellow organizers a partnership in the
enterprise, but I got no takers. No problem, I thought. How much trouble
would it be to keep one chapter going? A few phone calls each week,
maybe a small amount of paperwork. The Leadership Team — President,
Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer — would keep things humming
along nicely. After all, this was not my business. I was a consultant;
the group was just a tool to help my friends and me bring in more
business.
Here’s the way it would work, we decided: First, to avoid competi­
tion within the chapter, only one member per professional category would
be allowed to join. We would show up once a week at breakfast —
same day, same place every week — without fail. Because every
member had business commit-
ments that could not and should
not be ignored, we would follow a
strict agenda and would begin and
end each meeting on time.
I sat down at my typewriter
one evening and typed up an agenda
that I thought would be a good way
12 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

to conduct the weekly meeting. It would help us get to know each other,
learn about each other’s businesses, and bring in referrals for everyone.
This single sheet of paper became our starting point. Although we would
make a number of changes and refinements over the years, the Weekly
Meeting Agenda would serve as the backbone for all future BNI chapter
meetings. It contained the essentials for creating and maintaining an
effective referral network.
We would spend the first part of the meeting standing up by turns
and giving a 60-second “commercial” (now called “Weekly Presenta-
tion”) describing our products or services. We would introduce guests
and visitors.
Next, in weekly rotation, one of us would give a 10- to 15-minute
presentation (which we now call a “Feature Presentation”) on a topic
related in some way to our business. This talk might be on the history of
our industry, useful advice or guidance, news about coming advances in
technology, or even a product demonstration.
Then would come the central element of the meeting, our reason
for being. After the main presentation, members would pass referrals
to other members, telling them about a prospect they had had contact
with who might need their products
or services and who had been told to
expect a call, a letter, or a visit from
This is an important part the business person the member had
of my personal success, recommended. After that was done,
my professional success, the meeting would adjourn and we
which really does tie to would go to work.
the early skills I learned, We felt this approach would
because as you practice be the most efficient and effective
different things with a group of people, you way to generate referrals week
start to learn what works and what doesn’t. after week. It would be very
— Carolyn Denny, CPA structured, very organized, very
Founding member of BNI goal-oriented. It was all about
commitment. You paid money to
join, because you knew that, if you
followed the system, you would
get it back many times over in new
business. You would show up as
promised and, if at all possible,
you would have at least one refer-
ral for a fellow member.
 T H E F I R S T C H A P T E R 13

Good Vibes
One thing we vigorously agreed on was that we would maintain a posi-
tive, constructive atmosphere. No fines. No petty rules about shaking
hands. No “casual contact” networking. No gender-based limitations.
Yes, structure and rules were crucial, but our members would be treated
as responsible adults. Have to miss a meeting? Fine, just send someone
to stand in for you, represent your business, and give and receive refer-
rals for you.
Success would depend on growth. How could we encourage others
to join us? We would use incentives. Members who brought visitors or
referrals to the meeting would be eligible to draw for a door prize — a gift
certificate, product sample, or other item provided by the featured speaker.
Again, positive reinforcement, rather than scolding or hectoring.
Although we wanted to make it as positive as possible, we also
understood, early on, that we had to use “tough love.” Balance was the
key; there had to be rules, but enforcement had to be positive in nature.
We had to have systems of accountability to keep our chapters from
turning into coffee klatches or social clubs.
Problems with a member’s behavior? We designed a Membership
Committee whose function would be to solve problems that kept a per-
son from being a valuable, productive member. The approach would
be constructive: “What can we do to help you to show up at meetings
regularly?” or “How can we help you solve this quality problem that’s
keeping our members from recommending you to others?”
Only as a last resort would a member be asked to leave the group.
And even this would be presented in positive terms: the member would
be informed that the chapter would open his classification, so that a
new person in that profession could apply for membership. It was as
simple and direct as that.

First Kickoff
We held the first official meeting of BNI in January 1985 in Arcadia.
Those of us who attended the December meeting had invited others
to come check us out, and to become charter members if they liked
the concept. As a result, we had 20 people at our first official meeting.
This was encouraging. Even more amazing and encouraging, most of
our visitors decided to join that very day. It seemed we had hit upon
a magic formula.
14 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

It wasn’t all work. We were becoming close friends and learning

to trust each other. Trust is one of the most important aspects of a good
networking relationship, and we were careful to build trust in every way
possible — in doing business, in helping each other solve problems, and
in forming, in many cases, lifelong friendships.
It didn’t escape my notice that many of us who formed the first
core group were in professions that worked together symbiotically
and were naturally inclined to refer business to one another. Insurance
agents and accountants, for example, did not compete with each other
but could, in different ways, help clients manage their finances. These
professions, like many others, also depended heavily on referrals for
new business. The connections between other professionals, such as
chiropractors and interior decorators, were less pronounced, but still
rich with potential for referrals. Although the concept didn’t come into
clear focus in my mind until later, this was our first example of two
important BNI networking concepts: Contact Spheres, and later, Power
Teams. A Contact Sphere is all the possible professions a networker can
team up with; Power Teams are all
the people the net­worker has actu-
ally teamed up with.
Yes, it does work. I don’t
I knew that we already had
do any advertising, I don’t
the beginnings of a lively, growing,
do any mailers, I don’t do
productive group of networkers
seminars, but I still get
representing many professions and
somewhere between 60
specialties, passing referrals by
and 70 referrals a year.
the handful and eager to help one
— Mike Ryan, financial advisor
another’s business take off. What
Founding member of BNI
I didn’t quite realize, however,
was how fast this new organiza-
tion would grow. Like Jack’s magic
beanstalk, BNI was about to shoot
toward the sky.
 c h a p t e r

The First Year

1985

Within a few weeks after our first meeting, we had gained so many
new members that we outgrew our first restaurant and had to find an-
other, and not long after that, still another. This was inconvenient, but
all in all, a positive sign of success.
In March, however, we came up against another wall. A woman
who visited our group was immediately eager to join. “This is great!”
she said. “It’s really organized. I love this! I can get a ton of business
out of it! But I can’t join this group because you already have a mem-
ber who does what I do” — which was using a computer to compose
newsletters, a fairly new and uncommon specialty.
She came to me with a request: “Will you help me open another
chapter?”
I thought, Sure, why not? Two chapters, plus my consulting
practice, I can handle that. So we started another chapter, this time in
Pasadena. She brought a couple of dozen people to that meeting, most
of them duplicating the professions we had already covered in our first
group, but with some new professions represented as well. We enlisted
our first dentist in this chapter — Dr. Jim LaBriola, who is one of BNI’s
longest-lasting members and sponsor of innumerable referrals over
the years.
At the Kickoff of this second group, I gave a talk to the new mem-
bers, telling them what BNI was all about. I invited visitors to join, which
they scrambled to do, because we emphasized that those first to apply
would get favored consideration, and that second place was no place. 15
16 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Well, it turned out that two of the people at that Kickoff were beat
out by their competitors who had jumped at the chance to sign up. They
came up to me at the end of the meeting and said, “Wow, this is a great
idea! I could get a lot of business out of a group like this! If you’ll help
each of us start our own chapters, you can run four of these.”
And I thought, Okay, four chapters and my consulting business.
I can do that.
So we opened up two more, one in West Los Angeles and one in
Diamond Bar. The same thing happened at those Kickoffs. Dozens more
joined BNI. People in both groups wanted to start new chapters. Before
long I found myself thinking, Okay, eight chapters and my consulting
practice. I can handle that.
I did not suspect until months later just how fast this idea would
catch on and how quickly new chapters would be formed. By the end
of the first year, we had opened 20 chapters across Southern California.
Twenty chapters and my consulting business. I can handle that.
I think.

Growing Wild
Sometime in that first year, it began to dawn on me that my idea had
struck a chord. I knew that getting referrals was important to me as a
consultant, but I hadn’t realized just how important it was to all busi-
ness people — that all business people had this hunger for an organized
networking system with a positive approach.
Especially a networking system that would stay focused on get-
ting referrals. There were a lot of networking groups out there already,
but as everybody in them became good friends, most groups seemed
to turn into coffee klatches.
One of the strengths of a networking organization is that every-
body becomes friends — and one of the weaknesses of a networking
organization is that everybody becomes friends. The strength becomes a
weakness because people don’t always hold friends accountable. Keep-
ing everybody’s eye on the ball, keeping a chapter focused on giving
and getting referrals, requires holding friends accountable.
Turning into a coffee klatch was only one of the dangers BNI faced
as it grew. Growth naturally brings change, and distance brings change.
BNI was growing in both numbers and reach. I stayed pretty busy trav-
eling from chapter to chapter, kicking off new groups and welcoming
new members, and revisiting chapters as they matured and expanded.
 T H E F I R S T Y E A R 17

Toward the end of our first year, I could see that one of our weak-
nesses was keeping the chapters working off the same script. I would
visit chapter X five months after Kickoff and find that they had stopped
having members give their Feature Presentations. In chapter Y, 10 months
along, members were skipping breakfast so they could meet later or
sneak out early.
Many of us in the founding group knew, from experience with
other organizations, that certain basic meeting elements would work
for us and others would not. It was important that all chapters follow
a system that was known to consistently work. Otherwise, visitors to
drifting chapters would soon begin to conclude that BNI didn’t work
as advertised, and that would be the beginning of the end. BNI would
go the way of so many other groups.

Catching the Train

Toward the end of the year, I attended a meeting of one chapter where
the only way I knew I was at a BNI meeting was that everyone was
wearing a badge that said BNI. They didn’t follow the Agenda at all,
and it had turned into a coffee klatch. This started some alarm bells
ringing in my mind.
Not long afterward, I visited another BNI chapter where everything
seemed normal until, to my great surprise, the meeting ended without
a certain vital element having taken place. “Oh, you mean the referral
part?” said the President. “You know what, we stopped doing that at the
meeting. It was too embarrassing. We were putting people on the spot.
Now we do referrals after the meeting. It’s all right, the Vice President
still gets a copy.”
“And how’s that working for you?” I said, in my best Dr. Phil
manner.
“Well, I don’t know. I haven’t seen the VP’s report.”
We got together with the VP. It immediately became apparent
that their referrals had fallen by half since they had stopped passing
them in the meeting. This gave me a chance to use one of my favorite
expressions.
“Based on results,” I said, “do you think this is working?”
To their credit, they admitted that it wasn’t. They had learned an
important lesson: accountability is critical.
Both these experiences taught me an important lesson, too. Seeing
how quickly our grand design could get watered down or lost made
18 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

me realize that this was a challenge that had to be met head-on. And
we already had the tools in hand — our training program.
To me, training has been an important element of BNI from the
beginning. Our reason for existing is to help each other get referrals
and to tell each other about our products and services. Many business
people, particularly the owners of small businesses, have no idea how
to network effectively. Others may know the principles but not be up to
snuff in their presentation skills. BNI helps members refine their presen-
tation skills and marketing approaches. For many small businesses, too
small to have their own marketing department, our group is the only
effective form of marketing they will use, or can use.
In developing BNI from the ground level, I felt that part of this
networking training would happen as a matter of course because of the
way we had designed our meeting Agenda. If members had to stand
and deliver at every meeting, they would gradually lose their stage
fright and become more confident presenters. They were limited to
60 seconds, so they had to think carefully about what was important
to say regarding their business, versus what was not important or not
interesting. We would offer additional training in these matters as part
of the membership package.
We also felt it was important to train our leadership. In the begin-
ning, we did this chapter by chapter. There was core-group training to
help the chapter organizers bring
in the members needed to form a
working chapter. There was Lead-
I remember when we
ership Team training to help the
started in France, we
chapter officers run their groups
thought: This system
effectively. As we expanded across
is soooo American. In
Southern California, we found it
2005, North America
necessary to divide up into regions,
represented 75% of BNI
so we hired and trained Regional
membership; in 2015 it was 45%. BNI’s
Directors to coordinate between
non-English-speaking market in 2005 was
chapters and the main office and to
under 5%; in 2015 it surpassed 34%. BNI
conduct leadership training at the
is a truly global system that is based on
regional level.
human interaction.
I worked to come up with new
— Marc-William Attie
and better ways of training the Lead-
Directeur National
ership Team — President, Vice Presi-
BNI France et Belgique francophone
dent, and Secretary/Treasurer — and
more effective ways of conducting
 T H E F I R S T Y E A R 19

our meetings. The result was the birth of one of our most powerful tools,
the BNI Directors’ Manual.
Training was a way of maintaining an efficient, yet responsive,
networking organization. We didn’t want BNI to develop a permanent
hierarchy, run by career bosses, with no voice for its members; instead,
we wanted everybody to participate. We would encourage all members
to realize their full potential and
to understand that leadership was
theirs if they wanted it and trained Simply being great
for it. Chapters would elect new at what you do is not
officers every six months. enough. To make a busi-
Many of the skills that good ness successful, you
marketers use to sell themselves must relinquish some of
and their products or services are the technical and mana-
the same skills that leaders use gerial work and become a marketer as well.
to unite a networking group, ac- — Patti Salvucci
complish its objectives, and fulfill Executive Director, BNI Boston
its mission. Training new leaders Northeast District Director
every six months, as well as retrain-
ing leaders and members at regular
intervals, could only enhance their
marketing and networking skills
and strengthen the group as a func-
tioning entity.

Innovation and Tradition

Although we were very focused on training to keep our operations
consistent and uniform, we were alert to the need for organizational
growth and learning. We made a lot of changes as we grew, because in
those exciting early years we were learning quickly what worked and
what didn’t. We made many mistakes, and as soon as we saw they
were mistakes, we set about correcting them. We tried and discarded
many ideas that we thought were brilliant, and we incorporated some
simple, no-brainer ideas that turned out to be immensely valuable. I was
emphatic about getting the suggestions and opinions of members and
leaders everywhere as to how we could make BNI more effective in
performing its central function, generating referrals.
Once we learned what worked, we were determined to keep it go­
ing, to make sure it was quickly adopted across the whole organization
20 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

and passed along to new chapters as they arose. In other words, it was
turned into a BNI tradition.
Here’s a good example of how we did this. When we were still in
our one-chapter stage, we were already following a meeting Agenda
very much like what we use today. The basics were all there. First, we
stood up in turn and gave our 60-second commercial (now sometimes
called “Weekly Presentation”). Then we introduced our visitors. Next,
our main speaker. After that, we passed referrals.
During this last part, if you had a referral to pass, you stood up
when your turn came and said, “I have two referrals for Joe and one for
Angela, and here’s what they are.” If you didn’t have any referrals, you
simply said, “Pass,” and the next person would take her turn.
We’d been meeting about two months, and at the end of one
meeting the chiropractor in our group came to me and said, “Ivan,
I haven’t gotten a single referral
yet. Now, I know it takes time, but
here’s what concerns me: nobody
has even come up to talk to me or
ask a question about chiropractic
care. When I go somewhere and run
into people I know, they’ll usually
talk about chiropractic, but nobody
knows me here, and they stay away
from the subject. It makes me think
nobody in this room has ever been
to a chiropractor. If that’s the case,
how can they refer me?”
I said, “You’re right. You’ve
got to get them to use you so they
can refer you. Why don’t you offer a free initial consultation to get
them to come in and see what you do and how it works? Then they’ll
be able to refer you.
“Here’s what you can do. At next week’s meeting, just stand up
and tell everybody that you’ll do a free first visit, even throw in an
X-ray, and do an adjustment, so they can see what chiropractic care
is all about.”
We had a couple of dozen members. Know how many took him
up on his offer? One. One guy said he’d go visit the chiropractor.
The chiropractor came up to me at the end of the meeting and
said, “Brilliant idea, Ivan. They didn’t exactly flock to me.”
 T H E F I R S T Y E A R 21

I said, “No, they didn’t, did they? I’m really sorry about that, but
keep it up. It’s a start. You had zero, now you’ve got one. See how it
goes. It may take some time.”
The following week, the meeting was moving along nicely, we were
passing referrals, and it came around to this guy who had gone to the
chiropractor after the last meeting. He stood up, hesitated, looked at me,
and said, “Ivan, I don’t have a referral today, but I don’t want to pass.”
Now, to understand why he hesitated, you need to know what
kind of guy I am. I like for things to move along quickly, efficiently, on
time and on schedule, don’t get sidetracked, snap snap snap. I wasn’t
the founder of a networking organization just dropping in to visit; I was
the President of the chapter, following the Agenda, getting us through
the meeting in the most efficient way possible. I had written the Agenda
for efficiency, in my own style, and members were already accustomed
to the drill: stand up and give your referrals, or if you don’t have one,
just say, “Pass,” and let the next person have his turn. Snap snap snap.
So this guy was saying, “I don’t want to pass.” I hesitated.
I said, “ . . . O-o-o-kay, then, uh . . . what do you want to do?”
He said, “Well, I’d like to say a few words.”
I said, “O-o-o-kay, well, uh, what do you want to say?”
He said, “Well, I just want to talk about Dr. Rubin. I went to see
him last week, and I went in and got this X-ray, and he showed me all
around his facility, explained all the things that he did, and then he did
an adjustment.
“Now, I’ve had this lower back pain for about seven years,” he
said. “Nothing incapacitating, just a nagging ache that if I stand up too
long it starts bothering me.
“I’ve gotta tell you,” he said, “for the first time in seven years, my
back doesn’t hurt! You’re all crazy if you don’t take him up on this offer!
“I just wanted to say that,” he said, and sat down.
I looked around the room and saw all these people picking up pens
and filling out referral slips for the chiropractor, and I thought, Omigod,
what a stupid way to do the Agenda, the way I wrote it! You can’t just
tell people to pass, you have to give them a chance to talk about the
business they’ve done with other people! It’s absolutely critical!
That’s when we started our first new BNI tradition — the testimo-
nial. It was the first thing that we changed in the Agenda, and we did
it almost immediately. From that point on, if you didn’t have a refer-
ral to give, you didn’t just pass. Instead, you gave a brief testimonial
about the business you’d done with some other member of the group.
22 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

That way, your experiences would become my experiences, and I could

refer the member to somebody else. An instant referral multiplier! And
we discovered it almost by accident. This was the first of many BFOs
we’ve had in BNI. (That’s “blinding flash of the obvious,” in case you
were wondering.)
You see, when I designed the original meeting Agenda, I had set up
a process that was very efficient, but not as effective as it could be. The
most efficient thing to do, if you didn’t have a referral, was to pass — keep
the meeting moving along, snap snap. But in terms of referrals, which
is what I should have been thinking of, I learned that it was more im-
portant to be effective than to be efficient. Without testimonials, we had
been missing a great opportunity to generate referrals.
I know from personal experience how effective a testimonial can
be. Not long after we started this tradition, someone stood up at a meet-
ing and said, “Dr. LaBriola gives the closest thing to a painless shot I’ve
ever had.” Someone else said, “Really? He really gives the closest thing
to a painless shot?” “Yes, he really does.” “Well, then, I’ll go see him.”
And it sold me, too. I went to see Jim LaBriola, and he’s been my dentist
ever since. He’s even become my children’s dentist.
But what if — and this is a pretty big “if,” considering how many
options you have — you arrive at a meeting unprepared to give a
testimonial, and you don’t have a referral? Well, over the years, we’ve
increased your options even more. We’ve redefined the Agenda item. We
no longer define it as simply passing referrals, which to some members
implies that not having a referral to pass at a given meeting equates to
failure. We now ask simply that you think of this Agenda item as your
opportunity to make an “I have” statement.
What’s an “I have” statement? It’s a specific, positive statement to
or about a member, your BNI chapter, or BNI as an organization. It can
be “I have a referral for Jane.” It can be “I have a story to tell you about
a great experience I had doing business with Jack.” Or it can be “I have
something to say about what being in this organization has meant to
me” — such as the camaraderie of the group, opportunities to develop
lifelong friendships, access to information and ideas.
Making an “I have” statement helps improve your networking
relationships and strengthens the group. Even if you haven’t given or
gotten a lot of business, there’s something positive about this process,
especially for visitors who are considering becoming members.
 T H E F I R S T Y E A R 23

Year of Lessons
In sum, we learned two important principles in our first year of vigorous
growth. One was that we had to focus on maintaining our traditions,
our procedures, and our standards as we added new chapters and
spread farther and farther from the main office, and that the way to do
this was to train, train, retrain, and train some more. We would train
new members so they would hit the ground running and become better
marketers. We would train our Leadership Teams to conduct chapter
meetings and operations in ways that we had found, through trial and
error, worked best. We would retrain regularly to keep the organi­zation
working the same everywhere on the map.
The second principle was that we would consider every suggestion
for change on its own merits. If an idea worked in one chapter, we would
try it in other chapters, then in new regions. A good idea would then
become a part of our standard operating procedure — a new tradition.
This would keep us flexible, effective, and healthy. BNI might get very
big, but it would not become a dinosaur.
 c h a p t e r

Steady Growth
1986–1989

Twenty chapters in one year! I had not foreseen this, and in some
ways our first year became one not of planning growth but of coping
with it, trying to stay ahead of it. I was still a full-time consultant — at
least that’s what my business card said — but I was spending more
and more time opening and visiting new chapters, hiring directors,
staffing and running a small main office, fielding questions, and solv-
ing problems.
But my life was only beginning to get interesting. By the end of
our second year, 1986, BNI was up to 40 chapters and into its second
state, Arizona. A year later, we reached 60, and the word “national” was
beginning to echo in my mind.
I was still staying personally involved in every BNI event I could
manage to attend, but by this time I had hired Regional Directors to help
form core groups and get new chapters organized and ready to kick off.
In 1986 we had four Regional Directors in Southern California and one
in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1987 we opened in Hawaii.
Three states in three years! I was surprised and amazed. Of course,
now we open entire countries faster than that, but there’s nothing like
the joy of planting that first seed and having to jump back to watch
it grow.
We kept adding chapters at this pace, about 20 per year, through-
out 1988 and 1989. States were another story. We opened Montana and
Colorado in 1988. Then, in 1989, we suddenly expanded into four new
states: Indiana, Nevada, Oregon, and Texas. After five states in four 25
26 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

years, we opened four states in one year. It was like moving out of a
small house, to which we had been adding rooms as the family grew,
into a new, larger house with lots of big rooms for future growth.

Ideas That Work

Our first year showed us that a new idea could come out of nowhere,
often as a BFO (blinding flash of the obvious), and become an essential
part of what made BNI a success. Testimonials were the first example.
In 1986 we tried out other new ideas. Three of them worked well,
quickly became standard practice, and led to unexpected heights of
personal and organizational success.
A chiropractor in our Pasadena chapter was missing too many
meetings and showing up late for others. We sent her our standard
letter, telling her that if she continued to miss meetings, we would be
forced to open her classification.
The chiropractor said, “I’m just horrible in the mornings, but please
don’t open my classification, because I get so much business from BNI.
Can we work something out?”
The chapter leaders called me and said, “We have a problem with
this chiropractor, but there’s no written policy on tardiness. What can
we do?”
“Is she a good member oth-
erwise?” I asked. “A good doctor?”
Some people don’t like meeting every week, “Yes, we like her a lot, but she
so in our early days, as an experiment, we can’t be a good networker if she
opened seven chapters that met every doesn’t show up.”
other week. Over time we found that these “Why don’t you suggest to
groups passed 52 percent fewer referrals her that she have someone in her
than the groups that met weekly. We said office represent her at each meet-
to them, “If we can show you one thing that ing? She can miss as many meetings
will double the number of referrals in your as she wants, as long as someone’s
group, will you do it?” Six said yes. “Meet there to represent her business at
every week,” we told them, and to their 7 a.m. each week.”
credit, they successfully made the change. The chiropractor liked the
The seventh was closed within six months. idea. “I have this great chiropractic
assistant, Elisabeth Prevo, who is
really dynamic, and I think you guys
would like her. Can she represent
me at the meetings?”
 S T E A D Y G R O W T H 27

The chapter leaders said they would give it a try.

So Elisabeth came to a meeting. When her turn came, she stood up
and gave a terrific Weekly Presentation for the chiropractor, and later
she passed some referrals. Knocked
’em out of the ball park.
They said, “She’ll do just fine.”
They liked her so much, in fact, In the early years, I was
that four weeks later they made probably one of the worst
her President of the chapter. She directors Ivan could have
had graduated from being a fill-in ever had, because I ques-
to becoming a member in her own tioned everything. I am a
right, and a chapter officer. right-brain person. I had
I couldn’t help noticing, when a creative business. Structure didn’t work
she came to a training session, that for me. I said, “Ivan, you’re in California —
she was one of our more articulate we do things differently in Connecticut.”
and attractive chapter Presidents. I told Ivan I had a chapter that wanted
But that’s another story. to change its meeting time from 7:00 a.m. to
The second idea of 1986 was 7:15 a.m. because everybody was coming in
one that took a large weight off my late. Ivan asked me, “What is the result you
shoulders. I had a difficult decision want to accomplish?” To get everybody
to make in the organization’s second there on time, I told him. “Okay, you can try
year that would have important it,” he said, “but I want you to track the re-
consequences for BNI’s future. sults so we can see how well it works.”
Rather than tackle this issue unilat- The chapter agreed. They kept records
erally, I decided to call on the wis- of when members arrived. After three weeks
dom and insight of an advisory task they called me and said that they were going
force, later to become the Board of back to 7 a.m. Why? Because now everybody
Advisors. This was a move I’ve was coming in 15 minutes later than before.
never had cause to regret, for rea- I had learned two things from Ivan: the
sons I’ll explain later. value of tracking and documenting the re-
Here’s one more example sults of our actions, and the fact that when
of how great ideas can surprise it comes to business, we’re all the same.
you—and make you wonder, Why — Alice Ostrower
didn’t I think of that? Sometime in Executive Director, BNI Connecticut
our second year, a woman called the
main office and asked about joining
BNI. I named a nearby chapter and
suggested she visit.
About three weeks later, I hap-
pened to bump into this woman at
28 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

a Chamber of Commerce mixer. I asked her if she had joined BNI. She
said she had, but named a different chapter. I asked her why she had
not joined the first, which not only was closer to where she lived and
worked but was larger and passed more referrals every month.
“I visited that chapter,” she said, “but I didn’t feel I belonged there.
I walked in, looked around, and wasn’t quite sure what to do. They took
my money for breakfast, of course, but after that, nobody spoke to me.
They all seemed to like each other a lot, but nobody reached out to
me. I felt as though I were interrupting other people’s conversations.
Finally, the President started the meeting, and I sat down and watched.
When it was over, everybody got up and went back to their groups, and
still nobody spoke to me. So I left.
“Somehow that didn’t feel right to me, so I decided to try one other
chapter. This time, when I walked through the door, there was a woman
standing there who shook my hand and thanked me for coming to visit
her chapter. She gave me a little paper badge with my name on it. She
introduced me to several members, and they thanked me for coming
and asked me about my business.
“When the meeting was over, the woman who had greeted me
thanked me again for visiting and asked if I had any questions. I said
I was interested. She sat down with me and explained how BNI works.
Then she invited me to join.
“I joined them without even thinking twice. I felt like I was really
welcome there.
“I know it’s a smaller chapter than the one you steered me to, but
I’d like to make a prediction. I predict that, within a year, the chapter
I joined will be bigger and better than the first one I visited.”
Not long after that, I paid a surprise visit to this woman’s chapter,
and sure enough, I was greeted at the door by a person wearing a badge
that said Visitor Host. I learned that the idea had come from a member
who had seen it used at another organization he was active in. It was such
an obviously great idea that before long we were having every BNI chapter
designate a Visitor Host and making it part of our training.
The woman’s prediction? Yes, it came true. Within the year, her
chapter had pulled ahead in membership and referrals.

A Tale of Two Cities

We started 1987 with a two-state reach that was confined to Southern
California and the Phoenix area. The next logical place to go, I figured,
 S T E A D Y G R O W T H 29

was Northern California. To drum up business, I flew to San Francisco

and participated in a trade show. That’s where I began to learn that it
would take more than brochures to sell my idea.
BNI lacked concept recognition. I would show my literature to
visitors and start to explain what BNI was about, and someone would
say, “Is this like the Rotary Club?” or “This is just Amway with a new
name, isn’t it?” or “Oh, I get it, this is kind of like the Chamber of
Commerce, but you’re limiting the number of people.” I found this
very frustrating.
I talked and talked, and finally I talked someone into trying it. The
light didn’t go on, he didn’t jump at it, but I got this guy to agree to sign
on as my director for the San Francisco region. I trained him and sent
him out to pioneer this vast new domain. He tried, and we talked, and he
tried some more, and I flew up a few
more times, and he tried again. But it
was all for nothing. He failed to get
even a single chapter off the ground. In 1986, I came up with this motto, which
This experience taught me a is now familiar to BNI members: “It’s not
fundamental truth about building ‘net-sit’ or ‘net-eat,’ it’s ‘net-work.’” (Jim
the kind of organization I wanted. Blasingame, radio talk show host on the
I learned that you have to look for Small Business Advocate show, calls this
people, not places or professions. “Misner’s Razor.”) I posted it on signs
If you find the right people, the around the room for the mixer portion of
places and professions will come. BNI’s first regional event in 1986. Having
However, I was soon to learn that been to too many chamber and other busi-
they might not come in the order ness events where people forgot that these
you might expect. events were about networking, I thought
You can’t just go into a new this would help them remember.
area and recruit people to imple-
ment your ideas for you. You have to
find people who have the fire in their belly. They have to visit a chapter,
at least once, and see it in action. They have to go, “Wow, this is great!” If
you don’t get that reaction, you won’t get them to run with the program.
I went to Kalispell, Montana, in 1988 to kick off one of our first
chapters in that state. It was a long flight to a small community, maybe
eight or ten thousand people in the area then, and no guarantee that a
chapter would take hold and grow. I went there because Bill Redmond
had visited a BNI chapter with his daughter in Arizona, and he had
liked it so much he had gone back home to Montana and put together
a core group in Kalispell.
30 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Now, if you had asked me early in 1987, “Ivan, where will BNI
happen first, San Francisco or Montana?” I would have looked at you
and wondered silently about your sanity. But by 1988 I had learned that
planning and logic often take a back seat to commitment and passion.
That’s why I was flying to Montana instead of San Francisco.
In Kalispell, Bill had brought 25 or 30 interested people to a meeting
room. He introduced me to the group, and I spent the next hour telling
them how BNI worked. Now, by this time I had done about 50 Kickoffs
in three states, and I had learned to read my audience and recognize
when the light went on and they got
the concept. Here in Kalispell, on this
Kickoff night, I talked and I talked
For over 30 years, in-
but the light did not go on. They just
spired by Ivan Misner, I’ve
looked at me like, What is this?
held the mortgage banker
So I finished my talk and
spot in my chapter. This
asked if they had any questions.
is an asset I will never let
And this guy — I’ll call him Frank —
slip away. Why? Because
ignored me but looked over at Bill
BNI makes me a hero each time I refer
Redmond and drawled, “Bay-ull?
professionals in my chapter to many of my
What the hay-ull we gotta come here
clients. Trust and conveyance have made
every week for these meetings?
my chair priceless!
Look, man, we got a referral for each
— Steven Marche
other, pick up the phone and call
Past President, Great American Funding
each other. We don’t have to come
Founding member of BNI
to these damn meetings.”
And I thought, Oh, man, I flew
five hours to Kalispell, Montana, to
explain how this works and this guy says why meet, let’s just give each
other referrals.
But Bill looked over at the guy and said, “Frank, how long have
we known each other?”
Frank said, “Oh, about 15 years.”
“In 15 years,” said Bill, “how many referrals have you given me,
Frank?”
“Uh . . . well, I don’t think I’ve given you any.”
“And in 15 years, how many referrals have I given you?”
“Well, shoot, you ain’t given me any either, Bill.”
And Bill said, “Frank, that’s why we gotta get here every week
and go through this, because otherwise, you know, we’re all a bunch of
friends but we’re not helping each other in business.”
 S T E A D Y G R O W T H 31

And Boom! The light went on. The whole group — you could see
the spark. And it happened because of Bill, not because of me. Bill was
somebody they trusted. I’m just some city slicker from El Lay, trying
to sell something they had never seen before. Bill had lived there all of
his life, was well known in the community, had seen BNI in action, and
when he stood up and said, “Look, this is the way we’ve got to do it,”
it became the thing to do.
In hindsight, it’s obvious, isn’t it? When I flew to San Francisco
and tried to sell BNI to strangers, in essence I was cold-calling. But
when Bill Redmond visited his daughter and saw her BNI chapter in
operation, then called and asked me if he could open Montana for BNI,
then closed the sale to his friends right there in front of me — that was
networking, pure and simple.
BNI is a networking organization — and from its earliest days to
right now, networking is how BNI lives, breathes, and grows.

New Chapters
Twenty chapters a year for the first three years. That’s still a record —
mostly because BNI was small. I helped kick off every one of those
chapters with a personal welcome to our new BNI members.
Of course, the Kickoff is only the final stage of forming a new BNI
chapter. What usually happens first is that the director, having accu-
mulated a number of membership requests from people unable to join
because of conflicts with current members’ professions, invites some or
all of them to start a new chapter. They form a core group, which today
is about 15 to 20 people but in the early days could be as few as three.
A core group member starts out with one distinct advantage. Re-
member, the rule is, only one member per profession — but a core group
member is guaranteed a spot when the chapter opens. That’s how we
get people to sign up for the core group: we tell them, “Look, even if
your competitor shows up, you’re in.” Usually, though, that’s only one
of the reasons a motivated net­worker decides to join a BNI core group.
Core group members also have special responsibilities that in-
clude making sure enough new members sign up to form a healthy,
referral-generating chapter. We tell them that in order to hold their
spot, they have to make a commitment to bring people to the group.
The group’s final task is to get at least 40 to 60 prospective members
to attend the Kickoff meeting. This gives them a pretty good shot at
recruiting enough new members to form a group of minimum effective
32 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

operating size, about 30. Getting 15 to 20 new people to sign up in

addition to the core group means getting 30 or 40 visitors to show up.
And to do that, they need to invite 100 or more.
Getting RSVPs from 5 or 6 interested prospects each doesn’t sound
like a difficult job for 15 or 20 motivated networkers, does it? If you
want to know just how much work it really involves, you should try it.
Out of 20 people who promise to attend on penalty of giving up their
firstborn child, 10 will show up. You’ll come away with a new respect
for the special people who start a
chapter from the ground up.
Once the core group is formed,
It usually takes six to eight weeks to get a you start their training. You do this
chapter off the ground. However, one time by telephone at first; later, in the last
when I was visiting in Hawaii, a person few days before the Kickoff, you go
came to me and said she wanted to do a there and train them in person.
Kickoff. I said, “Great! Work with the direc- The training manual lays out
tor. It’ll take about six to eight weeks.” in detail how the Kickoff meeting
She said, “No, no, I think I can do it is conducted. Though it may vary
faster.” according to the personality of
“Okay, well, faster’s fine.” the director who’s conducting it,
“When are you leaving?” she asked. the Kickoff generally covers sev-
“I’m leaving in two days.” eral prescribed areas. You welcome
“Well, I want to do it before you leave, visitors. You tell them what BNI is
because I want you to do the Kickoff.” all about, how it works, what the
“I don’t think you can put together a benefits are. You talk about BNI’s
group in a day.” history and traditions, its core prin-
She said, “I’ll have 20 people or more ciples and procedures. You make it
here tomorrow.” clear that they’re expected to attend
And she did. And almost all of them regularly and bring referrals. You
signed up, which was a lot more than aver- tell stories and give examples of
age (at that time). how and why these policies work.
She took it from query to Kickoff in one You answer questions.
day — a record that’s unlikely to be broken. One of the most effective
And she was a core group of one. things you can do at a Kickoff is to
pass referrals. Core group members
should come prepared to show visi-
tors just how much business can be
done in the group. It doesn’t matter
if the referral happened two weeks
ago — the time to share it is at the
 S T E A D Y G R O W T H 33

Kickoff meeting: “I gave a referral to my colleague Joe a couple of weeks

ago, and I just wanted to report it today,” Only 15 core members, the
chapter hasn’t even kicked off yet, and they’re passing 20 or 30 referrals!
Showing is 10 times better than telling.
Often a new chapter is started by someone who has moved into
the area after having been in another chapter. Having that person give a
testimonial about BNI can be one of the most powerful recruiting tools
you can deploy. You could stand and talk for an hour to visitors about
why they should join BNI, but it can’t match the power of a two-minute
endorsement by someone they know — like Bill Redmond in Montana.
Not least, you talk about BNI’s guiding philosophy.

The Philosophy
When we started our first chapter in 1985, it was our mutual understand-
ing that we existed primarily to generate more business through refer-
rals. We also understood that a strong, productive referral network could
survive and thrive only by rewarding all its members with referrals.
Therefore, we reasoned, the most effective way to show new and
prospective members how powerful the groups could be was to give
them as many good referrals as possible as quickly as possible. This
meant that each member must go into the organization with one thing
uppermost in his or her mind: What
can I do to help other members?
The first thing new members
BNI’s philosophy of net-
were taught was this: “The way to
working is simple: help
build your business is by helping
others to succeed and
other people build their business.”
you will be successful.
We knew that instilling such a
Networking is not a meth-
healthy, positive vision throughout
od for only a select few,
our organization would have im-
but rather a formula for success for anyone
measurable benefits.
who is willing to help others succeed.
The logic was self-evident. And
— Nancy Giacomuzzi
the philosophy was certainly not
Executive Director
new to BNI. It was, after all, the basis
BNI Minnesota
of a universal ethic, common to all
religions, a fairness imperative that
underlies morality in all cultures —
the Law of Reciprocity. This law has
been expressed many ways:
34 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

• “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them

likewise.”
• “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother
that which he desires for himself.”
• “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neigh-
bor’s loss as your own loss.”
• “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you
can do for your country.”
• “What goes around comes around.”
When we first started BNI, we had a hokey phrase we used, kind
of an unwritten loyalty oath: “I promise I’ll refer you, you promise you’ll
refer me.” Well, that was a little too complicated, and it certainly wasn’t
memorable prose. The concept was there, but it didn’t work very well.
I kept looking for a vivid, succinct way to express the Law of
Reciprocity. Finally, I found it. At a seminar that I attended in 1986, a
key idea I heard was this: “Conduct your life and your business with
the philosophy that givers gain.”
Givers Gain. This simple, two-
word condensation of the Golden
BNI’s motto, “Givers Gain,”
Rule struck a chord, and from that
doesn’t mean give till you
day forward, Givers Gain has been
go broke! It encourages
our universally understood, easily
members to purposefully
remembered corporate philosophy.
give with the intention
BNI’s two-word philosophy
of developing reciprocal
is so clear and memorable that it
relationships.
makes BNI almost unique among
— Paula Frazier
large organizations today. You can
Executive Director
go to any BNI gathering and ask
BNI Southwest Virginia
members, “What is the philosophy
of BNI?” and they will shout in
chorus: “Givers Gain!” How many
worldwide franchises do you know of where not only the owners and
managers but also the clients can tell you the company’s philosophy?

The Rush
Now, the final part of a Kickoff meeting is a lot like the Great Oklahoma
Land Rush. You impress upon the visitors that a BNI chapter can have
only one representative of each business type or professional specialty.
 S T E A D Y G R O W T H 35

You remind them that it’s first come, first served. And that’s when you
start to get interesting reactions. For a brief time, “Givers Gain” takes
a back seat.
When your core group invites prospective members to a Kickoff,
you want to have more people there than you expect to have in the
chapter. Ideally, this means two from each profession, and in order to
achieve that, you have to invite three or four. Of course, the people in
your core group are guaranteed membership, so they don’t generally
invite people from their own professions. But the others? Here’s where
you separate the bold from the bashful.
I remember attending one Kickoff where two real estate agents
showed up. I talked with them and learned that they knew each other
pretty well — they were friendly competitors. I said, “Well, gentlemen,
are you interested in signing up?”
One guy looked at the other and said, “I don’t know, what are
you going to do?”
The other guy said, “I don’t know, what are you going to do?”
The first guy said, “Well, I need to think about it for a while.”
And the second guy said, “Yeah, I need to think about it, too.”
I was surprised. Usually, in a situation like this, both sign up, and
the Membership Committee has to choose.
The first guy said, “Well, I’m running late for a meeting, I gotta
take off,” and left.
No sooner had he gone through the door than the second real
estate agent turned to me and said, “You know, I’ve thought about it,
and I’m going to sign up.”
Now, here’s where it gets funny. Two hours later, back in my hotel
room, I got a call from the other guy. “Ivan,” he said, “I’ve been thinking
about it, and I want to sign up before What’s-His-Name does.”
I had to tell him, “Gosh, I’m sorry, but What’s-His-Name signed
up right after you left, and the Membership Committee accepted him
right away.”
“That dog! Man, you know, I wasn’t even out of the room and he was
signing up,” he said. “You know, Ivan, I’m always telling myself, You can’t
blink. If you blink on important decisions like that, you’re gonna lose.”
Well, the upshot of it was, he ended up opening another chapter.
So he got what he wanted, but it took a lot more work — all because
he had blinked.
That’s why we like to have plenty of overlaps at Kickoff meetings.
As often as not, these conflicts lead to new chapters. That’s also why
36 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Stack Days work, because when we deliberately invite people from the
same profession, somebody almost always signs up.

What’s My Line?
Many years ago, at a Visitors’ Day, I met a person who was very in-
terested in joining. His name was Norty. Norty sold commercial light­­
bulbs — not the fixtures, and not any kind of lightbulbs that you can
get at the grocery store or hardware store, but commercial light­bulbs
that can’t be purchased in most places.
Norty said he wanted to join BNI. I told him we had over 100
chapters but not a single commercial lightbulb salesman. Norty looked
at me. He said, “So, are you saying I can’t join?”
“No, not at all,” I told him. “You’re welcome to join, but you need
to know that with more than 100 chapters, I’ve never seen anyone in
your profession in a BNI chapter anywhere, and, well, I just wanted to
make sure that you knew that I haven’t seen it work for anyone in your
profession. I mean, since you sell only commercial lightbulbs, members
can’t even give you a ‘mercy referral’!”
“So basically you’re telling me not to join, right?”
“Norty, I’d love for you to join. I’m just giving you my ‘buyer
beware’ disclaimer — I don’t know if this will work for you.”
Norty said he definitely thought it would work for him. Besides,
he told me, even if he didn’t get a lot of referrals, it would give him a
chance to make great contacts that he could use to help his clients, and
that would help him a great deal. He turned in an application.
Six months later I was back in town to visit that chapter, and there
was Norty. He asked if he could introduce me, something the director
usually did. He read my bio, and at the end, he said:
“On a personal note, I wanted to let everyone know that I’ve been
with my company for several years. For the first time ever, I won the
national sales contest for the most sales in a quarter. The company is
sending my wife and me to the Caribbean for a week, all expenses paid.
And I just wanted to say that when I met Ivan six months ago, he tried
to talk me out of joining!”
Since then, I’ve never tried to talk anyone out of joining because of
his or her profession. That and other lessons have taught me that success
in BNI is more about finding the right people than finding the right
profession.
 c h a p t e r

The Way East

1988–1990

BNI truly seemed to have a life and a mind of its own. The number
of chapters and members was growing steadily; new regions and states
were showing up on our map at an accelerating rate. BNI was position-
ing itself for a breakout.
I was pleased that BNI continued to surpass my highest expecta-
tions, but in many ways it was like an unruly adolescent in the house,
monopolizing my attention and swallowing up all my free time. I found
myself buried in work.
Drowning in work, even work that I enjoyed, was beginning to take
its toll on me. In late 1988 or early 1989, I finally saw the hand­writing
on the wall. It said that I couldn’t continue to run both my consulting
business and BNI.
Big changes were coming.

New Regions
One of the most fascinating things to me, as I have watched BNI grow
and spread on its own map and timetable, is the way new regions spring
up far from the established regions. Our mighty 1990 leap across the
country and back is a case in point — although it was not the first time
this happened, and certainly not the last.
We live in a mobile society. It’s not uncommon for people to visit
a BNI chapter for the first time in a location quite far from their home
town. They’re impressed by what they see. Or perhaps they join BNI in 37
38 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

one region, then move to another region or area a few months or years
later. They go out and look for the nearest chapter to join and find there’s
nothing within a hundred miles. They think about it for a while, and
they end up calling me and asking, “What’s it take to get a chapter
started here in my part of the country?”
I tell them, “Well, here’s the situation. Since we don’t have any
chapters in your area, the first thing we’d need to do is get a director.
You can’t start up a chapter unless there’s somebody there to help you
through the startup process and conduct the training that’s necessary
to run a chapter successfully. Now,
the job doesn’t have to be full-time,
but the responsibilities of a direc-
You’ll notice that I use a soft-sell ­approach. tor are A, B, C, X, Y, and Z. Do you
The hard sell would be if my initial response know somebody there who might
had been “First, we need a ­R egional be interested in being a director?”
­Director there. How about you? Are you As often as not, they say,
interested? You know what, this is a great “Yeah, me! I might be interested.”
business oppor­tunity for you.” And the “Okay, then, let’s talk.” In
­typical ­response to this would be “Uh, I most cases I’m satisfied that they’re
don’t think so.” enthusiastic about the idea and com-
mitted to making it work, and before
long, we kick off in their area.
This is the story of our 1990
whirlwind odyssey from west to
east and back, in brief. Remember how we opened up in Arizona in
1986? Well, in 1990 one of our Phoenix members moved to Nevada,
called us about forming a chapter, and ended up opening a new region
in Las Vegas. Next, a member from one of our new Nevada chapters
moved to Connecticut, the same thing happened, and soon we found
ourselves kicking off our first chapter on the East Coast.
What do you suppose happened next? A few months later, a
member from Connecticut moved all the way across the country to Lake
Tahoe — right back to California, where it all started!
In 1990 we also opened BNI regions in Michigan, Virginia, and
Washington, DC. In each case, the region was opened by someone who
had seen BNI in action or had been a member elsewhere and decided to
open BNI chapters in a new part of the country. It was not the result of
anyone, including me, hatching a master plan and moving pieces around
on a big table like a bunch of generals in a war room. We let BNI grow
and spread naturally, through the magic of networking.
 T H E W A Y E A S T 39

New Priorities
In the early years of BNI, I trained and kicked off every new chapter
myself, which involved hours of training by telephone, then two or three
days of field training leading up to the Kickoff. This process was some-
thing I took great satisfaction in doing. But when we began opening new
regions, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do them all myself, so I began
delegating many of these Kickoffs to my directors. For a while, I continued
doing Kickoffs myself for about half the new Southern California chapters,
and for the first two chapters of every new region.
By 1989, however, as we approached the 100-chapter mark, it
was becoming obvious to me that I could not continue to do two jobs
effectively. Even though I was getting by with a full-time staff of one
and had hired some directors, BNI was no longer a small operation that
I could operate in my spare time. I was making a good living through
AIM Consulting (which was actually the owner of The Network at that
point — it was “The Network, an AIM Consulting Affiliate”). I enjoyed
that business, but I couldn’t take on any more clients and still have time
to devote to BNI. When people asked me, “What do you do for a liv-
ing? Are you a consultant, or do you run this BNI thing?” I would say
that consulting was my vocation, but BNI was my avocation. I liked
consulting, but I loved the idea and the process of BNI, loved seeing
it generate so many referrals for other business people and me, loved
watching my efforts to expand it succeed.
There were a lot of business consultants out there, but hardly
anybody was trying to do what BNI was doing. Yes, a good business
consultant could make a great living, but BNI was fun and rewarding.
I enjoyed it, and it was helping a lot of people.
So I bit the bullet. I sold off my consulting clients to some associates
and turned all my energies into helping BNI reach its full potential —
whatever that proved to be.

Licensing
Selling my consulting business enabled me to devote all of my time to
BNI, but even a 24-hour workday would not have been enough to handle
every­thing that needed to be done in this fast-growing company. There
was plenty of managerial and leadership talent out there already; that
much was certain. I had to reshape the decision-making process to share
more responsibility and accountability with others in the organization.
40 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

With regions dotted across the country from coast to coast, central-
ized management was bringing more problems than benefits. When a
situation arose, I had to fly to Arizona or Montana or Hawaii to deal
with it. Now, Hawaii is a nice place to be, but flying out every time there
was trouble tended to eat up the operating capital.
I knew I was going to have to decentralize BNI’s operations, and
probably ownership. This meant I would eventually be forced to deal
with a hodgepodge of state-by-state franchising laws. Before that hap-
pened, however, I wanted to test out the decentralized ownership concept
by experimenting with a simpler approach to local ownership —
a sort of “franchise lite.” So in 1990 I licensed directors in a couple of
regions that didn’t require state registration — Arizona and Montana.
A Regional Director would own the license but not the business. If this
worked, I would go ahead with the franchise approach.
It made a difference, all right. Under central ownership, the direc-
tor would call and say, “We’ve got a problem here. You need to come
out and fix it.” But when problems arose in a licensed area, trouble
calls from our directors went more like this: “I’ve got a problem. Can
you help me fix it?” This was a subtle but significant shift. It takes
a lot less effort to teach people how to solve problems than to keep
running around solving all the problems yourself. We decided that
franchising would be worth navigating through the maze of state and,
later, international laws.
In a very short time, local
ownership proved to be an even
Success is finding the better model than I had hoped. It
right vehicle and plug- attracted bold, high-achieving busi-
ging your work ethic, ness people to the company, and
skills, and talents into it brought out the best traits and
that vehicle. Networking talents in everybody. We began to
supercharges that vehicle see more and more “star” directors,
by building a team that people who set high standards for
leverages other people’s skills and talents others to follow.
in support of your own. Among our noteworthy entre-
— Dan Rawls preneurs since we began decentral-
Executive Director izing are such directors as Dawn
BNI Tennessee Lyons of San Francisco, the only
woman to have opened 20 chapters
or more in a single year, as well as
Art Radtke (Virginia), Dan Rawls
 T H E W A Y E A S T 41

(Tennessee), and Jim Roman (Virginia), the only men besides me to have
achieved that same distinction. Dan Rawls raised the bar by starting 34
in his first year as a director; his success made us take another look at the
kind of market penetration BNI might achieve as a mature organization.
Hazel Walker, who opened BNI in Indiana, quickly demonstrated her
skills at setting up trade shows and conferences; we use her models for
putting on special events when we train directors. Paul Gray of Montana
holds the record for BNI’s longest continuously running franchise. And
which directors hold the record for opening the largest chapters in the
history of BNI? In the US, Dan Georgevich and Kathryn Lodal share
the honors; Fran Lawson takes the prize in Canada.

Board of Advisors
In 1990, we achieved a major organizational milestone: we had in place
a fully functioning Board of Advisors that had either reviewed or writ-
ten every policy that affected BNI members. The Board of Advisors
came into being to correct a huge mistake I had made in my efforts to
decentralize our decision making.
BNI had started decentralizing as early as 1986, when our first
directors took over the process of starting and training new chapters.
This took a load off my shoulders
and allowed me to concentrate on
training the directors and putting The members and chap-
together new training materials for ters want directors to
chapters and members. make decisions for them,
I had intended to let individu- but our job as directors
al chapters do their own marketing, is not to make decisions;
including printing up their own it is to help chapters and
brochures, buying advertising spots, members make decisions based on BNI
and so forth, so I arranged for the policies and the BNI code of ethics that,
chapters to retain part of the mem- oh, by the way, come from BNI members.
bership dues for this purpose. Sure — Dan Georgevich
enough, within a year each chapter Executive Director, BNI Michigan
quickly accumulated a pretty good Director of Chapter and
sum of money for marketing. Member Development
But events at two chapters
quickly convinced me that things
weren’t going as I had expected. At
one chapter, the leadership decided
42 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

to hold a mixer and invite a lot of people. I attended, along with 16 of

the chapter’s 20 members. No visitors. The cost of the mixer was $17 a
head for hors d’oeuvres, a lot of money at that time. It was an awesome
party. They had a great time. I stood there and thought, This is all our
marketing money, and they’re throwing a cool party. The purpose of
the money was to build the chapter, not have a party.
A couple of weeks later, I was talking with the President of an-
other chapter. I asked him how he planned to use his marketing money.
I suggested printing some brochures and other materials. He said, “You
know, Ivan, I’m a lawyer. I don’t know beans about marketing, and
I don’t have time to learn. Marketing is your job.”
I thought, He’s absolutely right. Marketing is not the chapters’ job.
The money doesn’t do them any good. Either they don’t know what to
do with it or they blow it.
But how to fix it? I could go to the chapters and say, “You know
all that money you’ve been putting in the bank? Sorry, you can’t have it
anymore.” But nobody was going to be happy about that. The solution
would be worse than the problem. You don’t want to burn down the
barn to roast the pig.
I knew I had to find some way to get that money coming to the
main office so we could centralize our marketing efforts. After giving
it some thought, I decided that I had to take a big risk.
First, I took out a personal loan, using my house as collateral.
I spent several thousand dollars to get some marketing materials
designed and printed. I recorded an audiotape. I commissioned a logo.
I printed some brochures and other materials.
Next, I called about 12 members, Presidents and past Presidents
mostly, in my 20 chapters. I said, “I’ve got some tough decisions to make
and I need some key members to help guide the decision. I think you’d
be a good person to have on this advisory task force.”
Ten of the people I called agreed to serve in the group, and nine of
them showed up for the first meeting. I had invited people who I knew
to be respected, people who were reasonably diplomatic, who were
leaders in their chapters. I told them my problem with the marketing
budgets, and I told them about the party and about the chapter that
simply didn’t know how to spend the money. “I’m perplexed,” I told
them. “There’s so much we could be doing. We could have brochures.
We could have an audiotape. We could have a logo.” I began laying in
front of them samples of all these items that I had had produced with
the money I had borrowed. Then I sat down and shut up.
 T H E W A Y E A S T 43

You know what a learning curve looks like, don’t you? When you’re learning something
or being taught, it takes a while to get up to speed, and your level of knowledge and
ability rises steeply at first, then flattens out:

Well, what does it look like when you’ve got nobody to teach you and no idea what
you’re doing? Instead of a learning curve, you get learning steps:

In this learning process, you go along, and Bang! You make a mistake. You bump
into a wall. You learn a big lesson right away, and you climb up and start out again. You
cruise along again for a while, then Bang! You’re up against another big lesson.
Learning from mistakes is a fast way to learn, but it’s kind of bumpy — and I’ve got
the forehead to prove it. It has developed a flat spot from my decades of learning how
to build an international referral networking organization. With thousands of chapters
in hundreds of countries, I’ve made every mistake you can think of.
44 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

They started talking about it. Within 10 minutes, one of them said,
“You know, it’s kind of stupid that we have this money sitting out here
in these separate accounts. We really should centralize it.”
Another said, “It doesn’t make sense to have each chapter re­invent
the wheel. There’s economies of scale. You could get a lot more for the
money if you produced the materials here for all 20 of our chapters to
use.”
I told them I had considered that idea as well. I pulled out boxes
of the items we had already produced. “Now, I went ahead and did all
this material,” I said, “hoping that we could come up with a solution,
and I think that your suggestion might just be the answer. We’d get
more bang for our buck, wouldn’t we?”
This proved to be one of the most valuable exercises and leader-
ship lessons I have ever been involved in. I didn’t need to tell anybody
what to do. All I had to do was lay out the problem, show them some
possible answers, and let them come up with the most effective solution.
There was more to the problem than that, of course. I said, “Now
the question is, how do we go back to the chapters and make this change
in BNI without causing a full-scale rebellion?”
“You don’t,” they said. “We do.”
We discussed the new policy some more. “Look,” I said, “the last
thing you want to do is go in there and say, ‘You know that marketing
money you’ve saved? You’ve got to turn it in.’ That’ll never fly. What
we’ll have to do is grandfather everybody. Let them keep the money
they’ve already set aside.”
So the advisors went to the chapters — not only their own, but
all the others — and told them, “We’ve decided we have to centralize
our marketing. Whatever money you’ve got in your marketing account,
do what you want with it. Make up some T-shirts. Throw an awesome
party. It’s your money. But from here on out, we’re going with the new
system, and BNI has ponied up to start the process. Here, take a look
at all the materials that BNI will begin providing.”
It went over better than we could have expected. Of the 20 chap-
ters we had at that time, only one put up any objections, and it, too,
eventually came around. Centralizing our marketing efforts just made
sense, and everybody could see that in the end.
My original goal, decentralization of our responsibility and ac-
countability, had taken a big step forward. This was the birth of BNI’s
Board of Advisors. They worked hard, and they did a great job. They
probably saved my company.
 T H E W A Y E A S T 45

I saw immediately how a Board of Advisors could making run-

ning BNI vastly easier. I decided to consult them in all major decisions.
I asked them to review all my current policies and make recommen-
dations about which ones to keep and which ones to modify or drop.
This is what they started doing in 1986. It proved to be a daunting
task, but by 1990, every single policy in the organization had been
either written or approved by the Board of Advisors.
Here’s another early example of a BFO decision by the Board. Early
on, we allowed members to belong to more than one chapter. However,
members who were in more than one chapter were spreading their
referrals between groups, resulting in fewer referrals per chapter. This
generated so many complaints that the Board of Advisors, in of its first
executive decisions, voted to disallow dual memberships.
Then, in 1990, the question arose: What about membership in a
competing referral organization? The Board determined that this led to
split loyalties and weakened chapters and voted to prohibit the practice.
In its many incarnations since it was formed, the Board of Advisors
has become one of the strongest leadership tools I could possibly have.
The results have been much better than I ever could have expected.
Running a far-flung, loosely linked network of referral chapters,
each made up of independent-minded, self-reliant business people
accustomed to having their own way, is not a command-and-control
hierarchy. It’s more like herding cats.
But far more interesting.

A Life Partner
Remember the chiropractor’s assistant I told you about, Elisabeth Prevo,
the one who set the gold standard for fill-ins back in 1986? Well, as the
man says on the radio, here’s the rest of the story.
After a couple of years helping lead the Pasadena chapter, Elisabeth
moved to Prescott, Arizona, and began working for a local chiropractor
in 1988. She decided to try to form a networking group there to help the
chiropractor’s public relations efforts. She called me and asked if I would
help her start a BNI chapter in Prescott.
I put her in touch with BNI’s Arizona licensee in Phoenix. I also
told her I would be happy to work with her personally as well.
The director helped Elisabeth start up her Prescott chapter but was
not enthusiastic about having to visit a chapter so far from her home
base in Phoenix. Elisabeth asked us both if we would let her run that
46 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

part of the state. We agreed, and Elisabeth became a director. She did a
great job of starting and growing BNI in Northern Arizona.
Not long after she rejoined BNI, Elisabeth asked me to come to Prescott
and visit her chapter. It was a long drive from Phoenix, but I readily agreed.
I was interested in learning more
about this enthusiastic, energetic new
leader — both as a BNI member and
It was a business dinner,
as a person.
you know, and so every
Whenever I went to visit
time he’d try to change
our Arizona chapters, I made sure
the conversation and talk
to visit her. We began to see each
about me, to get to know
other socially and went on a few
me, I’d turn it back to
dates. It wasn’t long before I knew
business. So finally he
my interest in her was more than
looked at his watch and he said, “I’ll give
professional.
you 15 more minutes to talk about The
In 1989, Elisabeth decided a
Network, and then I want to talk about you.”
year in Prescott was enough. It was
Six weeks after I moved back to
time to make a career move. She had
California, we started dating, and six weeks
job offers in Texas and in Southern
later we were engaged.
California, and she asked me for
— Elisabeth Misner
professional advice on which would
be the best place to move.
I told her, “I’m not the right
person to ask.”
“What do you mean?” she
asked. “You’re a business consultant. You give people advice all day
long.”
“My opinion is going to be biased.”
“Biased? Why?”
“Because I’m interested in you,” I said.
“I’ll take that under advisement,” she said.
She thought about it for a week or two. Then she moved back to
California.
We began spending quality time together. After six weeks, I asked
her to marry me.
Eight weeks after that, on May 26, 1989, we got married.
It was by far the best referral I ever got.
 c h a p t e r

Coast to Coast
1990–1994

The early ’90s were a time of growth and maturation for BNI.
We opened eight more states in 1991: Florida, Ohio, Washington State,
Missouri, Illinois, North Carolina, Alabama, and New York. In 1992,
we added Delaware and another part of Texas. Maine, Iowa, and Utah
came aboard in 1993.
As our presence in the nation grew, so did our need for office space
and staff. Our first headquarters had been in my home in La Verne. I had
started overseeing the operation with a single full-time employee and
my sister, Lonie Misner-Feigerle, working part-time — the only person
besides me who has been at BNI headquarters all the way.
By the time I married Elisabeth in 1989, we were in dire need
of more people power. I thought of hiring new office staff, but Beth
wanted to work with me at BNI, so I gave her the first shot at the tasks
that needed doing. It turned out to be a great boost for our company.
Her skills, drive, and initiative kept our hiring needs to a minimum,
and her ideas later made a huge difference in our growth and vitality.
While Lonie kept up with the ever-growing task of assembling
and shipping new-member packets, Beth took on whatever other tasks
needed doing. And there were many: sending notices to Treasurers,
auditing and correcting reports, and a variety of member services and
development tasks, such as helping to develop our manuals. She took
over the editing and production of our newsletter, and she designed
and assembled an information packet for BNI. She began traveling to
47
48 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

other regions and states to open chapters and train directors. She ran
the local company-owned region, which was BNI’s largest at that time.
We did have to hire new faces to answer the phone, which was ringing
full-time, and to handle our growing shipping requirements.
We solved our space requirements in 1991, at least for a while, by
moving our headquarters out of my La Verne home to a modest house
on commercial land in Claremont. We also had to hire four new head-
quarters employees to handle the growing work load and to take over
the tasks that Elisabeth had been doing, because Elisabeth acquired a
new job title: first-time mother. Our daughter Cassie was born, and our
household became four: Cassie, my oldest daughter Ashley, Beth, and
me. Two years later, our son Trey (Ivan III) came along to help level the
playing field for the masculine branch of the clan.

A New Name
The volume of business we were conducting, our geographic reach, the
growing number of state and federal laws that we were subject to — all
these factors were beginning to make the running of BNI more com-
plicated and time-consuming. And as Founder and CEO, I knew that
my personal assets were at greater and greater risk. To make BNI a
true business, and to take my home and family out of the combat zone,
I made the obvious decision. In 1990, we became a corporation.
This fundamental change in status had a ripple effect on our
organization. In 1991, we stopped calling ourselves The Network and
became Business Network International, and not long afterward, for
simplicity and for trademark purposes, just BNI. The “International”
part was our vote of confidence in the future. Although we were still
concentrating on opening new regions in our own country, we could
foresee a day, still a few years away, when we would begin spilling
across the borders.
As it turned out, we didn’t exactly spill — we were pulled across.

The Conferences
Although BNI never stopped growing, we had a bit of a scare in 1989
when our rate of growth seemed ready to level out; that year, we added
only 15 new chapters. I was concerned, because I knew the BNI model
had great unrealized potential. The slowdown was also causing us
budget headaches.
 C O A S T T O C O A S T 49

I asked Beth for suggestions on how we could cut expenses to make

ends meet. She said, “Well, the thing to do is to fly out all the directors
from the different states, put them up in a hotel, and train them on how
to run this program more effectively.”
I was stunned. “Uh, Elisabeth, were you and I at the same conversa-
tion? I asked how do we cut expenses, and you just laid out something
that’s going to cost us more money than we’ve ever spent!”
“Yes, I know,” she said. “But
the way to build a business is to do
what it takes, and to do what it takes My first conference was
you’ve got to spend what it takes.” Orlando in 1994. There
She made a compelling argument were no registration
that we had to make a major break- forms. Meetings were not
out. So we did, and that’s how the so much formal presenta-
conferences started. tions as brainstorming
In 1990, we flew the directors sessions. Afterwards, we just hung out and
in — all 10 of them — and put them talked for hours. It was like a small chapter
up in a hotel in San Dimas at our of BNI, like a family.
expense (this was before we had — Shelli Howlett
started franchising). We gave them Executive Director
several days of training in how to BNI Dallas/Ft. Worth & Austin
increase the size, number, and ef-
fectiveness of their chapters. The
results were gratifying: our reach
and membership started growing
even faster than before. We fol-
lowed up with another Directors’
Conference in 1991, then in 1992
decided to begin holding them twice a year — May and November.
The result was a major growth spurt. Over the next five years, we
grew at twice the previous rate, hitting the 350-chapter mark early in
1995. Elisabeth’s idea had helped get the company turned around and
heading in the right direction.

Franchising
To realize BNI’s full potential, we would have to make our system one
that could be replicated anywhere in the world, that would work the
same no matter who was running it or where. This is the way a system
is leveraged — by building replicable infrastructure.
50 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

The licensing we had experimented with in the late ’80s had

worked well. It had proved to us that decentralizing would make BNI
a stronger and more flexible organization. But licensing would work
for us in only a few areas; franchising was the only feasible way to go.
Franchising was about building replicable infrastructure. Each
franchise would be a fully functional replica of the BNI system, on a
smaller scale. Each franchise would have a full set of manuals on how
to run the organization. Regional Directors would become Executive
Directors when they bought their franchises. New Executive Directors
would be brought to headquarters for extensive training in every aspect
of the BNI system, based on our experience and the proven ideas of
other directors.
We had learned a lot about training in our first few years. In
the beginning, I had trained the chapter Leadership Teams, and each
Leadership Team would train the next Leadership Team. But train-
ing can be like a leaky bucket; a little bit of water leaks out each time
you pass it. With each leadership
transition, we were losing a bit of
our accumulated knowledge and
When I came on board, in understanding. When the original
1988, leadership training training program has entirely leaked
was an hour and 15 min- away, your Leadership Teams have
utes, maybe an hour and to make things up as they go.
a half. Ivan wanted us to I didn’t want us to have to
build that up, and that’s keep reinventing the wheel. This is
what we did. All of a sudden we had four why we had manuals. It’s also why
to five hours of training for the Leadership we needed to develop a system for
Team. And then I had to overcome an ob- training directors and Leadership
stacle. People are attracted to BNI because Teams. We needed to focus more
they can see how well it works, but when of BNI’s resources and attention on
they’re held accountable for their profes- training the trainers, who would
sionalism by going through the training, then be able to train the growing
they resist. number of Leadership Teams being
— Margie Cowan, PsyD created in new franchises across the
Executive Director country. It was the only way we
BNI Colorado could guarantee that our training
would stay consistent and effective
across the organization and through
the years of growth that were ahead
of us.
 C O A S T T O C O A S T 51

We sold our first franchise in 1991, to Randy Borden in California.

A year later, we had converted all our licensed regions to franchises.
In 1993, as BNI was becoming a decentralized, franchise-operated
organization, we turned one of our twice-yearly conferences, the May
gathering, into the Executive Directors’ Conference, for franchise own-
ers only. Our November meeting, the Directors’ Conference, remained
open to all directors, including the Regional, Area, and Assistant Direc-
tors. This allowed us to custom-tailor the training to specific groups of
directors.

Concept Recognition Revisited

As we opened region after region, we kept bumping up against a familiar
obstacle: concept recognition. BNI was, and is, unique in its combination
of operation, training, and philosophy. It was understandable that in
each new region we opened, people sometimes had trouble understand-
ing what we were about. They would try to relate us to something they
knew: “Oh, you’re like Kiwanis!” or “Isn’t this pretty much the same as
multilevel marketing?” No, we would patiently explain, we were not
like any of those organizations.
By the early ’90s, we had overcome most of this form of resistance
because we had gained name recognition in the parts of the country
where we had opened chapters. However, there were exceptions. New
states often presented a problem, especially those with strong regional
or cultural histories.
I’ll never forget the time in 1991 when I kicked off a chapter in
Montgomery, Alabama. Some of the visitors at that meeting were a little
shaky on the concept.
I began, “It’s a pleasure to be here in Montgomery — ”
I was immediately interrupted by an older gent with a syrupy
Southern drawl: “Son, you ain’t in Montgomery. You’re in Ma-a-awnt
Gu-u-umry.”
“Yes, sir. Mawnt Gumry,” I said. “Thank you, sir.”
I went on with my presentation, one I had given a gazillion times, a
little shaken but none the worse for wear. As usual, I finished by asking
if there were any questions. One lady raised her hand.
“It really ticks me off,” she said, “when you-all come in here and
tell us all about this networking thing and you don’t just tell us it’s
Amway!”
“Ma’am, this isn’t Amway!” I said. “And we’re not a multilevel
52 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

marketing company. Now, Amway’s a perfectly good organization, but

that’s not us. We’re a referral networking — “
“So you’re not multilevel?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then I have another question,” she said. “I’ll bet next week you
want us to go find a bunch of people and bring them to this meeting,
don’t you?”
I said, “Yes, ma’am, we do.”
“See? Why don’t you-all just tell us the truth, that this is a mul-
tilevel marketing group, but you gotta tell us it’s a networking thing!”
At that point, I almost said, “You know what, ma’am? You’re
right. This is Amway. You don’t want to be here.” But I held my tongue.
I realize now that much of this particular kind of confusion came
about because the multilevel marketing industry was beginning to
adopt the term “network marketing.” There are many reputable multi­
level marketing companies, but there are also others that are not so well
thought of, and many people have been burned by fly-by-night pyramid
schemers who take the money and disappear. This seems to be the case,
even now, in every new country we open.
It quickly ceases to be the case, however, when people begin to
see what BNI does and how well it works. As soon as they start feel­
ing the satisfaction of helping their fellow business owners, as soon
as they start getting referrals from their new network of contacts, as
soon as the revenue from their new, high-quality customers starts
pouring in — that’s when they get it. BNI is gaining name recognition
and a solid reputation worldwide, not as a get-rich-quick scheme but
as a uniquely effective way of marketing a business.

Come to the Dance

We like ideas to flow freely in BNI, from the field to headquarters, from
headquarters to the chapters, from chapter to chapter and from region
to region. Some ideas begin as experiments at the chapter level and end
up being adopted across the organization. Others get started for use at
the leadership level and end up in general use. A good example of the
latter is an idea we called One-to-One Dance Cards.
The dance card idea sprang up around 1993 at one of our confer-
ences. People came to Southern California from all over the country to
attend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday conference sessions. Sunday was
only a half day, but people who lived on the East Coast usually had to
 C O A S T T O C O A S T 53

head to the airport before the conference was over. When the problem
came up for discussion before one conference, we decided to hold the
main meeting Saturday night so East Coasters could cut out early on
Sunday without missing anything important. But what would the others
do, the ones who stayed around on Sunday?
Beth and I brainstormed the problem. Beth suggested having di-
rectors pair up for interviews to share ideas or answer questions. Get a
sheet of paper and schedule as many appointments as you could, she
said. “Like filling up your dance card.”
It was a terrific idea, so we called it Dance Cards. It worked great.
It helped people make better use of their time at conferences. But at first
people would say, “What the heck
is a dance card?” so we changed
the name to One-to-One Dance
Cards to get the idea across faster. When we started BNI in
There’s no idea so good that it can’t my region, we just fol-
be improved. lowed the book. Before
A couple of years later, BNI I signed the contract, I
North Wisconsin Director Craig told Ivan, “If I’m correct
Campana asked, “Why aren’t we in my understanding of
doing this at the chapter level? everything everybody’s told me, you’ve
Members ought to be using One-to- got a system that works, and I don’t have
One Dance Cards before and after to reinvent it.” And he said, “That’s right,
the meetings — during the week, you just follow the system, and it works.”
and so forth.” And this was obvi- I said, “Okay. I’m not interested in buying a
ously such a great idea — another franchise that I have to reinvent.” And I did
BFO — that the chapters started exactly what they told me to do, and that’s
using them right away. Now every what happened.
chapter on the planet knows what a — Reed Morgan
One-to-One Dance Card is (though Executive Director
most of us now call it simply a BNI Central Tennessee, Central
One-to-One). Kentucky, & Southern Indiana
We even designed a meeting Mid-Central District Director
stimulant around this feature. Half
of the group are asked to put their
business cards into a basket, and the
other half draw out one card each.
The two parties arrange a meeting during that week — a One-to-One
Dance Card, in effect — and both have to tell everyone at the next meet-
ing what they learned about each other. This often centers on their getting
54 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

to know each other using a GAINS exchange, in which they tell each
other about their goals, accomplishments, interests, networks, and skills.
The GAINS exchange is a terrific tool for finding common ground.
Robert Davis and I wrote about it in Business by Referral, a book we
published later on, in the 1990s. It’s amazing how many things people
have in common that they usually don’t know about. At one meeting a
number of years ago, I asked everyone to participate in a short exercise
using the GAINS exchange. Several people grumbled about paperwork
and wasting time and suggested finishing it at home and bringing it
back at the next meeting. I said, “No, come on, it’s only five minutes.
Fill it out, then we’ll go around the room and share it so we know a
little more about each other.”
They grumbled, but they filled out the forms, and we took turns
telling our GAINS. Suddenly people were saying, “Omigod, you do
that?” “You were there?” “I didn’t know that about you!”
The clincher was these two guys who, I learned months later,
hadn’t said more than two sentences to each other in the three months
they had been members together. They were in completely different
fields, so far apart professionally that they were not likely to be giving
each other referrals. Through the GAINS exchange, they discovered that
were both soccer coaches at their kids’ schools. They ended up becom-
ing best buds, because at that meeting these two guys who had had
nothing to talk about suddenly found they had a lot to talk about — and
they started passing referrals to each other.

Working on the Business

One of the most amazing things about seeing your own organization
grow from a small, local group of friends to a large company spanning the
continent or the globe is watching it take on a life of its own. The systems
you’ve designed are working as planned; you’ve got hundreds of dedi-
cated managers and leaders who keep their part of the system running
smoothly; new ideas spring up almost spontaneously to be tested and
adopted or discarded, making the whole organization stronger.
I enjoyed almost every aspect of my business, from running our
headquarters, meeting and training new leaders, and designing new
systems and resources to kicking off chapters and speaking to members
at chapter meetings and Visitors’ Days. But I was only one person; it
was impossible for me to contribute much of value by concentrating
on details that many others in BNI could handle just as well or better.
 C O A S T T O C O A S T 55

Sometime during the early ’90s I began to realize that my efforts

had to be redirected. I needed to turn from the familiar tasks of managing
day-to-day BNI operations and assume more of a leadership role. I was
already beginning this transition, of course, by decentralizing operations,
delegating authority and responsibility, and turning regions into locally
owned operations. In addition to farming out responsibilities and func-
tions, however, I also needed to take a broader view of the organization
from a higher perspective. Where was BNI headed? Which way should
it go? How would we direct and manage its evolution?
Here’s the thing about leadership. Think of your company as a
large group of woodcutters whose job is to clear a road through a great
forest. Like me, a lot of business owners enjoy the day-to-day routine of
swinging the axe and moving timber. Their idea of leadership is often
simply to get out in front and show everybody how to swing the axe.
If it’s a small organization, and if you know all your people, and if the
road doesn’t have to go very far, that’s not a bad way to lead.
But if you’re trying to build a large organization and the road is
long and the territory ahead is unknown, things start to get complicated.
You have to form teams to cut trees, other groups to move the logs off
the road, still others to pile up the timber. You need engineers to mea-
sure the length and direction of the
road you’ve built, supply personnel
to replace tools that get worn out,
accountants to handle payrolls and BNI is an immediate great
arrange vacation and sick leave fit for those who look
time for your workers. All of this is at BNI with the right at-
important, but it’s not leadership. titude. People who don’t
It’s just good management. have this positive outlook
There you are out in front, gen­erally either don’t join
several miles deep in an unexplored or wash out quickly. The ones with the right
forest, chopping down trees and attitude stay a long time.
working up a good sweat and set- — Kathy Morgan
ting a good example for your cutting Executive Director
team. Meanwhile, somewhere to the BNI Central Tennessee, Central
rear, people are sitting on piles of logs Kentucky, & Southern Indiana
talking about football and 401(k)s Mid-Central District Director
and how much better the company
would be if they were in charge.
Someone says, “You know, we
should be doing something. I don’t
56 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

see much point in stacking more logs, so let’s set up a lemonade stand
and make some money.” Someone else is wandering in the woods, look-
ing for a shortcut through the trees, and the whole operation is slowly
grinding to a halt. But you’re unaware of this because you’re way out
front, whaling away with your axe.
To be a wise leader, here’s what you need to do. You need to put
down your axe, climb to the top of the tallest tree, and take a look around.
You size up the situation, point in the direction you think best, and say
to everybody, in a loud, clear voice, “That way!” You come back down
and tell the cutting crew, “We’re going to hit a ravine about a hundred
yards ahead, and we need to bear right after we cross it.” You tell the
timber stackers, “There’s a clearing not far off to our left where you can
stack those logs and get them out of our way.” And you draw up maps
so everybody can see what’s going on.
Yes, a leader needs to spend some time cutting and clearing and
stacking trees and showing how it’s done. That’s called “working in
the business.” He also needs to spend time — the larger the business,
the more time — climbing trees and drawing maps. That’s called
“working on the business.”
I spent much of the early ’90s working in the business, but by
the mid-’90s, I was looking for new ways to work on the business.
My search led me to some of the most interesting work I’ve ever taken
on, and the results propelled BNI into a whole new world of growth.
 c h a p t e r

Going International
1995–2000

By the middle of the ’90s, BNI franchises covered most of the

United States. There were around 350 chapters from coast to coast, and
new chapters were springing up at the rate of one or two per week.
The time had long since passed when I could help kick off every new
chapter, but now it was becoming almost a full-time job just to visit
each new region.
The expanding workload was making itself felt at BNI headquar-
ters, too. New hires were needed to handle the administrative work.
We were outgrowing the little house that had served as our company’s
headquarters office since 1991. It was time to move into a real office
that would give our growing staff room to work, to receive visitors, and
to stack and ship materials to our franchises, directors, and chapters.
In 1996, we moved into new head-
quarters in San Dimas, a pleasant,
tree-shaded office villa that would
be our home for the next eight years.

New Horizons
BNI was a coast-to-coast operation
as early as 1990, but our sudden leap
from Southern California to Con-
necticut left a lot of empty space in
between, space that we largely filled 57
58 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

up over the next five years. With our growth rate accelerating throughout
the early ’90s, we knew it was only a matter of time until we fulfilled
the “I” in “BNI.” Still, I wondered: Would BNI work as well in other
countries as it did in the nation where it began?
The story of our international expansion mirrors the way we grew
within the United States. It was rarely a matter of planning, of map-
ping out new territories to conquer; for the most part, BNI spread into
new countries like dandelion seeds blowing in the wind and landing
on fertile soil.
In 1994, Canada opened BNI’s first new chapters outside the USA
in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The transition was smooth; there was no bump
in the road when we crossed the border. My anxieties were somewhat
relieved. But would we find it as easy to open up in more distant lands?
Canadian culture is not greatly different from what we in the United
States refer to as “American” culture. As one Canadian member said
to me: “Canadians are basically Americans with cheap health care and
no guns.” It was a good joke, but I still wondered if BNI would work
in another country.
Our founding Co–National Directors in Canada were Don and
Nancy Morgan. The Morgans were running a small business in St. Louis,
Missouri, and were invited to attend a BNI meeting in 1995. They liked
what they saw and immediately became members. They met the new
Executive Director, Scott Simon, who told them I was looking for people
to purchase a BNI franchise in Canada and rejuvenate the struggling
Thunder Bay region. Nancy was from Canada, and she especially liked
the idea. Don and Nancy came to California to talk with me and ended
up purchasing the franchise.
What happened next was an amazing demonstration of the power
of networking: Canada became our jumping-off point for crossing two
oceans.
One of our early Canadian Executive Directors, Steve Lawson,
had a brother, Martin, in London. Steve encouraged Martin and his wife
Gillian to consider starting BNI in the United Kingdom. Martin and Gil-
lian Lawson were at first skeptical (“Nobody in England even knows
what the term ‘networking’ means!”), but they came to Toronto to meet
the Morgans. They liked the meetings at the new Canadian chapters,
which seemed energetic and well run, but still had their doubts whether
members’ enthusiasm could last.
They decided to come talk with me — and to observe some more
chapter meetings. They fully expected to find our Southern California
 G O I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L 59

chapters populated with members who had been there only 12 to 18

months. Instead, they found chapters filled with people who had been
there 10 years and were even more enthusiastic than their Canadian
counterparts. The Lawsons kept hearing the same phrase they had heard
in Canada: “BNI is the high point of our business week!” They quickly
became believers. In 1996, back home in the United Kingdom, they
opened BNI’s first franchise across the Atlantic. Today Gillian Lawson
operates several countries throughout Europe.
Meanwhile, back in Canada, another of our directors, who loved
traveling and was married to an airline pilot, flew to Australia and in
1997 networked with local groups to open BNI “down under.” The
following year, Ireland became the fifth BNI country; then Mike Levin,
on a visit from South Africa, made
his country BNI’s sixth after attend-
ing a meeting in the UK. In 2000, a
BNI member in England, Graham
Southwell, moved to New Zealand
and ended up buying that franchise;
a visitor from Tel Aviv attended a
meeting in Toronto, and Israel soon
joined the network.
From the United Kingdom,
the Lawsons and their associates
helped BNI open in Sweden, Ger-
many, Switzerland, Austria, and the
Netherlands. Spain, Italy, Malay­sia, Flags of BNI’s many host nations are on
Singapore, and Barbados soon fol- display at a BNI International Directors’
lowed via increasingly inter­woven Conference.
contacts. One of our two yearly
conferences, the November gather-
ing, became our annual International Directors’ Conference, and before
long it began to look like the United Nations had relocated.

“We’re Different”
Our experiences since Canada have taught us that there are two issues
we are guaranteed to run into every time BNI opens up in a new country.
The first is the familiar obstacle of concept recognition; the second is a
related mindset that we call the “We’re Different” Syndrome. “We’re not
like the Americans,” people say. “We have different customs, a different
60 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

culture. We’ll have to change things around to make BNI work here.”
This is often said with a dash of pride.
The Lawsons’ experience is typical. “In the United Kingdom,
we recognize the business achievements of Americans, but we’re very
suspicious of them. So it’s not a good thing to tell a businessman this
is an American idea.”
It’s understandable. Just like individuals, nations don’t want to
be told they’re just like all the rest, but we tell them — and it’s true —
that referral networking, as practiced and promoted by BNI, is based
on universal principles. People develop relationships with one another
everywhere, not just in America. It doesn’t matter if BNI got started
in the United States, because we all speak the language of referrals.
As I travel around the world, especially outside the US, people
look at me and say, “Honestly, BNI is so American.” I love it when this
happens. I always laugh and say, “BNI is the least American thing I have
ever done in my life.” And they say, “Get out! I mean, you stand up, you
talk about your business, you promote yourself.”
I say, “Look, when you think of American business, what comes to
mind? Collaboration? Cooperation? Let me help you, you help me? By
working together we can all achieve
more? Do you think of that, or do
you think, Dog eat dog, I’m gonna
The British hate to be sold kill my competition?”
to. If you’re trying to sell And they all laugh! Every au-
BNI to a group of people dience I’ve talked to laughs. They’re
at a meeting, Americans like, You’re right. We’re changing
will listen, enjoy the ex- the way the world does business
perience, and say, “Okay, because we’re focusing on building
I’ll do it,” or they’ll say, relationships first and foremost. BNI
“No, thanks, it’s not for me.” Britons will is all about business people collabo-
say, “Oh no, you’re trying to sell to me, stop rating to build trusting relationships
that, I don’t like it.” with one another, and it’s based on
— Martin Lawson (1945–2015) the philosophy of Givers Gain.
& Gillian Lawson In one of our early English-
National Directors speaking countries, we ran into the
BNI United Kingdom “We’re Different” Syndrome big
time but learned how to make it
right. Just as we had trained him
to do, the National Director told
his Leadership Teams that BNI
 G O I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L 61

transcended all cultural differences, that we all speak the language of

referrals. They listened to him, looked at each other knowingly, and told
him, “We’re different from those Yanks. We don’t do this, we don’t do
that,” and so on.
The director called me and said, “I have an idea, and I need your
permission. I want to change the manuals from American English to
the Queen’s English.”
“Come again?”
“Well, we spell words differently here. Like ‘organisation,’ with
an s instead of a z. We don’t write ‘checks,’ we write ‘cheques.’ And
our slang is different. If we modify the language a bit, people will ac-
cept it as a genuine national organi­zation. Let me make some changes
and show you.”
I told him to give it a shot. At that time, our manuals totaled 200
pages (they’re now around 500). He made 350 changes. I looked them over
and okayed them. As he said, it was all word choice and spelling. Not
a single procedure, Agenda item, or
other material element was altered.
Then he went to kick off a
The first time the UK
brand-new chapter. He told them,
National Directors came
“Some of you may know that this
to a conference, it was
program started in the United
totally a culture shock
States, but I want to tell you, this is
for them, especially dur-
not an American program. This is
ing the awards banquet.
our own program. We have taken
It was our tradition that directors would
the basic American concept and put
line up and talk about what they liked best
a spin on it that I believe, based on
about BNI. It often got rather tearful and
results, is working very well here.
emotion­al. People cried because it changed
As a matter of fact, we made 350
their life. This was totally out of the comfort
changes to the American manuals.
zone of the UK and Australian National
Here are our versions. Take a look.”
Directors. Now they get as emotional as
They looked. They said, “Yes,
any of us, because they’ve seen the value,
yes, this is us!” That was the end of
they’ve seen what it’s done for their country
“We’re Different” in that country.
and their lifestyle. It’s an emotionally based
We’ve used the same ap-
business.
proach in every new country since
— Connie Hinton
that time. As soon as the members
Executive Director, BNI Seattle
understand that BNI’s approach
transcends cultural differences and
that the terms and concepts used
62 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

are already familiar to them, they quickly buy in. The main prerequisite
is that the country have a substantial middle class with a tradition of
privately operated businesses.
I was first made aware of this fact while having lunch with Brian
Tracy, the well-known business and personal development expert, public
speaker, and bestselling author. “Business people are the same all over
the world,” he told me. “They’re always looking for ways to do things
faster, smarter, more efficiently, and if that’s what you’re teaching, they’ll
listen to you. It doesn’t matter whether the ideas come from America or
Germany or Japan, they’re all going to follow the program.”
It’s not Americans doing business with South Africans; it’s South
Africans doing business with South Africans, Australians doing busi-
ness with Australians, using ideas that came from America. The con-
cepts transcend cultural differences and language differences, because
the language of referrals is spoken worldwide. It’s all about building
relationships and system and trust.

These images are not to be used as models for BNI

brand documents. For the latest, official BNI brand
documents, please visit www.BNIBranding.com and/
or connect with your local Director; do not rely on any
illustrations found in this book or elsewhere.
 G O I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L 63

The first countries BNI opened in outside the United States were
other English-speaking countries, but other languages have since become
commonplace in BNI operations. The first non-English-speaking chapter
meeting I ever attended was in Sweden, where BNI is growing rapidly
under the leadership of its National Director, Gunnar Selheden. Swedish
is not like French or Spanish, from which English borrows a lot of its
enormous vocabulary, so of course I didn’t understand a word that was
being said. About three-fourths of the way through the meeting, one
member leaned toward me and said, in only slightly accented English,
“Dr. Misner, you have no idea what he’s talking about, do you?”
I said, “He’s about to introduce the referral part of the meeting.
Now he’s explaining what a referral is and how to fill out a referral
slip. In a minute he’s going to go around the room and have everybody
introduce himself or herself.”
“Oh, you speak Swedish?”
“No,” I said. “I wrote the Agenda.”

Updating the Machinery

When I established the first Board of Advisors, I didn’t foresee just what
an important tool it would turn out to be in keeping BNI operating
smoothly and responding to the needs of members and leaders. Once
it had been formed, I not only referred all new member policy issues to it
for guidance, I asked it to review all policies that were in place before
it was formed. By 1990, it had completed that task.
In virtually all cases, I have been happy to abide by its recommen-
dations. It solved a potentially serious leadership problem for me. Not
only did it give me access to the judgment of savvy and experienced
members, it spared me the necessity of defending BNI policies as whims
of the Founder. When questions or objections arose, I could truthfully
say that every BNI policy had been either written or approved by the
Board of Advisors.
Changes at BNI during the 1990s brought two significant adjust-
ments to my advisory structure. First, around 1990 the Board of Advi-
sors became the National Board of Advisors, and later, about 1996, the
Inter­national Board of Advisors, to reflect the scope of the membership
now being affected by its decisions. The Board provided advice and
recommendations as needed to keep up with organizational issues
and changes affecting members.
64 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

The other major development was the creation of the Franchise

Advisory Board around 1995. This body would help resolve business is-
sues and disputes among our franchises around the world. Not only did
it relieve me of the burden of handling a river of contentious legal and
administrative issues on my own, its decisions carried more weight —
and were often much tougher and more hard-nosed — than any I would
have been able to impose. Made up of directors nominated by Executive
Directors and appointed by the Founder’s Circle, the Franchise Advisory
Board could say things to franchise owners that I could not diplomati-
cally get away with. It also gave the franchisees an impartial body to
which they could bring any perceived grievances.

New Tools
Our enormous reach put an end to one of the charms of the earlier,
smaller BNI: the intimacy of knowing all the members and directors
personally. When problems arose, they were relatively easy to talk out
and solve in a small organization. Now that we had spread beyond
the horizon, there was no way for this to happen. The International
Board of Advisors and the Franchise Advisory Board are both vital to
the smooth running of BNI but lack the caring, personal touch of those
close early relationships.
To compensate for this loss of one-to-one contact, I asked BNI direc-
tors to help me appoint a smaller, more personally connected guidance
council that I named the Founder’s Circle. Three-fourths of this group
would be elected by directors, the rest appointed by me. Members of the
Founder’s Circle would be my closest advisors, people I know personally
or who, by popular agreement, had made significant contributions to
the growth and operation of BNI. The Founder’s Circle considers new
ideas that might be tried out in small or large experiments. It helps
the Founder formulate major decisions about the overall direction of
the organization. The Founder’s Circle is also charged with certain
personnel decisions, such as appointing the Franchise Advisory Board.
There’s more to staying in touch with members than simply getting
advice, of course. I felt the need for hands-on help with my coaching
duties. In a younger, smaller BNI, helping new directors get up to speed
had not been a problem. After our new directors had been trained in
the basics of operating their regions, I was usually available, either at
headquarters or in the field, to address their concerns and help them
get comfortable and familiar with BNI’s way of operating. Our rapid
 G O I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L 65

growth, however, eventually made it impossible for me to cover all the

bases, so I did something even better: I delegated.
I divided our US territory into five districts. In each district, I hired
one of my most experienced Executive Directors to perform an additional
function as the District Director. The main duty of District Directors
would be to coach and mentor other directors in their districts. This
move gave all directors ready access to the wisdom of our most experi­
enced and capable people. There was a bonus in it for me as well: the
five District Directors would help with business planning, member edu-
cation, and marketing programs. They would save me hundreds of
hours and thousands of miles of travel.
The District Director job was not a spur-of-the-moment invention.
It was something I had been thinking about and planning toward for
nearly 10 years. BNI’s fast early growth had surprised me, but it had
also made me think that perhaps I should be ready to hand over duties
that grew too large for me to handle
alone to people I trusted. District
Director was just one of many new
positions I foresaw; National Direc-
tor was another.
In May 1998, Executive Di-
rector Craig Campana helped
BNI reach a significant milestone
by opening BNI’s 1,000th chapter
in Northern Wisconsin. BNI’s
worldwide growth in franchises,
chapters, and memberships meant
rapid growth in revenues as well.
Our newfound affluence enabled
me to fulfill a longtime dream. Beth and I believe each of us has an
obligation to repay the community we live in, to share with it some of
the prosperity it enables us to achieve. To that end, we established the
BNI-Misner Foundation in 1998 (renamed BNI Foundation in 2012).
Beth, a co-founder, currently serves on the Board of Directors.
The BNI Foundation allows us to contribute to worthy causes every
year, whether it is a lean year or a flush year. I asked the International
Board of Advisors to poll our members and find our what causes they
would most strongly support. We got back a huge list, but the top two
categories by far were children and education. We therefore put our focus
on supporting schools through an innovative program we call Business
66 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Voices, by which our local members and chapters join the BNI Foun-
dation’s efforts to improve tomorrow’s business climate by promoting
education today. The foundation makes Givers Gain Grants to teachers
in regions that have active Business Voices teams and has approved
affiliates in a number of countries outside the US. The foundation also
maintains an online presence at BNIFoundation.org.

Hidden Elements
As an organization matures, its leaders must pay attention not only to
the changes that need to be made, but also to preserving the structures
and functions that keep it on track. Things that are being done right
need to keep being done right if the organization is to remain successful.
There are actions you take as part of conducting good referral
networking that at first glance don’t necessarily seem that critical, but
when you perform them effectively, they make a huge difference in the
result. They take you to the next level of performance; they give you
mastery. But the finer points of performing these actions well — includ-
ing a deep understanding of why the actions are necessary — sometimes
get lost in the rush to get things done. I call these the hidden elements.
There’s a golf analogy I sometimes use to illustrate this point.
The top 10 professional golfers in the world, on average, make about
$28 million a year each in prize money and commercial endorse-
ments. What do the top 10 amateur golfers make? Nothing. What’s
the difference in strokes, in an 18-hole game, between the top 10 pro
golfers and the top 10 amateurs? Two.
That’s $14 million per stroke.
Do you know how hard it is to consistently shave two strokes off
your game? It’s very, very tough, but that’s what it takes to go from a
no-money player to a big-money player. The only way to knock off those
two strokes is to understand the hidden elements of golf — the grip, the
stance, the swing, the all-but-invisible details that a professional golfer
masters through unending practice, focus, and discipline. Only a very
few reach the $10 million level.
I didn’t understand the importance of the hidden elements until
I was forcefully made aware of them one day in a karate class. My karate
teacher — that is, my sensei — asked me to demonstrate my best kata — a
series of moves that are like an imaginary fight against one or more op-
ponents. What he said was, “Today I want you to bunkai a kata.”
I said, “You want me to what?”
 G O I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L 67

He said, “I want you to break your kata into its individual parts,
and I want you to walk me through it. Show me each part and tell me
what you are doing and why. I want you to do your best kata. One that
you know forward and backward. One that if you did it at a tourna-
ment you’d win.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do Wansu.
It’s my best kata.”
I started going through the
moves, one by one. I performed a
left forward stance with a down
block. He stopped me and said,
“What are you doing here? Explain
it to me.”
“It’s a down block, Sensei,”
I said. “It’s used to block an op-
ponent’s blow from this direction.”
“Okay, take it to the next
move.”
I walked through the next
several moves, explaining them as
I went. “Good, good,” he said.
“And then you come into a
cat stance, like this, and then you Dr. Misner demonstrates a kata on UK
do this thing” — slipping my arm ­Executive Director Robert French.
upward through the air — “and
then you go —”
“Whoa! Stop!” he said. “You
do what?”
“Well, you know, you go into a cat stance and then you do this
thing.” I made an elaborate gesture with my outstretched arm.
He said, “Well, what is that thing?”
“Well, it’s, you know, you’re coming into the cat stance.”
“Yes, but why do you do that?”
I was stumped. I had reached the limit of my understanding.
There was nothing intelligent I could say — but I opened my mouth
anyway, and said:
“Because it looks bitchin’.”
My sensei — a sixth-degree black belt karate master, a tough, sturdy
little man who could kick me up one wall and down the other — just
stood there and looked at me.
68 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Then he barked at me. He let loose a torrent of words, the gist of

which was that he was less than happy with me. I thought he was going
to pick up the phone and call my mother.
Finally he cooled off a little. He said, “Listen to me, Mister Misner.
The martial arts have hidden elements, and if you don’t understand
the hidden elements, you’ll never master the art! Every move in a kata
means something. You have to fully understand each part of the move
and why you’re doing it.”
He showed me a move. “Now, what’s the next thing you’re doing
after this?”
I said, “Well, you do this, Sensei.” I demonstrated.
“And what is that?”
“It’s a punch.”
“Yes, it’s a punch, but what are you doing with your right hand?”
“Sensei, nothing bitchin’,” I said, “but I have no idea.”
He said, “Look, when you throw the punch and you’re in this
position, you don’t just throw the punch. You grab the guy, and then you
throw the punch. It doubles the speed and power of the punch. That’s
what that ‘thing’ is. You don’t do it because it looks ‘bitchin’.’ You do it
because you’re grabbing the guy. Now do you understand?”
He walked me through the rest of the kata, this kata that five
minutes earlier I thought I knew cold. I learned it for the first time that
day. I learned what I was doing, how it was relevant, how it worked,
why it worked. I took my first step on the road to mastery of that kata.
Later, reflecting on the life lesson my sensei had taught me, I began
to realize how important the hidden elements are in everything we do.
Over the years, I have tried to pass along this realization to the members
and directors of BNI.
Mastering the hidden elements is vital in the art of networking.
Every action that we train BNI networkers to perform has hidden elements
that must be practiced and thoroughly understood in order to achieve
mastery. It’s also true in running an organization; the key to success is
understanding everything you do — what, when, where, how, and why
you’re doing it.
 c h a p t e r

A New Audience
1995–2000 (continued), 2001–2003

Between 1990 and 1995 I had thought a lot about how I might
spend more time working on the business and less time working in the
business. What were the most effective things I could do to help BNI
reach its full potential? I could no longer visit every chapter. I could do
a bunch of Visitors’ Days and joint chapter meetings, but it seemed to
me that was an awful lot of time and energy that could be used more
effectively. I wanted to do something that would result in greater, more
comprehensive, and longer-lasting benefits for BNI.
Over the years I had read a lot of books and journals on mar-
keting, including most of the research that had been done on referral
marketing. I knew that this form of marketing, although one of the
oldest and most effective, had been badly neglected both in published
works and in business schools. In fact, I had already written one of
the few books available on the subject, a 1989 in-house publication in
a three-ring binder called Networking for Success, which had sold a few
thousand copies. What I really needed to do was write a book that could
be published and distributed by a publisher — a “real” book.
I found a publisher in Austin, Texas, who produced high-quality
books — volumes that were carefully edited, well designed, and ener-
getically promoted and distributed. In 1994, Bard Press founder Ray
Bard, freelance editor Jeff Morris, and I began a long-lasting collabora-
tion that would produce several more remarkable books and put us on
the bestseller lists of both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
69
70 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

It would also transform BNI from a nationwide network of hun-

dreds of chapters into a worldwide web of thousands of groups passing
referrals worth billions of dollars.

Into Print
Our first effort was The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret. This book
was based on my research on the effectiveness of referrals as a market-
ing medium and on my experience with the many different kinds of
networking associations. Although
it wasn’t a book about BNI per se,
it was the first book in which I laid
out the whole philosophy and ra-
tionale behind BNI. Among other
goals, I hoped the book would both
instruct and inspire BNI members to
become better networkers.
The World’s Best Known Market-
ing Secret was published in late 1994,
but its effects, both large and small,
began to be felt early in 1995. As I had
hoped, one of the things that hap-
pened was that people began to see it
on the bookstore shelves, buy it, take
it home, read it — and then, perhaps,
join BNI and make a difference.
This is what happened in the
case of Art Radtke. Art scanned my
book in a store in New England and
thought, I should get this book, then
changed his mind and left without
buying it. It bugged him for a week.
Finally, he returned to the store and
bought it.
The book transformed his thinking. He thought, I need to join BNI.
He found BNI’s number in the back, called us, and asked to speak to me.
He said, “I just read your book. I want to join a chapter in Cape Cod.”
“We don’t have any chapters in Cape Cod,” I told him. “We’d
have to start a new region. Do you know anybody there who might be
interested in becoming a director?”
 A N E W A U D I E N C E 71

“Yes. Me.”
So we talked about it, and Art decided to start opening chapters
in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Later he sold Cape Cod and opened another
region in Washington, DC, and Virginia. Over the years he has been
with us, he has become one of BNI’s most successful and innovative
directors — all because he saw my first book in a bookstore.

A Flash of Publicity
The other big difference the publication of The World’s Best Known Mar-
keting Secret made was that it opened a giant doorway for BNI to step
into the public arena. This and our subsequent books gave us a way to
go on the air and talk about our organization — for free.
If you’ve ever run a business, you know how hard it can be to get
favorable publicity. The media don’t want to interview you just to talk
about your business. They will, however, interview any idiot with a book.
If it’s a good book, you’ll get lots of interviews.
I’ve now done somewhere around 1,000 interviews for television,
radio, newspapers, and magazines to discuss one or another of my
books — and, almost always, BNI.
Of course, they still don’t want to talk about your company. That
would be giving you free advertising. But here’s what usually happens:
They invite you to talk about your book. At some point the interviewer
says something like, “What led you to write this book?” and you answer,
“Well, I run the world’s largest referral networking organization. It’s
called BNI.” The interviewer says, “Really? That’s fascinating. Tell me
more about BNI.” I’ve had many, many interviews in which I spent
the first 5 minutes talking about my book and the next 25 answering
the interviewer’s questions about BNI.
One broadcaster who has given BNI a lot of great publicity is
Jim Blasingame, “The Small Business Advocate,” whose radio show
features interviews with entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses.
Jim has interviewed me many times, usually after I’ve come out with
a new book. You can listen to some great examples of these interviews
by going online to smallbusinessadvocate.com. Click on “Listen,” then
search the archives for “Networking.”
The most memorable interview I ever did was my first live inter-
view — which was very nearly my last live interview.
It was early 1995, The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret was
hitting the shelves coast to coast, and a cable station had invited me
72 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

to talk about it at the County Exchange in Fairfield, Connecticut, right

across the border from New York.
The interviewer called me before the show and said, “We’d like
you to do something visual.”
I thought, This is networking, not lion taming. What can I do
that’s visual? Run up and down the aisles handing out business cards?
So I put together a “tool box” with “networking tools” inside —
badges, cardholders, and the like. Kind of goofy, but it was visual.
Somehow it didn’t feel like enough. So as Lance Mead, the New
York Executive Director, was driving me to the show, I came up with
an idea. “Lance,” I said, “what do you think about a magic trick?” I am
an amateur magician, and I have a trick where I hide some flash cotton
in my hand. I wave my hand, and a flame briefly flares up out of it.
I happened to have my magician’s kit with me.
“Here’s what I’ll do. We get to the end of the interview, the inter­
viewer holds up my book, and I say to her, ‘Careful! It’s hot!’ And I take
it from her, and whoosh! Flames shoot out of it.”
“Yeah, that’s good!” said Lance.
A little while later, I was sitting in the green room at the studio.
It was a large cable station, and the show was a big, 90-minute variety
show with 10 guests or more. I was sitting there with Lance and a bunch
of other people, watching the show on a monitor, waiting to be called,
when this guy dressed like an Indian walked by. Then another guy
walked by dressed like a cop. Then another guy, dressed like a cowboy.
Someone joked, “Gee, it looks like the Village People!”
Then I heard the on-air announcer say, “Next on the Fairfield
County Exchange, the Village People! And Dr. Ivan Misner to talk about
networking.”
I panicked. “Lance,” I said, “I’m gonna die here!”
I thought, Better spiff it up a notch. Make a bigger flame. I stuffed
some more flash cotton into my palm.
The Village People went on. I watched them on the monitor. They
were great! They were fun! They were hysterical! They did “Y-M-C-A,”
shaping the letters with their bodies, of course. The audience roared,
screamed, jumped up and down.
I thought, If I’m going on after this, I’d better use a little more of
the flash cotton.
The Village People kept the audience jumping and screaming for
more. The show fell behind schedule. I knew my interview was going
to be rushed. I was up next. I had the cold sweats.
 A N E W A U D I E N C E 73

The producer came over and said, “Get ready, we’re going to have
to rush you on and mike you up.”
“Okay,” I said. I took another pinch of flash cotton and followed
him out of the room.
As the Village People came offstage to a rowdy standing ovation,
I was seated in a chair in front of the cameras, half-facing the host and
hostess. I was holding a copy of my book. I said to the hostess, seated
immediately to my right, “Hey, listen, when we get to the end of the
interview, would you hold this up? Then I’ll say — ”
At that moment, the director, who could hear us through her
headset, walked over to us and said, “No, no, no, I don’t want her hold-
ing the book up. We have a digital copy, and we’ll show it in another
shot.”
As soon as the director walked away, the hostess turned to me
and said, “You know, I’m the hostess, I’ll decide. What do you want to
do?” I started to explain the trick.
The director came back immediately. “I told you, I don’t want her
holding the book up! Okay, we’re on in five seconds, four, three —”
The hostess whispered to me, “Just go ahead and do it. I’ll follow
along.”
So we did the interview. I thought it was kind of a lame interview,
especially following the Village People, but I knew we’d have a bang-
up ending.
As we finished up, she said, right on cue, “I have here a copy of
Dr. Misner’s book.” She held it up. The director scowled.
I said, “Careful! That’s hot!” I reached over, took the book from
her, and opened it up. And WHOOOOSH! a flame shot up. A big flame.
A really big flame. A much bigger flame than I expected. The book
caught on fire.
The hostess screamed, “EEEEEAAAAH!” and jumped into the lap
of her co-host, waving her arms and hollering. The director was hold-
ing her head, yelling “Cut! Go to commercial!” The cameramen were
coming out from behind their cameras. I whacked at the book, trying
to put out the fire. The audience laughed hysterically.
Apparently I was a big hit.
The hostess, still sitting in her co-host’s lap, said, “Oh, thank God
I didn’t swear on live television!”
Her co-host looked off-camera, snapped his fingers, and yelled,
“Wardrobe! New pants for her, please!”
I looked over at Lance. Lance said, “We should go now.”
74 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Later, as we sped away in Lance’s car, he turned to me and said,

“Now, that was visual!”
I may be considered an expert on networking in most areas, but
in Connecticut, I’m afraid they think I’m an arsonist.

Hitting the Bestseller Lists

With one book selling well and bringing us increased media attention,
I decided to aim at publishing a new book every year or two. Next in
line was another Bard Press collaboration, 1996’s Seven Second Marketing,
a smaller book focused on the art of creating a memory hook or catch-
phrase to stick in the customer’s (or contact’s) memory. We published
it because a lot of people who read World’s Best Known liked the section
on memory hooks and e-mailed me their own or handed me their card
with it scribbled on the back. I collected hundreds of them, so many
that it seemed logical to put them in a book.
However, publishing Seven Second Marketing had some unintended
consequences. It gave members the impression that they should do
memory hooks every week. This is almost a complete waste of time at
BNI. Your focus at the weekly meeting needs to be on breaking down your
business into its lowest common denominators—that is, different aspects
of what you can do for your customers. Memory hooks should be used
on Visitors’ Days, not every week. This is an example of how we learn
by doing at BNI. We have since taken Seven Second Marketing out of print.
Business by Referral, in 1998, happened because Robert Davis, a
colleague of mine who is an expert in networking, brought me a lot of
ma­terial on a highly systematic approach to generating and handling
referrals. He had devised a number of innovative tools for enhancing
networking skills, such as a variation of the GAINS exchange, in which
networking partners swap information about their goals, accomplish-
ments, interests, networks, and skills. Based on ideas he brought to the
table, we worked out a three-step VCP Process® for building networking
relationships through the stages of visibility, credibility, and profitability.
(Business by Referral is now out of print but has been incorporated into
the fourth edition of The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret, published
in 2011.)
Next came Masters of Networking, published in 2000 as a leadoff
for a possible Masters series, depending on how well it was received.
I asked Don Morgan, our National Director in Canada, to help me compile
and edit contributions from both BNI members and nationally known
 A N E W A U D I E N C E 75

authors on the art and science of networking. Masters of Networking was

designed to showcase the talent and experience of BNI’s members and
leaders, as well as authors whose names were already legend in the field
of networking.
We had great expectations for this book. Having multiple authors
gave us worldwide leverage; every contributor could promote the book
and use local media to spread the word about BNI. On a single day, to
be called “Masters Day,” we would place our authors in bookstores
nationwide and around the world. Our goal was to get Masters of Net-
working on the national bestseller lists. The publishing team behind this
plan were once again Ray Bard and Jeff Morris, along with a new team
member, publicist Michael Drew.
When I first heard this plan spelled out, I remember thinking:
It’s good to have goals. But it turned out to be a slam dunk. It was a
promotional effort unlike anything the publishing community had seen,
and it put us in the Guinness Book of World Records. Never before had a
group of coauthors signed books in so many bookstores on the same
day. It was a huge success, and it got Masters on the bestseller lists of
both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Our next Masters series book came out in 2004: Masters of Success,
from Entrepreneur Press. This was our first book not specifically about
networking or referral marketing — although the section on social
capital certainly gave it a link. I had been concerned about losing the
BNI focus, but our audience research had told us that a book on suc-
cess, both in business and in life, would be of great interest not only to
those who had bought our previous books but to a wider audience as
well. Masters of Success would help make us visible to people who had
never bought a book on networking but who might be candidates for
membership. BNI’s imprint was apparent throughout; as with the first
book in the series, most of the authors were BNI directors or members.
We successfully promoted the book with another Masters Day and made
the Wall Street Journal bestseller list.
Truth or Delusion?, a 2006 collaboration with my two partners
in Asentiv, sets up and shoots down many of the myths, both rea-
sonable-sounding and outlandish, that people often bring to the
practice of referral networking. It landed on four bestseller lists —
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon. The book
after that, Masters of Sales, our third anthology in the Masters series,
not only made the New York Times list but also hit the top spot on
Amazon in 2007.
76 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Our major book release in 2008, The 29% Solution, starts by de-
bunking the urban myth of “six degrees of separation.” Asentiv’s
Michelle Donovan and I show you how you can become part of the
roughly 29 percent of the world population who are truly connected
worldwide—and thereby maximize your networking
effectiveness. In 2009, networking expert David Alex-
ander, marketing consultant Brian Hilliard, and I pub-
lished Networking Like a Pro, a study of the myths,
mysteries, and misconceptions about referral network-
ing. I followed this in 2012 with Business Networking
and Sex (not what you think), coauthored by Hazel M.
Walker and Frank J. De Raffele Jr. This book is an in-
triguing statistical breakdown of the differences be-
tween men and women, both real and perceived, when
it comes to networking behavior.
In BNI’s latest book, Avoiding the Networking
Disconnect (2015), sales pro Brennan Scanlon and I take
a look at how a strong, effective referral relationship
is like an unbroken circle. Why do some people give
up on networking almost as soon as they start? Often
it’s because they show up at their first event with the
idea of finding someone to sell to rather than someone
they can help. They don’t understand that networking
is about relationships, not transactions, and that good
referral relationships are mutually beneficial.
Our books have become a vital part of BNI’s cul-
ture. They have introduced the techniques, principles,
and philosophy of referral networking to thousands
of current and potential BNI members, and they have
brought us the attention of a worldwide audience as
well. The book you’re reading now represents the first
time the whole BNI story has been put down on paper.
All the same, I sometimes feel we rely too much
on collateral marketing material. For our first 12 months,
we marketed BNI with just one sheet of paper — the
BNI Meeting Agenda, which I had typed up in a hurry
on an old IBM Selectric (using the Columbus style of
typing — ”seek out and discover”) and photocopied
a gazillion times. Revisions were made using white-out
and ball-point.
 A N E W A U D I E N C E 77

When people asked for a brochure, I told them to come to a meet-

ing, because that was the only way for them to see what it was really
all about. If they pressed for information, I handed them the Agenda
(white-out, ink, and all) and told them, “This is what happens at a meet-
ing, but you really need to see it for yourself.”
It is critically important for visitors to attend a well-run meeting
and to see the program working the way it was meant to. No one comes
to a meeting because of a brochure or a video; he comes because you
look him in the eye and say, “Hey, this is the way I get a lot of busi-
ness, and I think you can get a lot of business out of this, too. How
about coming to a meeting with me?” No one joins because you give
her stuff to read; she joins when she sees the Agenda in action. No
brochure can show her that. I opened the first 20 chapters almost by
accident, with nothing more than personal invitations and a typed,
one-page Agenda.
Today, BNI has thousands of pages of support material — Directors’
Manuals, Leadership Team Manuals, Visitor Host and Membership Com-
mittee Manuals, Chapter Toolkits, audio CDs, the books that I’ve written,
and a myriad of collateral marketing materials. We’ve been highlighted
in dozens of books by marketing experts and featured in hundreds of
newspapers and magazines worldwide. We are, without question, the
largest and most successful business networking organization in the world.
But even today, the most important aspect of our success comes down
to running a great meeting. That’s where we shine, and that’s what sells.

A Fast Five Years

What was behind BNI’s phenomenal growth from 1995 to 2000? I think
there were four main factors.
First, we had given BNI a solid foundation. We had a good organi­
zational structure, capable leaders, and well-designed manuals to train
and guide new generations of members and leaders. Our philosophy,
Givers Gain, was intimately woven throughout the very fabric of the
organization. Members were inspired to recruit more and more new
members because the philosophy worked: the more you give to others,
the more others give to you.
Second, we had started franchising, and franchising meant local
ownership. Decentralizing our operation enhanced local focus and sup-
port, which are very important in networking. People are more likely
to sign on as partners in an enterprise when they can own and operate
78 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

their own part of it locally. And local responsibility took a lot of the work
out of our hands. It freed up our time at the head office — time that
we could use to look ahead, develop BNI’s vision, and make strategic
decisions that would stimulate more growth.
Third, we jumped our borders and began spreading from new
centers. These new countries reaped the benefits of our years of domestic
growth, development, and learn-
ing. Their rate of growth, in many
cases, easily topped BNI’s previous
Ivan and I were walking records in the United States.
down the main street in Fourth, we made ourselves
downtown Toronto, and better known by publishing books,
Ivan said to me, “I’ve which opened the door to the world
been thinking about writ- of media interviews. The public
ing a book called Masters attention they generated gave our
of Networking. What do you think?” I said, growth rate a real shot in the arm.
“I think it sounds like a really good idea.” From 1995 through 1999 we added
And we discussed it a little bit further and more than four times as many chap-
he said, “I’ve been thinking about asking ters as we had from 1990 through
you to be my coauthor. What do you think?” 1994. We even added a new country
I said, “Well, yeah!” Then I calmed down as a direct result of one of our books:
said, “Thank you very much, I’m honored.” Singapore opened in 1998 because a
That little event sticks out clearly in my businessman, Mervin Yeo, read The
mind, because writing a book was always World’s Best Known Marketing Secret
in my plan. and applied to become a National
— Don Morgan Director.
National Director By 2000, only 15 years after
BNI Canada we formed the first chapter in Ar-
cadia, BNI was catching on around
the world and rapidly closing in on
the 2,000-chapter mark.
 c h a p t e r

A New Millennium
2001–2004

The opening years of the 21st century were a time of growth and
transition at BNI. We improved and fine-tuned our most successful
programs. We created new systems to support our growth. Having
changed to a locally owned structure run by our Executive Directors
and Director Consultants — thousands now — we almost completely
phased out the position of Regional Director, which is now used only
in our few company-owned regions. We opened chapters on six of
the seven continents (no, we don’t plan to open any in Antarctica).
A worldwide business needs more space than we had in our
pleasant but compact offices in San Dimas, so a move was inevitable.
In 2004 we opened new headquarters in a beautiful, modern, two-story
complex in Upland, not far from the
tiny Claremont house that was our
home 10 years before. Finally we
had enough room for all our depart-
ments to spread out, especially our
much-imposed-on warehouse and
shipping staff.
Most of all, a growing busi-
ness needs people who are smart,
personable, and motivated. BNI has
a built-in advantage in finding and
hiring great people, because we do
­n etworking better than almost 79
80 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

anybody — and we hire by referral. Somebody we know recommends

someone we don’t know for a position, and we are not surprised to
find that those we hire are excellent employees who stay with us for
many years. We’ve never had to advertise to fill an open position, and
with such low turnover, we don’t often have any to fill.

People Power
The folks who run the day-to-day operations at BNI are mostly people
who have been with us for a long time and have grown with the organi­
zation. I am surrounded by able and dedicated people who keep me
on a precise and efficient schedule and the whole organization working
like a fine Swiss watch. They’re all great employees, but I’d like to name
those who have been at BNI more than five years.
Amy Turley-Brown, who became our Operations Director, was a
chapter member representing a hair salon before she came to work at
BNI headquarters in 1991. She soon began to prove her obvious potential.
Amy is a classic example of a worker who is most concerned with doing
a good job. We like to reward people with that attitude.
In the thick of one excruciatingly frustrating conference setup fias­co,
Amy, who was then our Receptionist, asked me if I would like to never
have to deal with these problems again. When I said yes, she took charge
and put together, with no further cost to my sanity, the best conference
we had ever held. After she did it again the following year, I gave her
a well-earned promotion, the first of many. She has arranged every US
National and International Directors’ Conference since that time.
Lonie Misner-Feigerle, BNI’s first employee, has been an essential
part of our organization from the very beginning. In our early days,
when such a thing was still possible, she would call all the members
of every chapter each week to remind them to attend their meetings.
She is now our Auditor and Technical Support Specialist, as well as the
Senior Regional Director in Southern California, the company-owned
area where it all began.
Elisabeth Misner, my wife, who has been involved with BNI since
1986, is now both the co-founder and a board member of the BNI Founda-
tion. I find it hard to imagine what BNI would look like today without the
balance, intelligence, and creative energy she brought to the organization
at critical moments.
I have always believed in promoting from within whenever pos-
sible. In the late 1990s, one person stood out to take charge as National
 A N E W M I L L E N N I U M 81

Director and then CEO. That person was Norm Dominguez. Norm had
many years of experience with BNI as a Regional Director, an Executive
Director, and later as a District Director. In 1999 he took over the reins
and ran BNI Headquarters with me until 2013. He then stayed on as an
advisor and consultant, helping with BNI’s Director mentoring program.
His management savvy, people skills, and energy helped take BNI from
a national to an international company.
In 2013, Andy Hart stepped up to the plate and, as BNI’s interim
CEO, helped lay the ground work for our next phase. At the end of 2014,
for the first time in the history of the company I brought in partners to
the organization in order to help BNI truly become a global organization.
The partnership team was led by Graham Weihmiller, who then took
over as BNI’s Global CEO. This has enabled me to do what I love most,
and that is to be the spokesman for the organization. As of December
2014, my title changed to Founder & Chief Visionary Officer for BNI.
My role is now to be the spokesman for the company and continue to
help lead our strategic vision for the organization. I believe that an en-
trepreneur is either working in his flame or working in his wax. After 30
years, I still had a burning flame for this company. That flame involved
writing, speaking, and doing interviews. Since the end of 2014, that has
been my full-time focus for BNI.

The Communication Revolution

The larger an organization grows, the more crucial it is to keep the ris-
ing river of information flowing smoothly. This includes keeping track
of membership, revenues, expenses, and other data. BNI is making a
major step forward with the inauguration of BNI Connect, our universal
worldwide online database system. Rather than accumulating written
reports as they dribble in, week by week and month by month, from
around the globe, BNI now has a real-time statistical readout from each
chapter and franchise. This vastly simplifies our accounting, facilitates
our operations, and helps us stay ahead of developing problems.
BNI Connect grew out of BNINET, which was conceived and devel-
oped in Great Britain by UK National Directors Martin and Gillian Lawson.
When we saw how well it worked, we selected BNINET to be BNI’s of-
ficial database system and gave Connie Hinton, our Executive Director in
Seattle and Chair of the BNI Technology Committee, the task of developing
it for worldwide use. Now, with BNI Connect, we can maintain an up-
to-date member database, enabling us to instantaneously communicate
82 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

with all chapters and all members worldwide. Each member now has a
global networking capability that far surpasses any other such system
in use—in addition to the traditional face-to-face networking that has
made BNI so strong and effective.

Experimental Programs
In an organization that’s made up largely of entrepreneurs and indepen-
dent business people, good ideas come from everywhere. This is a good
thing to remember in any setting, but it’s especially true in a company like
BNI. You never know where the next brilliant idea is going to spring up.
When you run a franchise, you perform a balancing act between the
stability of following a proven system and the importance of trying out
new ideas. We know from experience what works for us, and we train
intensively to keep the whole system working in harmony. But the day
you say, “Look, this is the system, and you can’t change a single thing
under any circumstances” — that’s the day you become number two.
I felt that the way to nurture both stability and innovation was to
officially sanction experimental programs. Want to try something new
in your chapter? Okay. Write me a proposal, and I’ll sign off on it. Try it
for a while. If we don’t think it’s working by the end of a certain time,
you’ll discontinue it. If it works, we may use it worldwide.
We have many examples of experiments that were successful.
Education Coordinator is one. This experiment was suggested by several
people, but it was Norm Dominguez who made it happen.
Education and training have always been important in BNI, but
until we acquired a substantial library of content, there wasn’t a whole lot
of networking-specific material to train on. Our first resources were my
books, and over several years we put together a pretty good collection of
other materials, including my articles on Entrepreneur.com, books from our
franchises, books by people like Bob Burg and Susan RoAne. We recom-
mended that everybody read these materials, but we didn’t have any reli-
able way of making sure that this information was getting to the chapters.
Norm’s idea was to assign an Education Coordinator in each chap-
ter to talk briefly at each meeting about networking and suggest books
and articles for further reading. A few chapters around the country were
already trying this, so I told Norm to go ahead and do it in Phoenix as
an experimental program.
Norm soon began recommending that we make it part of the
Agenda. I resisted. I didn’t want to change the Agenda. “You add a
 A N E W M I L L E N N I U M 83

couple of minutes here and a couple of minutes there,” I told him, “and
pretty soon the meeting goes on all day.”
“You really should try it out in other areas,” he said. “This is
powerful.”
Finally I relented. “Okay, if you like it that much, let’s give it a
test run.” We brought it up at a Founder’s Circle meeting; a few other
directors agreed to try it. Everybody who tried it liked it. “We need to
be doing this everywhere,” they said.
That’s how the Education Coordinator was born. We tried it out in
a controlled experiment, and it worked so well that we made it standard
practice throughout BNI.
The Member Success Program is another example. In the mid- to late
’90s, while we were implementing the Education Coordinator program,
we were telling each other that we needed to do more training for new
members outside the regular meetings. John Meyer, Executive Director
in Ohio, started holding a one-hour orientation program that he called
New Member Mondays. Other directors started similar programs:
Steve ­Lawson and Don ­Morgan in Canada, Martin and ­Gillian Lawson
in the United Kingdom. It was such a success that word got around
and the program spread like wildfire. The result was more effective
members — people who were better at marketing their businesses and
bringing in referrals from the very first meeting. Chapters that held New
Member Mondays had higher membership and retention than others.
This successful experiment led
to the Member Success Program, a
2- to 3-hour training session that is In Sweden it’s not the
now required of every BNI member done thing to be seen to
within a few weeks of joining. We be “making money” or
decided not to call it New Member being more successful
Orientation, because it is designed than the next guy. The
to serve as a refresher course as well. advantage with BNI is
We now encourage all members to that one doesn’t need to be ashamed about
take MSP every couple of years. turning a referral into business. BNI brings
MSP provides the individual people and businesses together whilst
a foundation for being successful “making money” at the same time.
in the chapter. How do you put to- — Gunnar Selheden
gether and present a good Weekly National Director
Presentation? How do you prepare Scandinavia
for your Feature Presentation? Why
are One-to-Ones so important, and
84 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

how do you use them? What are Meeting Stimulants, and how do they
work? What is the BNI Foundation? The content varies from region
to region, and we can’t cover it all in a single 2- or 3-hour class, so we
tell directors to cover what’s most important in their regions.
This program is another example of what sets us apart from our com-
petition. No other referral networking organization requires its members
to undergo this kind of orientation to the methods, goals, and philosophy
of the organization, and those that offer training charge members for it.
We not only require it, we do it for free — it’s covered by the dues (except
for meals and room charges, if necessary) — because we know it benefits
every member and makes BNI stronger.
Some experiments work out a lot better than I expect them to. One
good example is our Directors’ Mentoring Program. When Elisabeth
suggested it to me in 1996, I was skeptical. I’ve seen too many mentor-
ing programs start with glowing expectations, only to fizzle out within a
year or two. I didn’t think even Elisabeth’s resolve and organizing skills
could overcome the odds against it. But I’m happy to say I was wrong.
From five mentoring pairs in its first year, this well-designed, well-run
program has grown so much that about 90 percent of new directors now
get some form of mentoring from more experienced directors. Much of
this occurs at the spring and fall conferences and is facilitated by use
of One-to-Ones — as I now recall, another of Elisabeth’s brainstorms.

Certified Networker Program

Because education is such an important factor in BNI’s success, we con-
stantly look for ways to innovate and improve our structured training.
In the late 1990s, I realized that we needed a package of materials that
BNI members could use to learn the principles and skills of professional-
quality referral networking. I had already created and accumulated an
assortment of materials over several years, including The World’s Best
Known Marketing Secret and other books I had written. From these, Steve
Lawson, an Executive Director in Canada, and I put together the first ver-
sion of a training curriculum I called the Certified Networker Program.
The Certified Networker Program is a customized curriculum
with tips, tools, and techniques to help BNI members — and anyone
else, for that matter — become more effective and productive network-
ers. Refined and expanded, it is now administered by Asentiv as a series
of interactive workshops, 12 in all, covering every aspect of a well-
rounded referral-based marketing system.
 A N E W M I L L E N N I U M 85

Why didn’t we make Asentiv a part of BNI? We spun it off to

avoid confusion about what business BNI is in. Although training is an
important part of BNI’s operation, BNI is not a training company — it
is a referral networking organization, and it must stay focused on that
purpose. Asentiv is a company that
trains people how to network; BNI
is the place where this training can Surveys show that
be put to work. professionals expect
to generate an extra
Membership Drives $10,000–$50,000 a year
as a result of what they
When a new chapter is formed, it learn in the Certified
usually grows quickly as the core Networker Program. This course changes
group recruits friends and acquain- people’s businesses and lives; they make
tances. Once this pool of contacts more money, and they gain time do the
is used up, however, growth often things they want to do. That’s why I love
tends to slow. It’s a common phe- teaching it.
nomenon with organizations. With — Tom Fleming
BNI, it’s important for chapters to Executive Director,
keep growing, filling as many pro- BNI West Central Florida
fessional and business categories
as possible, because the number of
referrals generated increases much
faster than the number of new
members.
Early in BNI’s history, several chapter Leadership Team members
came to me and said they needed some help. “What’s headquarters
doing to help us build our membership? We need to have some kind
of membership drive, something special that would motivate members
to bring in new members.”
I agreed. We tried an experiment. We asked members what they
thought would motivate them to go out and round up new members.
Free dues, they said. Bring in five people, you get six months’ free dues,
or something along those lines.
It was a miserable failure. We gained a few new members, but we
learned that money was not the motivator we had expected, especially
negative money — money that they didn’t have to spend but would
never see. Somehow that just didn’t register as an incentive.
We tried a few other things, but the idea that hit the bullseye was
travel. If you and your chapter brought in an impressive number of new
86 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

members, your reward could be a trip to Las Vegas or Mexico or some

other exotic destination. It was like a big lottery contest. Not everybody got
a prize, but the top recruiters got a chance at winning a trip. The potential
payoff was so exciting that people
eagerly recruited new members by
the dozens and hundreds.
Membership Extravagan-
Today, leveraged by the pros-
zas have caught on in
pect of travel and adventure, our
BNI regions worldwide.
membership drives have achieved
With input from mem-
legendary status. Our champion
bers and directors, we’ve
recruiters, Executive Directors Dan
continued to improve the
and Penny Georgevich, have turned
process year after year. When they see the
the membership drive into a sci-
new business that new members bring in,
ence. They get members excited
people really get motivated.
about bringing visitors and lavish
— Penny Georgevich
recognition on the winners. Their
Executive Director, BNI Michigan
chapters in Michigan once added
Director of Chapter and
more than 1,000 new members in a
Member Development
single Membership Extravaganza.
Hey, we have entire BNI regions
that don’t even have 1,000 members!
 c h a p t e r

BNI Core Values

Things Every Member Should Know

We keep the culture of BNI strong by constantly training and

retraining members and leaders. In these training sessions, we empha-
size BNI’s core values, because core values help make a company what
it is. Core values tell us who we are as an organization. They are the
criteria by which all decisions should be made.
It is also important for every organization to state its purpose
clearly and succinctly, to communicate to its members and to the world
what the organization is about. Here is BNI’s mission statement:

The mission of BNI is to help members increase their busi-

ness through a structured, positive, and professional referral
marketing program that enables them to develop long-term,
meaningful relationships with quality business professionals.

All of BNI’s core values are tailored to support this mission. They
are the expression and implementation of our basic principles.
Why do we place such emphasis on our core values? Because
there’s one overriding principle in all business affairs:

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

If you’re part of an organization that has a powerful strategy but

a marginal culture, you will fail. If you’re part of an organization with a
strong culture but a marginal strategy, you’ll succeed. And if you’re part 87
88 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

of an organization that has a really strong culture and a great strategy,

you will beat your competition every day of the week.
Culture is the key. It is the most important thing in an organization,
and it applies at all levels, from the top of the organization all the way
down. Within BNI, the culture of a chapter determines how successful
it will be. Rules, regulations, and operating standards are important, of
course, because you have to have systems in place to guide activities.
But culture is the factor that stands above all others. Having a positive,
supportive culture based on a core philosophy of helping other people
is what makes BNI unique in its field, and it’s one of the reasons why
we’re the world’s largest networking organization.
I’ve always believed that any goal worth pursuing must be
achieved through a principled effort — that an enterprise devoid of
moral, ethical, and practical standards is doomed to eventual failure.
I have been proven right over and over again by the actions and at-
titudes of BNI members and chapter leaders. It would be hard to find
a more giving, more helpful, more positive group of people than can
be seen at any gathering of BNI members, whether a weekly chapter
meeting, a Visitors’ Day, a Leadership Team training session, or a BNI
Global Convention.
Here are our core values, in no particular order of importance —
except the first.
1. Givers Gain
2. Building Relationships
3. Lifelong Learning
4. Traditions + Innovation
5. Positive Attitude
6. Accountability
7. Recognition

Givers Gain
At the top of our list of core values we place what has always been the
central, guiding philosophy of BNI — the concept of giving benefit
to others. This is our principal core value. It’s an ethical theme that is
common to all religions, all cultures: treat others the way you want to
be treated. If you want to get referrals, do the best job you can of giv-
ing referrals to others. In 1986, we condensed this philosophy into two
words: Givers Gain.
 B N I C O R E V A L U E S 89

Givers Gain is a principle that we teach every new member and

continually reinforce throughout the organization with additional
training and everyday use. It is a powerful approach to building and
conducting business — and yet it is not taught in any business school
anywhere. Others may stumble into the philosophy and discover its
benefits, but in BNI, it’s an integral element of what we do.
Here’s what I say to every chapter that I kick off: “BNI is all about
Givers Gain. This is the philosophy of BNI. If you want to get business,
you have to be willing to give busi-
ness to other business people.”
Then I tell them a story I first This is an organization
heard from one of our Executive where anybody here
Directors. We originally called it will help you with your
“Sex in the Cornfields,” but we’ve business. It’s that kind
since adopted a more decorous title, of sharing from the top
“Whoopee in the Cornfields.” down. They want to see
My directors and I often tell everybody else succeed. There’s no infor-
people that networking is more mation ownership — you know, if I’m going
about farming than it is about to look good, you’ll have to look bad.
hunting. Once, when this particular — Emory Cowan
director was expounding on this Executive Director
theme, someone in the audience BNI Colorado
raised his hand and asked, “Do you
honestly believe that?”
The director said, “Of course.
It’s about cultivating relationships.”
“So you’re telling me that we
could actually learn something about networking from a farmer?”
“Well, no, not literally. We’re talking figuratively. We’re saying it’s
like farming. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I’ll tell you. I read a story about a farmer in Nebraska who
had won the state fair four times in a row with his corn. Nobody had
ever done that before, so the paper sent someone out to interview him.
“The reporter asked, ‘What is your secret? Do you use a special
corn seed?’
“The farmer said, ‘Absolutely. I develop my own corn seed, and
that’s an important aspect of it.’
“‘Well, then, that’s your secret,’ said the reporter. ‘You plant a type
of corn that’s different from that of your neighbors.’
“‘No, I also give it to my neighbors,’ said the farmer.
90 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

“‘You give it to your neighbors?’ asked the incredulous reporter.

‘Why in the world would you give your award-winning corn to your
neighbors?’
“The farmer said, ‘Well, you’ve got to understand how corn is
pollinated. It’s pollinated from neighboring fields. And if you’ve got
fields around you that don’t have this top-quality corn, your field is
not going to grow top-quality corn either. But if my neighbor’s field has
this really strong corn, I have awesome corn. And that’s how I’ve won
at the Nebraska State Fair the last four years in a row.’”
I like this story because it’s a great metaphor for how this orga-
nization works. Why join BNI? So you can help other people and be
helped in return.
I especially like to be there when people first “get it.” It reaffirms for
me the power of our guiding philosophy, not only as an organizational
principle but also on a personal level. Our directors enjoy this as well.
A director in North Dakota told me about a time when he was
training a core group on how to do a Kickoff. Among the things they
discussed was the philosophy of Givers Gain—how it’s first about help-
ing other people, and only second about the business you’ll get in return.
When the meeting ended and
people were leaving, the director
Education and training
noticed one member, a man in his
are key chapter success
sixties who had had a long career
factors. Most of us are not
in auto sales, sitting quietly, lost in
born networkers; when
thought. The director approached
we join BNI, our first
him and asked, “Any questions?
question is often “What’s
Everything okay?”
next?” What’s next is our ­highly interactive
“Everything’s fine,” said
Referral Success Program (which many
the salesman. “But I just had an
regions call Advanced Training). Trainers
epiphany.”
provide access to all of BNI’s tips, trends,
“Yes?”
and tools and help members get the most
“You know,” he said, “this
out of their membership — in other words,
whole concept of Givers Gain, and
how to Network Like a Pro!
helping other businesses so they
— David Alexander
help you, it’s a little bit like taking off
Executive Director, BNI Georgia
your bib and putting on an apron.”
Southeast District Director
“What do you mean?”
“I have lived my profes-
sional career trying to find ways
to close deals and get what I want
 B N I C O R E V A L U E S 91

in business. I think I’ve missed the point. Networking is really about

trying to find ways to help other people. You take off that bib and put
on an apron, and you find ways to help other people, and by finding
ways to help other people, they’ll help you, and you’ll in fact do better.”
He said, “I’ve been in business for decades, and today I’ve learned
something new that I’m going to apply for the rest of my professional
career.”
I was really moved when the director told me this. I thought it
was an amazing story, and it really fit the cultural imperative that we
see in our organization.
But we were talking about Sex in the Cornfields, weren’t we?
Which brings me to the question: Why is networking more about farm-
ing than about hunting?
Marketing is sometimes approached as a sort of big-game hunt.
The customers are out there in the woods; you have to load up with your
best ads and promotional materials and seek them out, one by one. If
you’re a good shot, you get instant satisfaction. The more you bag, the
better your business — but it’s hard work, and you can never rest. You
have to go out every day and find more big game.
Building a business through referral networking is more like
farming. Unlike hunting, you don’t expect instant returns. Instead, you
cultivate relationships by offering others referrals, expert assistance,
and other benefits. You form long-lasting referral partnerships based
on trust. And if you are steadfast and patient, your efforts will pay off
and you will reap a bountiful harvest: business opportunities that your
networking partners refer to you.
The stories I told you about San Francisco and Montana are good
illustrations of this principle on the organizational scale. When the idea
popped into my head that the Bay Area was the next logical BNI region,
I jumped on a plane and flew there, armed to the teeth with brochures,
hunting for strangers I might persuade to start and run BNI in a high-
potential region. It was like traveling to a totally unknown area to hunt
because, well, there’s got to be something there, right?
But while I had my sights focused on scaring a new Regional Direc-
tor out of the brush, my garden back home was growing and starting to
produce. In fact, it was spreading all over the place. All I had to do was
help the directors I already had sow the idea in new plots, transplant
some of the fast-growing shoots into fertile soil, and let the crop grow
naturally. Soon, the harvest from those fields would be almost more
than I could handle.
92 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Building Relationships
Anybody can pass along a referral, anywhere, anytime. So why join a
referral networking organization?
Because getting a reliable, sustainable stream of good referrals is
more about farming than hunting. BNI is relational, not transactional.
Look at it this way. You can go hunting and bag an elk, or go
fishing and bring back a few fish for supper. Then you have to go out
all over again, and again and again. Maybe you’ll be successful, maybe
not. At least you don’t need to spend days, weeks, months preparing
for the hunt, so it’s all good, right? Of course, to survive between hunts
you need to spend time gathering roots and berries and small rodents
a handful at a time.
A farmer, on the other hand, spends a lot of time up front prepar-
ing the soil, planting seeds, fertilizing, watering, and weeding his fields.
Eventually, he will reap a rich harvest. It’s a lot of work, but in the end
the work is rewarded, and the rewards keep coming.
In a strong networking organization like BNI, you spend a lot of
time up front preparing the ground for future referrals. By this, I mean
cultivating positive, supportive relationships. And by cultivating,
I mean that you have to put in most of the work up front. That’s where
Givers Gain comes in. You start by preparing the ground — doing good
for other members of your group —
without expecting instant rewards.
The effort that you invest in this will
BNI is a relationship
be returned to you many times over
business. We’re farmers.
by those you have helped. This is
We cultivate each other,
your harvest.
we feed each other. The
In the end, it’s all about cul-
worst members are the
tivating good relationships. And
hunters, the ones who
this starts with you. Make it your
want to take constantly. They come in and
goal to help as many of your fellow
think, I’m sitting here and nobody’s passing
networkers achieve their goals as
me business. This doesn’t work. I generally
possible, without asking anything in
don’t encourage those people to stay.
return. You will build a reputation as
— Gayle Williams
someone they can turn to, someone
Executive Director
who has their best interests in mind.
BNI New Mexico
And they will naturally think of you
when an opportunity comes along
to help you in return.
 B N I C O R E V A L U E S 93

As I’ve pointed out, relationships in BNI, while based on shared

business interests, often turn into personal relationships. Members
maintain these relationships over many years. This is what makes BNI
such a strong, effective network.

Lifelong Learning
One of the most important BNI traditions is our commitment to train-
ing and education. This tradition is one of BNI’s core competencies.
We follow a system that’s based on experience. Our director team
alone, guided by a 500-page manual, now conduct over 200,000
person-hours of training per year. Other programs, available through
affiliated organizations, provide hundreds of thousands more. That’s
a lot of training and a lot of details, but it’s part of what has made BNI
a lasting and growing success. And it is not taught in universities or
business schools.
For the first year of BNI’s existence, we didn’t have anything that
could be called Leadership Team training. When we started training in
the second year, our first Leadership Team manual consisted of only two
pages — the Agenda. Today, in addition to our in-house and third-party
training programs, we have over 500 podcasts and almost 1,000 blogs
where members can brush up on state-of-the-art referral-generation
techniques. We have 15 or 20 years of newsletters online, and we’ve
published 21 books. We have more content available to our members
on how to network effectively than any other network in the world.
Training the directors, who then train their Leadership Teams, is the
top link in BNI’s chain of training.
Why does training work? It preserves the system and the culture;
it keeps us from making the same errors again and again. Over the years
of starting new chapters, new regions, and new countries, we’ve made
every mistake you can think of (and a whole bunch that you’d never
think of), and we’ve learned from them. We know how to avoid the
mistakes, how to run the organization right. Training is how we pass
along this wisdom to leaders and members so they can avoid having
to learn the hard way.
We believe in, and actively promote, lifelong learning. The more our
members and directors are engaged in a culture of learning, the more
successful their regions are. Those regions that really immerse themselves
in BNI’s podcasts and my books and other materials are typically far
more successful than those who don’t engage in those programs.
94 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Traditions + Innovation
As we were starting out, we quickly began to realize that sticking to
a well-thought-out agenda was the secret to making the organization
work for all members. Business people like to be organized, to have a
plan and stick to it. Their free time is limited, and they want to use it
as effectively as possible. Knowing what to expect, and knowing that
the meeting would begin and end at predictable times, people came to
chapter meetings prepared to do their part in carrying out the agenda
— giving a brief Weekly Presentation, passing referrals to other mem-
bers, and occasionally giving a longer Feature Presentation about their
business and how it can benefit other members.
With this level of built-in structure, new habits and traditions
appeared and, if they helped the meetings run more smoothly and ef-
fectively, eventually established themselves. These traditions, in addition
to our other core values, are part of what makes BNI the world’s largest
and most effective business referral organization.
Two of these traditions are now included among our core val-
ues — Givers Gain, of course, along with Lifelong Learning (formerly
“Training and Education). Here are some of the other traditions that
helped to create the organization that you know today.
Keeping the Fun in the Fundamentals. If you’re not enjoying the
journey, you’re probably not going to enjoy the destination. That seems
self-evident, but it didn’t become clear to me right away. Having realized
early the importance of training, we had placed most of our emphasis
there for many years and had somewhat lost sight of one of BNI’s early
charms — the fact that everybody enjoyed and looked forward to going
to the meetings. Sometime around 1988 I figured out that it’s possible
to stay focused on your objectives and still have fun.
There are a lot of different ways to have fun at a meeting and yet
stick to the structure. Meeting Stimulants are one of the ways BNI does it.
We have several dozen different kinds of Meeting Stimulants, so chapters
can find lots of different ways to liven up their meetings without repeat-
ing themselves. (See your BNI director for a copy of Meeting Stimulants.)
In one versatile Meeting Stimulant, you put your business card into
a basket. The basket is passed around the room, and you draw a card.
You then give a Weekly Presentation (45–60 seconds, as time allows) for
the person whose card you drew. It’s a real learning experience. How
well do you know the other person’s business? How well have you
communicated your own business to the person who drew your card?
 B N I C O R E V A L U E S 95

It’s also an opportunity to get creative and have a lot of fun. Many
people do an impression of the other person, using the same speaking
style and gestures. One woman who was very short drew the card of
the tallest person in the chapter. She pulled out her chair and stood on
it to give his presentation.
Another big hit is something we call the “BNI Radio Show.” The
chapter President plays the part of a disk jockey running a radio music
show that consists mostly of 60-second commercial breaks (or however
long your weekly presentation is) — and 60 seconds means 60 seconds.
If you give a 50-second presentation, you get 10 seconds of dead air
— you’re left standing there in total silence with everybody looking at
you. If you run long, you’re cut off in mid-sentence. Knowing you’re
responsible for exactly 60 seconds of
“air time” gives you great incentive
to polish your presentation.
Subs should be used
I’ve seen some truly awesome
sparingly, and as a last
“Radio Show” presentations. One
resort, not a first choice.
member, the owner of John’s Auto
If you’re trying to build a
Body, did a “man on the street”
relationship with your fel-
interview. He walked around with
low members, you don’t
a microphone and asked members,
want to send a sub too often, because when
“Would you like to tell us about your
they’re overused they’re getting in the way
experience with John’s Auto Body?”
of those relationships.
He got a lot of interesting responses.
— Andy and Sandra Hart
When they know they’re go-
Executive Directors,
ing to have to perform, people ac-
Ireland South & West
tually prepare. Some can just stand
Directors of European Affairs
up and wing it, but most give a lot
of thought to what they’re going to
say. In a meeting that’s enlivened by
a Meeting Stimulant, members may
learn more about fellow members in an hour than they’ve learned before
in five hours of meetings. Some Meeting Stimulants may seem silly, but
members have fun, and most important, they focus on doing business.
Having fun with the fundamentals means more than just members
entertaining members with their presentations. It means maintaining, in a
positive way, the integrity of the process. It means positive accountability.
Every organization has to maintain order and discipline. I have
often said that controlling the behavior of an organization made up
almost entirely of independent business people is like herding cats. It
96 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

takes patience and grit to keep things going in the right direction, but
it must not involve discipline applied for its own sake.
The way BNI handles the cell phone problem — and everybody
knows what I mean by that — is a good illustration of how order and
decorum can be preserved by maintaining an atmosphere of positive
accountability.
A few years back, I was speaking to a large gathering of members at
a big BNI event hosted by Executive Director Dan Georgevich in Michigan.
In the middle of my talk, someone’s cell phone began ringing. Suddenly,
400 people were singing “Happy Birthday” at the top of their voices!
I stood there like a deer in the headlights. I knew it wasn’t my
birthday. Whose was it, and what was so urgent about it?
Dan ran up to me and said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ve trained
them to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ whenever someone’s cell phone goes
off in a meeting.”
I laughed. “What a great idea!”
“Well, it usually works,” said Dan. “At least, when I remember to
tell new members and visitors.”
It’s a terrific example of positive accountability. It works, because
nobody wants to become the center of attention because of a rude cell
phone. But when it happens, at least everybody gets a good laugh —
even the miscreant, once the embarrassment passes.
Testimonials. One of our oldest traditions came from an early
change in our Agenda: testimonials (see chapter 3). Barely two months
into BNI’s first year, we decided that if you didn’t have any referrals to
pass along at the weekly meeting, you could give a testimonial instead.
You could talk about another member’s business, product, or service, or
even about the individual herself, speaking from the heart and being very
specific. This was a positive way of giving support to another member
in lieu of an actual referral. It was quite valuable, not only in giving the
individual moral support but in bringing other members’ attention, and
quite possibly referrals, to the individual’s products or services.
Caring about People. This is a tradition that members may not
be directly aware of but that is carried forward by our directors. Here
is how this tradition is stated in full:
People don’t care how much you know unless they know
how much you care.
Our directors are the best in the world in knowing how to run
a networking organization. But this doesn’t matter unless members
 B N I C O R E V A L U E S 97

understand how much their directors care about them. One of the
first things I tell directors is not to be a “seagull director” — someone
who flies in, makes a lot of noise, dumps on everyone, then flies out.
Directors have to be out in the field as much as possible, among the
members, helping the Leadership Team, solving problems, helping
where needed.
The director needs to be known and trusted. This is a philosophy
that members should probably be taught as well. It sets a high and
positive standard to follow when dealing with other members, as well
as with customers, colleagues, employees, and vendors. You can be the
best at whatever business you’re in, but unless the other members know
that you care about them, they’re not going to care about how much you
know. That will affect all your relationships, both business and personal.
I often urge people to memorize and use five magic words that
can go a long way toward solving any problem: “How can I help you?”
These five words are an excellent way to start the process of showing
people that you care, especially when used by the Leadership and
Membership Teams of a chapter. Rather than confronting a member
and saying, “You’re not bringing any referrals into the chapter — you
need to do better,” the approach should be “How can I help you bring
more referrals to the meeting?”
Using the five magic words fits the BNI philosophy of Givers Gain.
It goes a long way toward finding a mutually agreeable solution to a
problem — and does wonders for everyone’s blood pressure.
Walking the Talk. One critical element of being successful in re-
ferral networking is practicing what you preach. All of us — members,
staff, Leadership Teams, directors — represent BNI to everyone we meet;
it’s important that we walk the talk.
We teach that it is important to bring in referrals; therefore, every
one of us should bring in referrals. We know that it is important to bring
in visitors, so we should all bring in visitors. If we say that it’s important to
build trusting relationships, we should be the first people out there doing
that. And the more you give — the more you walk the talk — the more
you receive.
I see this every day: the most successful chapters, the most successful
members, the most successful directors — they all walk the talk. There is
no disparity between what they say and what they do. Always remember:
What you do thunders so loudly above your head that
I cannot hear the words you speak.
98 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Innovation. Innovation as a tradition? Sounds counterintuitive,

doesn’t it? How can you have both traditions and innovation? That’s
easy. I believe traditions in an organization tell us where we come from,
and they lay the foundation for who we are as a group of business
professionals and as an organization. But we must always be leading
in innovation as a network.
A few years back I was at a meeting where a director of one of BNI’s
competitors stood up and said, “Our organization runs the meetings
exactly the way our founder started two decades ago, and we haven’t
changed a single thing!” And I remember sitting in the audience thinking,
Wow, I hope they never change that strategy, because they will lose touch
with technology, with changes in business, with new advancements.
Traditions are important, but if all you do is live within your tra-
dition, you’ll never grow. You have to be innovative to meet needs as
they arise and as conditions change. And if the innovation works, who
knows? It may become an honored tradition for future generations.

Positive Attitude
We’ve seen in many surveys that I have done on networking — the first
was in the book Masters of Networking — that a positive and supportive
attitude was one of the top three criteria that people were looking for
in finding someone to network with. Life is too short to hang out with
crabby people. Surround yourself with people who are there to help
you succeed.
When I spoke about this in a certain region a few years ago, a
member there told me that she really agreed with this sentiment. At
one time there had been a member in her chapter who had a horrible
attitude. “The best thing he ever did for the group was miss a meeting!”
she said. “He was a total ‘Fun-Sucker.’ He sucked all the fun right out
of the room!” It took me a full minute to stop laughing. She went on to
say that the best thing that chapter ever did was to invite him to leave
the group; after that the chapter really started having fun, following the
system, and — most important — generating a lot of business!
Think about it. Have you ever worked at an office where someone
left or got fired and the entire attitude of the department improved?
I don’t know about you, but I surely have. More important, I’ve seen
similar things happen in BNI. I’ve always said, “Ignorance on fire is
better than knowledge on ice.” Find people with a positive attitude who
are on fire. They will make better members.
 B N I C O R E V A L U E S 99

Accountability
Accountability at all levels—from the chapter to the top—is important
in maintaining the quality of your referral network and the effectiveness
of your chapter. Members of a good referral group naturally become
friends, but without accountability, they can devolve into nothing more
than a koffee klatch. It’s like playing football with no rules—oh, wait,
that’s called street fighting.
Of course, friends don’t like to hold friends accountable, and this
is why BNI’s structured approach is there—to maintain discipline and
enforce accountability among friends. Holding your friends accountable
is not so hard when everyone agrees that the rules have to be enforced
equally for everyone.
We need to be caring in the way we apply our rules— more like
Mandela than Mussolini. “Tough love” is the standard. Instead of telling
a member, “You’re doing this wrong and you’re going to be removed,”
we need to make it clear that a change is necessary, then take a construc-
tive approach: “How can we help you achieve that goal?” Always keep
in mind that you’re dealing with responsible adults, capable of running
a business, who need guidance, not punishment.
Criticizing without supporting is destructive; supporting without
criticizing is constructive.

Recognition
We really believe in recognition, in putting the spotlight on people who
have done a good job in the organization, starting at chapter meetings
and going all the way to international conferences. For example, chap-
ters may give Notable Networker awards to those who bring in the
most referrals or the most visitors. Regions honor directors who have
distinguished themselves, and the entire organization bestows awards
to top BNI countries each year.
Founder’s Awards are issued to BNI chapters that represent the top
5 percent of the organization in terms of performance. They must have
a minimum of 30 members, be nominated by the local BNI director, and
be approved by the Founder. These chapters are specifically recognized
for excellent performance relating to referrals, visitors, new members,
commitment, enthusiasm, and — above all — attitude.
 c h a p t e r

Lessons Learned
The Value of Experience

When I started BNI, I had no idea it would grow into a worldwide

organization within a couple of decades. My plan was simply to get
together with some like-minded business friends and see if we could
bring each other some referrals.
Starting and growing any business is always a learning experience.
I didn’t sit down at my desk and map out exactly how BNI would look
years down the line. In fact, I had my hands full just thinking about the
next step. Do we need another chapter? How big should a chapter be?
Where is our next territory? Is the Agenda working as well as I had
hoped? The needs of the organization dictated the answers as we grew.
We took a practical approach. How could we best accomplish this
particular goal, solve that problem? We would try something, and if it
didn’t work, we would try something else. Each time we took a wrong
turn, we learned something, and next time we made it better. And the
better we got, the bigger we grew.
We haven’t stopped growing, and we haven’t stopped learning.
When we look back, we can see that we’ve learned things that we haven’t
really paused to write down — until now. Here, below, are some things
we have learned that we can now put into words.

The Importance of Structure

BNI is the largest, most successful networking organization in the
world because of its ethos, principles, and its well-structured weekly 101
102 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

meetings. If we start taking apart fundamental portions of the program

and expect the same results, we are fooling ourselves. It’s like taking a
wing off a plane and expecting it to fly. “BNI Lite” — cutting back on
the fundamentals to save time or effort — doesn’t work. We’ve proven
this to ourselves, time after time.
On the other hand, we’ve never been afraid to learn new and better
ways to network. This is especially important as we grow larger, keep-
ing up with the changing technologies of business and communication
and fitting ourselves into new cultures worldwide.
Rules are needed to keep the organization functioning consistently
and efficiently, but rules sometimes need to be challenged. When a
change is considered, it is important that, first, you must think through
the possible outcomes of the change; second, you need to try it out in
an orderly, measurable way; third, you should always watch carefully
and objectively to see what the new results will be. If the change doesn’t
improve the outcome, be prepared to fall back on the old rule.
It’s like the story I told you in chapter 3, when the President of
a chapter tried moving the passing of referrals until after the regular
meeting because to “stand and deliver” in front of the group was “em-
barrassing.” I asked him one of my favorite questions: “And how’s that
working for you?” The answer, he admitted, was that referrals had fallen
by half. “Based on results,” I asked, “do you think this is working?” The
results, of course, proved the importance of sticking with a structure
and rules that work.
Hockey without rules is just boxing on ice. BNI without rules
would be a coffee club around tables.

Quality Matters
Be selective about who you bring into a chapter. Just as you would not give
a friend a referral who would not do a good job, you should not recruit
someone into your chapter who is likely to damage its overall effectiveness.
You want quality business professionals who have a positive, supportive
attitude, who are good at what they do, and who “get” the Givers Gain
principle of helping others first. Effective networking is dependent on the
quality of the relationships that develop within the group.
Don’t just induct the first person who walks in the door; look
for the best you can find. My favorite approach for inviting visitors
to BNI is what I call the “We’re interviewing” technique. Suppose a
chapter needs a printer. When you meet a printer, explain that you’re
 L E S S O N S L E A R N E D 103

in a referral group and say, “We’re interviewing printers now to find

the best printer in our area to refer our business to. I think you might
make a good candidate.”
One of the things I’ve found is that if members can, in an appropri-
ate way, be more exclusive about who they bring in, they will actually
get more interest from potential members. Why? Because everybody
would rather be in a group that not everybody can get into. There’s
more prestige. Everybody wants to be one of the select few. Beyond
that, people know that a high-quality network will bring them more
and better referrals.
If you say you’re going to interview candidates for an open posi-
tion, it’s important that you follow through with an actual interview.
Immediately after the meeting, after they have seen how well the process
works, is the best time to so the interview. Sit down with your invited
visitor and ask questions: What exactly do you do? What is your target
market? How do you think we can help you? How do you think you can
help our group? Invite them to ask questions about the meeting and the
organization. This will give you insights into how well they will fit into
the chapter, and it will tell them how important their contribution will be
to the group and how they, in turn, will benefit from their membership.
It is vitally important that, as you seek out the best representatives
of the various business categories your chapter needs, you take care not
to be influenced by the race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation,
or other personal qualities that have nothing to do with how effectively
they can function as part of your chapter.

Chapter Size Matters

We learned years ago that as the size of a chapter increases, the number
of referrals it creates goes up exponentially. I call this the Squared Con-
nection Effect. It’s based on a well-known mathematical principle about
telecommunications networks known as Metcalfe’s Law, which states
that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the
square of the number of connected users of the system.
In a referral network, we count the value a little differently; you
and I have two connections, one from me to you, and one from you to
me. I don’t have one with myself, so this changes the formula slightly,
but basically it means that the number of connections in a referral net-
work goes up slightly better than exponentially. This is easiest to show
in diagram form.
104 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

A referral network of 16 persons ­— about the minimum for the core

group of a chapter startup ­— has 240 connections. Each person is con-
nected with 15 others, and 16 × 15 = 240. You can easily see this in the fol-
lowing diagram, remembering that
each line represents 2 connections.
If you double the size of the
network to 32 members, you get 32
× 31 connections, which comes out
to 992 connections. This is not just
double the number, it’s more than
four times as many connections. In-
creasing the size of the chapter by 2
increases the number of connections
by 2 × 2, or 4 — and then some.
This begs the question: When
is a chapter too large? That’s hard
to say, but I can tell you that fewer
than 1 percent of our chapters have
CONNECTIONS: 16-MEMBER NETWORK ever gone over 80 members (which
corresponds to 6,320 connections!).
We now have chapters with over 100 members. I’m not sure how large
is too large. I can, however, tell you that 32 is definitely not too large.
Bottom line: The more connections you have, the more referrals
you can generate — on steroids! This has been proven by actual experi-
ence with BNI chapters around the
world, and the math shows why.

Contact Spheres and

Power Teams
In The World’s Best Known Marketing
Secret, which I wrote in 1994, I set
out the concept of Contact Spheres,
groups of members within a chapter
that represent compatible, noncom-
petitive professions. Members in a
Contact Sphere have better-than-
average opportunities for providing
occasional business referrals to one
CONNECTIONS: 32-MEMBER NETWORK another, not necessarily on a regular
 L E S S O N S L E A R N E D 105

basis. Members of your Contact Sphere can also include people who are
not members of your referral organization.
Over the years, our members and chapters have refined this con-
cept and come up with the concept of Power Teams. These are groups,
usually within Contact Spheres, whose businesses and referral needs
dovetail naturally with each other
on a continuing basis — that is, busi-
nesses that often work together on rral sourc
fe es
re
a single business opportunity. These t a ct sph
n er
are called symbiotic businesses, and co e

they are the distinguishing charac- po

w e r t e a
teristic of Power Teams.

m
referral
Many consumer needs involve partners
more than one type of business or
service or product. For example,
weddings. These often involve a
cluster of services and products that
are needed simultaneously, such as
baker, caterer, dressmaker, tuxedo
rental, photographer, meeting hall,
and limousine service. If you are in one of these businesses, you are in
a prime position to give and receive referrals to others in your Power
Team whenever you see that a customer has unmet business needs.
As one experienced Power Team member in BNI told me: “If I was
a plumber and I received a referral for a new building, I would look at
who is doing the heating, who is doing the electrical work. Can I get
these people involved early on in the process? Do that, and they will
find that they are actually generating more business as a Power Team.”
I have seen Power Teams formed by people some might think of
as competitors. For example, one chapter has multiple attorneys, and
all attend the same Power Team meetings because they specialize in
different areas. Those attorneys generate more business for each other
than almost any other member of the chapter. And because they have
so many contacts, they also generate more referrals for other members
of the chapter outside their Power Team.
Power Team members typically give and receive referrals indepen-
dently of your referral organization. They not only attend BNI regular
meetings, they hold outside meetings as often as once a week on their
own schedule. This close association promotes loyalty and trust, which
are key to an effective referral network. However, to avoid appearing
106 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

as though they are isolating themselves from the larger group, Power
Teams are encouraged to invite other members to attend and observe
their meetings, as well as talk and ask questions. This improves the
solidarity of the larger group, and it can seed the formation of other
Power Teams in the chapter.
Here’s the difference to remember: a Contact Sphere represents
opportunity; a Power Team is commitment.

Classification Cowboys
It is BNI’s long-standing policy to accept only one person per profes-
sion per chapter. This is the best way to give every member of a chapter
as many networking connections as possible. Sometimes, however, a
member will try to represent more than one profession. This violates
both the letter and spirit of one of BNI’s fundamental rules.

Dan Fletcher, BNI UK

 L E S S O N S L E A R N E D 107

Suppose you sign up a new member whose profession, you are

given to believe, is car repair. After he joins, he lets it be known that he
is also part owner of a dry cleaning business, as well as an office sup-
ply wholesaler. By occupying all three of these professional spots, he
can refer customers who come to him for an automobile tune-up to his
own companies for dry cleaning or paper supplies, instead of to other
members who might want to represent these types of businesses. Thus
the chapter loses two potential members whose referrals would be of
value to other members, blocked by the Classification Cowboy who
considers himself a jack of all trades.
While we might admire the drive and ambition of such an all-
around business whirlwind, we would rather he devote more of his
energy to generating referrals for others in the spirit of Givers Gain. The
chapter’s Membership Committee should always be on the lookout for
the would-be member who has too many irons in the fire. He should be
made to understand that by limiting himself to one professional category,
he will not only give more referrals to his fellow members but will also
gain more referrals from grateful members in the end. Make sure this
rule is made clear to him before accepting him into the chapter.
In fact, you might introduce the would-be Classification Cowboy
to the five lawyers in your chapter. Five, you say? Yes, I have seen
many chapters that have two, three, four, even five lawyers in them,
not competing with each other, but specializing in particular areas of
the law — family law, wills and trusts, torts, criminal defense, et cetera
— and passing loads of referrals to each other. The same is true of other
professionals that have specialties. By limiting the scope of the referrals
you can use and sharing your profession with several others, you can
often pass and receive many more referrals than you thought possible.
 c h a p t e r

A Better Business World

Into the Future

At the beginning of this book, you saw our vision statement:

Changing the Way the World Does Business®
It’s a very straightforward statement. One sentence. BNI want to
change the way the world does business. This is our long-term goal,
our ideal. It is the North Star that tells us where we are headed, even if
it is impossible to ever reach that ideal.
Our mission statement, which opened chapter 10, tells us how we
will strive to achieve that vision:
The mission of BNI is to help members increase their busi-
ness through a structured, positive, and professional referral
marketing program that enables them to develop long-term,
meaningful relationships with quality business professionals.
Embedded within this vision and mission statement is our phi-
losophy: Givers Gain.
Givers Gain is a standard that you should apply to yourself, not
a sword with which you strike other people. It’s how you behave in
working with other business professionals. If you are fully committed
to helping other people, and if you surround yourself with others who
are willing to give to you and to others, then the mission of BNI can be
fulfilled and the vision is ultimately achievable.
Our vison, mission, and philosophy are the principles that guide
us as a successful, growing organization. Together, they resonate with 109
110 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

each other in ways that make BNI unique in the world. In every part
of the world, they foster a culture of entrepreneurism based on trust,
which transcends cultural differences. We have infused an emotional
component into a business process.
The resonance of these ideas is something that continually amazes
me and gives me a great deal of pride. However, presenting these ideas in
a book implies that I had a clear vision of what this organization would
become when I started it in 1985 as a 28-year-old business consultant —
and that would be an overstatement, at the least. It took time for my
vision for BNI to come into focus.
I spent my early years in BNI, with the help of members and direc-
tors, devising a referral networking system that would work well and

212,000!
200,000

180,000

160,000

140,000
Number of BNI members

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

0
86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16
Year
 A B E T T E R B U S I N E S S W O R L D 111

France 8%
India 6%
UK 5%
Germany 4%
Japan 4%
Australia 3%
United States
Canada 3%
of America 40%
Spain 3%

Italy 2%

Netherlands 2%
Vietnam 1%
Other 16% New Zealand 1%
Taiwan 1%
Mexico 1%

BNI MEMBERSHIP BY COUNTRY

keep on working. Creating a truly effective system took time — and it

is a never-ending task, because we must keep improving if we wish to
remain the best.
Not until that system was substantially in place did the vision
truly start to come into focus. It began with my recognition that, like me,
many business owners were looking for a focused, organized, positive,
and supportive networking program that could increase their business
through referrals. Before long I realized that this concept struck a chord
with a much larger audience than I had imagined.
In the late ’80s I began to think BNI could be an international orga-
nization. It took several more years to create the corporate infrastructure
necessary to make that happen. The early ’90s were spent spreading the
program across the United States. However, our real triumph came in
the mid-’90s, when my vision of an international organization became
a reality. From that point on, BNI’s growth has been truly phenomenal.
Now we routinely open as many chapters in one year as we did in our
first 10 years combined.
112 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

A Moment in Time
Where are we now? It’s hard to take a good snapshot of BNI; we’re so
large, and moving so fast, that the picture comes out blurred. But here’s
a quick look at where we stand as of this printing: we have 212,000
members worldwide in 7,800 chapters, and we’re on every populated
continent of the world. Pretty impressive, isn’t it? We’re adding about
a chapter a day now, somewhere in the world. The average number of
members per chapter is growing, too. All this growth requires more
office space. You can see our current BNI Global headquarters on page
131, along with our original “Main Office” (my home).
This phenomenal growth, which was not even dented by the three
recessions plus what’s commonly referred to as “the Great Recession”
that it spanned, is testament not only to the vitality of BNI’s central vi-
sion but to the quality, commitment, creativity, generosity, and loyalty
of its leaders and members. Every time I visit a chapter, anywhere in
the world, I am pleased and amazed to see how thoroughly the BNI
philosophy, Givers Gain, has shaped its activity at every level, and
how selfless BNI members are toward their fellow members and their
communities. I have a saying that I try to live by: “You may not make a
world of difference, but you can make a difference in the world.” I think
that BNI makes a difference in the world by helping business people
succeed, and I am proud to be a small part of that.
But that’s history. It’s the future that’s important now. It is for the
future that I, along with the considerable assistance of Jeff Morris (my
longtime editor and friend), wrote this book.
Among all the organizations I have seen, BNI is unique: it has
an organizational philosophy that
is inculcated throughout the orga-
nization, from top to bottom. With
As remarkable as the
Givers Gain as the foundation, a
first three decades of
powerful organizational culture
BNI were, the next three
has evolved — one that is based on
decades are going to be
directors, members, and BNI staff
even more outstanding!
giving their time and assistance
to one another so that everyone
— Nate & Kel Dominguez
might succeed more effectively in
Executive Directors
their business. New directors and
BNI Arizona
members who come to our National
Conferences and International BNI
 A B E T T E R B U S I N E S S W O R L D 113

Conventions often tell me, “I have never seen anything like this. Every-
one is here to freely give advice and help others.”
In order for us to maintain that culture — or better yet, nurture
and continue to build upon that culture — I believe it is important to
understand our beginnings as well as to create a vision for the future.
Most of this book has been about how the company has evolved. I would
like to end it with my vision for what lies ahead.

The Road Ahead

What do we expect BNI to look like in another 10 years? The growth in
the number of chapters shows no signs of slowing down. By the end
of the decade, we expect to have roughly 10,000 chapters worldwide.
We will continue to grow faster in other countries than in the
United States, simply because there is so much virgin territory around
the world where BNI can take root. Right now, roughly 40 percent of
our chapters are in the US, 60 percent in other countries. Based on how
well BNI has been received around the world, I feel it’s inevitable that
the organization will continue to grow in the US but that our global
expansion will skyrocket.
Although our international growth will probably outpace growth
in the United States, our studies show there is tremendous potential for
growth in the US as well. New chapters that are formed in these areas
have no trouble finding eager new members who quickly go to work
generating high-quality referrals. We are far from the saturation point.
As we fill in the gaps between existing chapters, however, we’ve
become aware that our old chapter naming system wasn’t up to snuff. If
you open the first chapter in Springfield and call yourself the Springfield
Chapter, you’re being unfair to the other 25 chapters that may start up in
the general area. But if you are the BNI Business Builders of Springfield,
then the next chapter, which meets 10 blocks down the street from you,
can call itself the BNI Referral Kings, and everybody’s happy.
Other studies we’ve done indicate that in the developed nations, such
as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand,
France, and Germany, we should be able to open one chapter for every 25,000
people, or somewhere around 40 chapters for every million in population.
That’s an enormous number — something like 13,000 chapters in
the United States alone, a lot more than we have worldwide right now.
I believe we will have more than 15,000 chapters worldwide within the
foreseeable future. How’s that for growth potential?
114 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

As fast as BNI has grown in an expanding world market, it has

grown even faster during the global economic downturn that started
in 2007, as well as through milder recessions. In fact, more members
joined in 2009 and 2010 than during any other two-year period in our
history. This may surprise you, but if you think about it for a minute,
the reasons become obvious. People who are downsized out of larger
companies start their own businesses and turn to referral networking
for growth. Businesses that survive the downturn have to compete
more intensely to stay in business, and BNI helps them stay strong
and competitive. Large chains refer their franchises to BNI. Businesses
already in BNI have not been hit as hard as most others, and more
of them have been able to ride out the recession. Although it seems
counterintuitive, BNI, while not recession-proof, has shown itself to
be at least recession-resistant.

The BNI ROI

Referrals are a more reliable approach to marketing than any other,
especially on a dollar-for-dollar basis. People who are reluctant to buy
or conduct business in an uncertain market are far more willing to do
so with people they trust. Being in a referral networking group is not
only a way to grow business in boom years, it is a safety net in troubled
times. This, to me, is a reassuring affirmation of BNI’s resilience.
These days, we can find evidence of BNI’s effectiveness all over
the world. Take, for instance, some data provided to us through recent
surveys by independent consulting firms in Europe and North America.
These results show that the return on investment (ROI) for members
rivals that of many of the world’s fastest-growing businesses. Here are
some of the most significant findings:

• BNI members get more referrals than members of other

­referral groups.

• BNI members realize quicker sales than members of other

networks. This is particularly important in a difficult
economy, and it is probably a contributing factor to the
overall substantial growth of BNI during the last extended
global recession.

• BNI members realize an amazing ROI compared with

members of other networking groups. Substantially more
 A B E T T E R B U S I N E S S W O R L D 115

BNI members will realize an ROI of 5 times or more.

• The longer you are in BNI, the larger your return on

investment. The amount of business generated through
referrals increases at an accelerating rate over the years.
This graph shows that, in the United Kingdom, the value of
business generated increased from less than £50,000 in the
first 2 years to over £350,000 after 7 years of membership:

£400,000

£350,000

£300,000
Value of business generated

£250,000

£200,000

£150,000

£100,000

£50,000

0
<1 1–2 3–4 5–6 7+
Length of BNI membership (years)

• The same UK survey showed that members’ income from

direct referrals averaged £35,000 ($54,720), of which £23,700
($37,055) came from direct referrals and £11,300 ($17,668)
from indirect or secondary referrals.
Here’s the icing on the cake. The survey found that six members of
this region became millionaires by virtue of the referrals they received
through BNI. Now that’s incentive!
116 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Education
Networking is one of the best ways to build a business, yet we don’t
teach it in colleges or universities around the world. We give people
business degrees, but we teach them hardly anything about the one
subject that virtually all business people say is critically important to
their business: networking.
Although BNI is not an educational institution, education is a
cornerstone of its success. We have spent several decades developing
and codifying a body of knowledge and material that is second to no
other organization in the world. Today, BNI has thousands of pages of
support material to help any business person in the world who is will-
ing to take the time to study the concepts and, most important, practice
the procedures BNI has developed.
It’s worth repeating: no other networking organization anywhere
in the world devotes as much time and energy to teaching people how
to build their business through referrals. Training is one of the core
competencies that BNI must continue to emphasize.
Opportunity has been known to knock, but it doesn’t turn the
knob and walk through the door for anyone. That part is up to you. As
a member, you should expect your Leadership Team to be well trained
and your director to provide value-added information with each visit.
You should also take advantage of the wealth of information available
through your online newsletter, SuccessNet, as well as national and
international websites such as www.bni.com.
You are part of an organization that offers a wealth of networking-
related support material and assistance second to no other referral orga-
nization in the world. To ensure that BNI remains the world leader, we
will continue to enhance our support materials, Meeting Stimulants, and
manuals, and to introduce other creative programs, such as the Reciproc-
ity Ring, a networking tool designed to enhance the sharing of referrals.

Enterprise Training Programs

As we continue to become a global force, strategic alliances with select
organizations will help us to achieve that. I believe that BNI will con-
tinue to build strong relationships with key companies and organiza-
tions around the world. I believe we will continue to develop strategic
alliances with companies that have a symbiotic relationship with the
organization. Some of our early alliances have involved the Royal Bank
 A B E T T E R B U S I N E S S W O R L D 117

of Scotland, Coffee News, Brian Tracy International, ActionCoach, Asentiv,

and Jim Blasingame’s radio show, “The Small Business Advocate.” Each
of these organizations has in some way helped us design a process that
will continue to spread BNI’s name throughout the business community
worldwide.
We also have strategic alliances with many authors and speakers
who spread the word about networking and referral marketing. People
like Susan RoAne, Bob Burg, Robyn Henderson, and many more are
important to the organization because they act as unofficial ambassadors
for networking and have helped make the BNI name an international
brand. Today, most books on networking either discuss BNI at length or
at least mention it. To keep our name in the marketplace, we will con-
tinue to maintain and enhance BNI’s relationship with popular authors.

Integrating Technology
BNI is already invested in new technologies that will help us grow and
develop to our full potential. We started with BNINET and have now
transitioned to BNI Connect, a more advanced, integrated worldwide
system, in most countries. BNI Connect enables us to accurately measure
our key success factors, such as the number of chapters in a region, aver-
age membership per chapter, member retention, and — in the future —
market penetration. This will help us keep tabs on our rapid growth,
and it will revolutionize the way we manage our operations worldwide.
BNI Connect is designed to provide three main resources for
today’s networking organization: (1) a real-time, uniform worldwide
database, (2) websites for chapters and members, and (3) a social net-
working venue. Important information such as policy changes and
budgeting data can be disseminated easily to all chapters, and chapters
can submit reports instantly to headquarters. Chapter websites are
provided at no cost, and each member can have a free basic website as
well, with potential for upgrading at a nominal cost.
Although BNI will always be primarily about in-person, face-to-
face networking, we recognize the power of online networking and the
importance of integrating it into our core business model. Networking
doesn’t have to be “either-or”; in BNI, it’s “both-and.” Working together,
face-to-face interactions and social media can create a powerful personal
network.
With worldwide business communication becoming routine, it’s
good to remember that the person on the other end of the line is more
118 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

likely than ever to have a distinctly different take on the world. BNI
is in many dozens of countries representing many political points of
view and many religions. We’re not a political organization. We’re not
a religious organization. It’s important that we stay focused on our mis-
sion, which is referrals, and stay out of politics and religion. I’ve been
active in politics, and I have a personal point of view on religion, but
I don’t discuss these ideas in BNI because it’s not appropriate for me
to do that. As we become more and more connected with each other,
members worldwide need to recognize that we are truly a global orga-
nization — and think before they speak.
BNI Connect fills a void that exists in most networking organiza-
tions. It will make BNI stronger by ensuring brand consistency and
continuity, protecting our trademark, and increasing member retention.
Not incidentally, it will improve results for networkers by vastly expand-
ing their reach and connectivity, giving them a true global networking
capability. For the first time in the history of BNI, we will be an orga-
nization where you can be a local business and have a global network
by participating in your local chapter and being active in BNI Connect.
We can sum it up in four words: Local Business — Global Network®.

Creative Marketing and PR

BNI is a referral-based organization. We’ve built this company through
the power of referrals, and I believe that’s the best way to continue to
build it.
In local terms, the best way to build a chapter is for one person
to ask another person to a meeting. In global terms, however, it’s about
spreading the brand through books and articles about the organiza-
tion — that is, referrals on a larger scale.
To keep our name and worldwide brand in the business commu-
nity’s radar, we will continue to publish books and magazine articles
regularly. Our fingerprints are all over these materials. When people
read our books, they not only learn many examples of how referrals
work, they see occasional references to BNI.
I learned many years ago that the media don’t want to interview
you about your business. Want to be in the paper? “Take out an ad.”
But they’ll interview any fool with a book — and I have lots of books.
This strategy has worked well for us. In our first 10 years, BNI opened
more than 300 chapters. Over the next 10 years, with books and articles
spreading the word internationally, we opened more than 3,000 chapters!
 A B E T T E R B U S I N E S S W O R L D 119

This is truly a worldwide organization now, and our marketing

and public relations efforts have to extend well beyond referrals and
traditional publication. We do all kinds of things, day in and day out, to
build the BNI brand. In addition to referrals and books, we are present
online in videos, newsletters, podcasts, blogs, social media, educational
programs, and many other outlets.
Our current campaign, which we call Multi-Touch Marketing,
can serve as a snapshot of our efforts as of the date of this book was
published. It covers a broad range of activities:
• Referrals
• BNI.com (BNI’s international website)
• BNIPodcast.com (BNI’s weekly podcast)
• IvanMisner.com (my weekly networking blog)
• BNIBranding.com (BNI’s international marketing resource)
• BNIConnect.com (BNI’s online network/social media
platform)
• BNISuccessNet.com (BNI’s international newsletter)
• Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (and more)
• Videos (YouTube and elsewhere)
• Traditional media (radio, magazines, papers, press releases)
• Books and CDs (available on BNI.com)
• Articles and webinars
• Online educational programs
• InternationalNetworkingWeek.com (an initiative of BNI)
• BNIFoundation.org (nonprofit organization supporting
children’s educational programs)
• Business Voices (an initiative of the BNI Foundation)

An Invitation
You are part of a remarkable organization — an organization whose
primary purpose is to help you increase your business through referrals.
I’ve often said that in a local chapter you see only the tip of the iceberg.
I hope that this book has given you a glimpse of what lies beneath the
120 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

surface. This organization rests on an incredibly strong foundation that

is made up of some of the hardest-working and most dedicated people
I have ever met. I have seen amazing commitment at all levels, from
the BNI staff to directors, Leadership Teams, and members. You are
part of something bigger than what you see from week to week, and it
is my hope that the stories and traditions discussed in this book help
you to see that.

If all the people in an organization row in the same direction,

that organization can dominate any industry, in any market, against
any competition, at any time. BNI has dominated its industry in almost
every market, against all the competition, for more than two decades.
It has happened because of a shared vision and a shared implementa-
tion of that vision.

I invite you to share the vision and be part of Givers Gain.

Index email address of, 119
experimental programs and, 82–84
factors leading to creation of, 7–9
first meeting of, 11–13, 33
first year of, 15–23
future of, 109–114
A headquarters of, 47–48, 53, 57,
79–80, 131
Accountability, 13, 17–18, 39, 88, 95,
hidden elements and, 66–68
96, 99
importance of structure, 101–102
ActionCoach, 117
incorporation of, 48
Agenda of chapter meetings, 11–12, 17,
international expansion of, 48,
18, 20–22, 61, 63, 76–77, 82, 93,
57–63, 78, 79, 81, 113, 117
96, 101
invitation to join, 119–120
AIM Consulting, 7–9, 39
limits on representation of
Alabama, 47, 51
professions and specialties in
Alexander, David, 76, 90, 132
chapters, 11, 13, 15, 31, 34–35,
Altruism, 3–4
102–103, 106–107
Amazon, 75
manuals and other materials for, 32,
Amway, 29, 51–52
47, 50, 57, 77, 116
Arcadia, California, 11, 13, 78
marketing by and marketing
Area Directors, 2, 51
materials of, 41–44, 47, 69–78,
Arizona, 25, 29, 38, 40, 45–46, 112
118, 119
Asentiv, 75, 76, 84–85, 117
membership by country, 111
Assistant Directors, 51
membership in as investment, 4–5,
Attie, Marc-William, 18
92, 114–115
Austin, Texas, 49, 69
mission statement of, 87–88, 109
Australia, 59, 61, 62, 111, 113
name change of, 48
Austria, 59
number of chapters of, 15–16, 25–26,
Avoiding the Networking Disconnect
31, 37, 39, 48, 78, 113, 119
(Misner and Scanlon), 76, 132
philosophy of, vii–viii, x, 2, 5,
10–11, 29, 31, 33–35, 38, 60, 70,
77, 88–92, 94, 102, 109, 112
B policies of, 8, 26, 32, 45, 63–64
Barbados, 59 publicity for, 71–78, 117, 118–119
Bard, Ray, 69, 75 purpose of, 85, 87, 119
Bard Press, 69, 74 shared vision and positive
BFO (“blinding flash of the obvious”), atmosphere of, 3–4, 10, 13, 33–34,
22, 26, 45 81, 98–99, 109–111, 120
Blasingame, Jim, 29, 71, 117 staff of, 39, 47, 79, 80–81, 112, 120
See also “The Small Business steps for forming new chapters,
Advocate” (radio show) 25–26, 28–35
BNI strategic alliances of, 116–117
BNI Connect, 27, 81–82, 117–118 success of and success factors for,
Certified Networker Program, 84–85 2–5, 13, 26, 36, 77, 84, 93, 97,
Code of Ethics, 41, 128 101–102, 109–110, 116–117
decision-making style and as synergistic organization, 2–3
organization of, 2–4, 39–40, trust, viii, 14, 110
41–42, 45, 63–64, 78, 87 website of, 116, 117, 119, 131
121
122 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

BNI (continued) Malaysia, 59

See also BNI Regions; Chapter Massachusetts, 70–71
meetings; Networking; Michigan, 38, 41, 86, 96
Referrals; Traditions; Training Minnesota, 33
and education; and specific Missouri, 47, 58
organizational units Montana, 25, 29–31, 33, 40, 41, 91
BNIBranding.com, 119 Netherlands, 59, 111
BNI.com, 116, 119, 131 Nevada, 25, 38, 86
BNIConnect.com, 119 New Mexico, 92
BNI Connect, 81–82, 117–118 New York, 47, 72
BNI Directors’ Manual, 19, 77 New Zealand, 59, 111, 113
BNIFoundation.org, 66, 119 North Carolina, 47
BNI Foundation, 65–66, 80, 84, 119 Ohio, 47, 83
BNINET database, 81–82, 117 Ontario, Canada, 58
BNIPodcast.com, 119 Oregon, 25
BNI Radio Show, 95 Scandinavia, 83
BNI Referral Slip, 20–21, 62 Singapore, 59, 78
BNI Regions South Africa, 59, 62
Alabama, 47, 51 Spain, 59, 111
Arizona, 25, 28-29, 38, 40, 45–46 Sweden, 59, 63, 83
Australia, 59, 61, 62, 111, 113 Switzerland, 59
Austria, 59 Tennessee, 40, 41, 53, 55
Barbados, 59 Texas, 25, 46, 47, 69
California, 7–8, 11, 13, 16, 18, 25–26, United Kingdom, 58-60, 61, 67, 81,
28–31, 38–40, 47–48, 49, 57, 83, 106, 111, 113, 115
58–59, 78, 79, 80, 91 Utah, 47
Canada, 41, 58–59, 74, 78, 83–84, Virginia, 38, 40–41, 71
111, 113 Washington, DC, 38, 71
Cape Cod, 70-71 Washington State, 47, 61, 81
Colorado, 25, 50, 89 Wisconsin, 53, 65
Connecticut, 27, 38, 57, 72, 74 BNISuccessNet.com, 119
Delaware, 47 Board of Advisors, 27, 41–45, 63
Florida, 47, 85 See also International Board of
France, 18, 111, 113 Advisors
Georgia, 90 Borden, Randy, 51
Germany, 59, 62, 111, 113 Boston, Massachusetts, 19
Hawaii, 25, 32, 40 Brian Tracy International, 117
Illinois, 47 Britain. See United Kingdom
India, 111 Burg, Bob, 82, 117
Indiana, 25, 41, 53, 55 Business by Referral (Davis and Misner),
Iowa, 47 54, 74
Ireland, 59, 95 Business cards, 53, 94
Israel, 59 Business Networking and Sex (not what
Italy, 59, 111 you think) (Misner, Walker, and
Japan, 62, 111 De Raffele, Jr.), 76, 132
Kentucky, 53, 55 Business Network International. See
Maine, 47 BNI
Business Voices program, 65–66, 119
 I N D E X 123

Cowan, Margie, 50
C Culture eats strategy, 87–88
California
BNI headquarters in, 47–48, 53, 57,
79–80 D
chapters in, 11, 13, 16, 18, 25–26, Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, 49
28–29, 38–40, 58–59, 78, 80 Dance Cards, 52–54, 83–84, 129, 130
Directors Conference in, 53 Davis, Robert, 54, 74
trade shows in, 29 De Raffele, Frank J. Jr., 76, 132
Campana, Craig, 53, 65 Delaware, 47
Canada, 41, 58–59, 74, 78, 83–84, 111, Denny, Carolyn, 11, 12
113 De Raffele, Frank J., Jr., 76, 132
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 70–71 Diamond Bar, California, 16
Caring about people, 96, 99 Director Consultants, viii, 79
Casual-contact networks, 9, 13 Directors. See Area Directors; Assistant
Cell phone problem, 96 Directors; Directors of Chapter
Certified Networker Program, 84–85 and Member Development;
Chambers of Commerce, viii, 9, 28, 29 District Directors; Executive
Chapter meetings Directors; National Directors;
agenda for, 11–12, 17, 20–22, 76–77, Regional Directors
82, 94, 96 Directors’ Conferences, 48–49, 51, 53,
cell phone problems during, 96 80, 112
inspiration and, 3 Directors’ Mentoring Program, 84
Kickoff meetings, 13, 15–17, 25, 29, Directors of Chapter and Member
30–35, 38, 39, 57, 61, 89, 90 Development, 38
One-to-One Dance Cards, 52–54, District Directors, 19, 53, 55, 65, 81, 90
83–84, 129, 130 Dominguez, Kel, 112
positive atmosphere at, 98–99 Dominguez, Nate, 112
problems with members during, 13 Dominguez, Norm, vii, 81–83
referrals at, 15, 17, 20–21, 26–28, 30, Donovan, Michelle, 76, 132
52, 94, 102 Door prizes, 13
tardiness at, 26–27 Drew, Michael, 75
testimonials at, 20–22, 26, 96 Dual memberships, 45
Visitor Hosts for, 28, 77
Chapter naming system, 113
Chapters. See specific cities, states, and E
countries
Claremont, California, 48, 79 Education. See Training and education
Code of Ethics, 41, 128 Education Coordinator, 82–83
Coffee News, 117 England. See United Kingdom
Colorado, 25, 50, 89 Entrepreneur.com, 82
Commerce Department, U.S., 7 Entrepreneur Press, 75
Concept recognition, 29, 51–53, 59 Ethics Code, 41, 128
Connecticut, 27, 38, 57, 72, 74 Executive Directors
Contact Spheres, 14, 104–106, 129 in BNI organizational structure, viii,
Core group members, 14, 18, 25, 29, x, 2, 79
31–33, 35, 85, 90, 104 photographs and quotes from, 12, 14,
See also Leadership Teams 18–19, 27, 33–34, 40–41, 50, 52, 54,
Cowan, Emory, 89 60–61, 78, 83, 85–86, 90, 92, 112
124 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Executive Directors’ Conference, 51 Hinton, Connie, 61, 81

Experimental programs, 82–84 Howlett, Shelli, 49

F I
Facebook, 119 “I have” statements, 22
Farming versus hunting metaphor, Illinois, 47
89–92 Indiana, 25, 41, 53, 55
Feature Presentations, 12, 17, 83, 94, 129 International Board of Advisors, 63–65
Fleming, Tom, 85 International Directors’ Conference,
Florida, 47, 85 59, 80
Founder (of BNI), 1, 21, 48, 63-64, 80, 99 International expansion of BNI, 48,
Founder’s Awards, 99–100 57–63, 78, 79, 81, 113, 117
Founder’s Circle, 64, 83 See also specific countries
France, 18, 111, 113 InternationalNetworkingWeek.com, 119
Franchise Advisory Board, 64 Iowa, 47
Franchising, 40–41, 49–51, 57–58, 64, 77–78 Ireland, 59
Frazier, Paula, 34 Israel, 59
French, Robert, 67 Italy, 59, 111
Friendships, 14, 16, 99 It’s in the Cards (Misner, Bailly, and
Fun in Fundamentals, ix, 94–96 Georgevich), 132
IvanMisner.com, 119

G
GAINS exchange, 54, 74
J
Georgevich, Dan, 41, 86, 96 Japan, 62, 111
Georgevich, Penny, 86
Georgia, 90
Germany, 59, 62, 111, 113 K
Giacomuzzi, Nanci, 33 Kalispell, Montana, 29-30
Givers Gain, as BNI philosophy, vii– Karate, 66–68
viii, x, 2, 5, 34–35, 60, 77, 88–92, Kickoff meetings, 13, 15–17, 25, 29,
94, 97, 102, 109, 112 30–35, 38, 39, 57, 61, 89, 90
Givers Gain grants, 66 Kiwanis, 51
Global Support Team, vii–viii Knowledge networking, 9
Golf analogy, 66
Gray, Paul, 41
Great Britain. See United Kingdom L
Great Recession, 112, 114
Guinness Book of World Records, 75 LaBriola, Jim, 15, 22
Lake Tahoe, California, 38
Las Vegas, Nevada, 38, 86
H La Verne, California, 7–8, 47–48
Law of Reciprocity, 33–34
Hart, Andy, vii, 81, 95 Lawson, Fran, 41
Hart, Sandra, 95 Lawson, Gillian, 58–60, 81, 83
Hawaii, 25, 32, 40 Lawson, Martin, 58–60, 81, 83
Henderson, Robyn, 117 Lawson, Steve, 58, 83–84
Hilliard, Brian, 76, 132 Leadership role, 55–56, 81
 I N D E X 125

Leadership Teams, viii, 2, 11, 18–19, 23, Misner, Elisabeth Prevo, x, 26–27,
50, 60, 77, 85, 93, 97, 116, 120 45–49, 53, 65, 80, 84
Levin, Mike, 59 Misner, Ivan
Licensing, 39-40, 45, 50–51 AIM Consulting and, 7–9, 39
Lifelong learning, 88, 93–94, 116 as BNI founder, vii, ix–x, 1–2, 7–9,
Linkedin, 119 48, 63
Lodal, Kathryn, 41 and Chapter expansions, 25–33, 39
Los Angeles, California, 8, 16 education of, 7
Lyons, Dawn, 40 leadership role of, vii–viii, 55–56, 81
marriage of, 45–46, 47
and martial arts, 66–68
M photographs of, 1, 67
publications by, 54, 69, 70–78, 84, 98,
Macedonio, Mike, 132
104, 132
Maine, 47
See also BNI
Malaysia, 59
Misner, Trey (Ivan III), 48
Manuals and other materials for BNI,
Misner-Feigerle, Lonie, 47, 80
32, 47, 50, 57, 77, 116
Mission statement of BNI, 87–88, 109
Marche, Steven, 30
Missouri, 47, 58
Marketing
Mistakes, 19, 41, 43, 93
BNI programs and materials, 41–44,
Montana, 25, 29–31, 33, 40, 41, 91
47, 69–78, 118, 119
Montgomery, Alabama, 51
chapters’ responsibilities for, 41–44
Morgan, Don, 58, 74, 78, 83, 132
Multi-Touch Marketing, 119
Morgan, Kathy, 55
and network training, 18–19, 23, 116
Morgan, Nancy, 58
referral marketing, 69–78, 84, 87,
Morgan, Reed, 53
109, 117, 131
Morris, Jeff, 69, 75, 112
Massachusetts, 70–71
MSP (Member Success Program), 83–84
Masters Day, 75
Multilevel marketing, 51–52
Masters of Networking (Misner and
Multi-Touch Marketing, 119
Morgan), 74–75, 78, 98
Masters of Sales (Misner and Morgan),
75, 132 N
Masters of Success (Misner and Morgan),
75, 132 Naming of chapters, 113
Mead, Lance, 72–74 National Board of Advisors, 63
Meeting Stimulants, 53-54, 84, 94–95, See also Board of Advisors
116 National Directors, vii–viii, 60, 65,
Member Launching Pad form, 129 80–81
Membership drives, 85–86 Netherlands, 59, 111
Member Success Program, 83–84 The Network, 11–12, 39, 48
Memory hooks, 74 See also BNI
Mentoring, 65, 81, 84 Networking
Metcalfe’s Law, 103–104 BNI philosophy of, 2, 10–11, 29, 31,
Mexico, 111 38, 70
Meyer, John, 83 “casual contact” networks, 9–10, 13
Michigan, 38, 41, 86, 96 and chapter size, 103–104
Minnesota, 33 compared with farming, 89–92
Misner, Ashley, 48 compared with golf, 66
Misner, Cassie, 48 with focus on referrals, 4–5, 8–10,
126 G I V E R S G A I N : T H E B N I S T O R Y

Networking (continued) Rawls, Dan, 40–41

16, 52, 91, 110–111, 114 Reciprocity, Law of , 33–34
hidden elements and, 66–68 Reciprocity Ring, 116
and “I have” statements, 20, 22, 26 Redmond, Bill, 29–31, 33
knowledge networking, 9 Referrals
Member Launching Pad form, 129 as BNI focus, 9–10, 18–21, 118–119
One-to-One Dance Cards, 53–54, BNI Referral Slips, 20–21, 62-63
83–84 and BNI’s international expansion,
and referral marketing, 69–78, 84 60–62, 113
social networking technology, 117, 119 at chapter meetings, 15, 17, 20–21,
training for, 18–19, 23, 116 26–28, 30, 52, 94, 102
See also Referrals; Training and and chapter size, 103–104
education compared to golf, 66
Networking for Success (Misner), 69 hidden elements of, 66–68
Networking Like a Pro (Misner, at Kickoff meetings, 32–33
Alexander, and Hilliard), 76, 132 need for, 8–9
Nevada, 25, 38 networking focused on, 4–5, 8–10,
New Member Mondays, 83 16, 52, 91, 110–111, 114
New Mexico, 92 referral marketing, 69–78, 84
New York, 47, 72 and testimonials, 20–22, 26, 96
New Zealand, 59, 111, 113 See also Networking; Training and
North Carolina, 47 education
North Dakota, 90 Regional Directors, 18–19, 25, 38, 40, 51,
Northeast District, 19 79, 80
Norty, 36 Regions. See BNI Regions, specific
locations
Relationship building, 60, 62, 88, 92–93,
O 95
RoAne, Susan, 82, 117
Ohio, 47, 83
Roman, Jim, 41
One-to-One Dance Cards, 52–54, 83–84,
Rotary Club, viii, 29
129, 130
Royal Bank of Scotland, 117
Ontario, Canada, 58
Oregon, 25
Ostrower, Alice, 27
S
Salvucci, Patti, 19
P San Dimas, California, 49, 57, 79
San Francisco, California, 29–31, 40, 91
Pasadena, California, 15, 26, 45
Scanlon, Brennan, 76, 132
Phoenix, Arizona, 25, 28, 38, 45–46, 82
Seattle, Washington, 61, 81
Pittsburgh, 7
Selheden, Gunnar, 63, 83
Power Teams, 14, 104–106
Seven Second Marketing (Misner), 74
Prescott, Arizona, 45–46
Simon, Scott, 58
Publicity for BNI, 71–78, 117, 118–119
Singapore, 59, 78
“The Small Business Advocate” (radio
R show), 71, 117
See also Blasingame, Jim
Radio, 71, 95, 117, 119 smallbusinessadvocate.com, 71
Radtke, Art, 40, 70 Social networking technology, 117, 119
 I N D E X 127

South Africa, 59, 62 Truth or Delusion? (Misner, Macedonio,

Southwell, Graham, 59 and Garrison), 75–76, 132
Spain, 59, 111 Turley-Brown, Amy, 80
Squared Connection Effect, 103–104 The 29% Solution (Misner and
Stack Days, 36 Donovan), 76, 132
Staff of BNI, 39, 47, 79, 80–81, 112, 120 Twitter, 119
Strategic alliances, 116–117
Strong-contact groups, 10
SuccessNet (newsletter), 116, 119 U
Sweden, 59, 63, 83
UK. See United Kingdom
Switzerland, 59
United Kingdom, 58-60, 61, 67, 81, 83,
106, 111, 113, 115
Upland, California, 79
T Utah, 47
Taiwan, 111
Tardiness, 26–27
Tel Aviv, 59 V
Tennessee, 40, 41, 53, 55
VCP process, 74
Testimonials, 5, 20–22, 26, 33, 96
Vietnam, 111
Texas, 25, 46, 47, 69
Village People, 72–73
Thunder Bay, Ontario, 58
Virginia, 38, 40–41, 71
Toronto, 58, 59, 78
Visitor Hosts, 28, 77
Traditions
Visitors’ Days, 36, 54, 69, 74, 88
BNI’s mission statement, 87–88, 109
caring about people, 5, 96–97
culture eats strategy, 87–88 W
fun activities at meetings, ix, 5,
94–96 Walker, Hazel M., 41, 76, 132
Givers Gain, vii–viii, x, 2, 5, 34–35, Walking the talk, 5, 97
60, 77, 88–92, 94, 102, 109, 112 Washington, DC, 38, 71
innovation, 19, 82, 88, 94, 98 Washington State, 47, 81
lifelong learning, 5, 88, 93–94, 116 Weekly Meeting Agenda, 11–12, 17,
membership in BNI as investment, 18, 20–22, 61, 63, 76–77, 82, 93,
4–5, 92, 114–116 96, 101
walking the talk, 5, 97 Weihmiller, Graham, vii, 81
Training and education “We’re Different” Syndrome, 59–63
benefits of, 84 West Los Angeles, California, 16
Certified Networker Program, 84–85 Williams, Gayle, 92
commitment to lifelong learning, 5, Wisconsin, 53, 65
93–94, 116 The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret
early training approach, 18–19 (Misner and Macedonio), 70–72,
Education Coordinator, 82–83 74, 78, 84, 104, 132
of Leadership Teams, 18–19, 23, www.bni.com, 116, 119, 131
49–51, 93
Member Launching Pad form, 129
Member Success Program, 83–84 Y
of new chapters’ core groups, 32 Yeo, Mervin, 78
Trust, viii, 2, 10, 14, 31, 60, 62, 91, 97, YouTube, 119
110, 114
 BNI Code of Ethics

Upon acceptance to BNI, I agree to abide by the following Code of Ethics

during the service of my participation in the organization:

1. I will provide the quality of services at the prices that I have quoted.

2. I will be truthful with the members and their referrals.

3. I will build goodwill and trust among members and their referrals.

4. I will take responsibility for following up on the referrals I receive.

5. I will display a positive and supportive attitude with BNI members.

6. I will live up to the ethical standards of my profession.

(Note: Professional standards outlined in a formal code of ethics super­

sede the above standards.)

© 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2017 BNI

128
Member Launching Pad

BNI is all about education. You educate your fellow chapter members
about what you do and what is a good referral for you. Likewise, the
other members of your chapter educate you in the same manner. This
education takes place in four ways: (1) your Weekly Presentation, (2) your
Feature Presentation, (3) the 15 minutes of open networking before the
Agenda begins, and (4) One-to-Ones with other members.
It is important for you to be prepared so that you can utilize these
educational opportunities to your greatest advantage. Spend some time
identifying the following:
Launching Pad Questions
My 3 best customers are:
1.
2.
3.
Examples of referrals that work well for me are:
1.
2.
3.
My best Contact Sphere professions are:
1.
2.
3.
New doors I’d like to open are:
1.
2.
3.
© 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2017 BNI 129
 One-to-One

An opportunity to get to know your chapter members and their busi-

nesses better.

Date/Time Partners Location

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

By meeting repeatedly with all other members, you will increase your
rapport with members. Increased rapport leads to more opportunity to
give and receive referrals.

© 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2017 BNI

130
 Original BNI office

Current BNI Global headquarters

BNI: Garage to Global

BNI© (Business Network International) was founded by Dr. Ivan
Misner® in 1985 as a way for business people to generate referrals in
a structured, professional environment. The organization, now the
world’s largest referral network, has tens of thousands of members on
every populated continent of the world. Since its inception, members
of BNI have passed millions of referrals, generating billions of dollars
for the participants.
The primary purpose of the organization is to pass qualified busi-
ness referrals to the members. The philosophy of BNI may be summed
up in two simple words: “Givers Gain.” If you give business to people,
you will get business from them. BNI allows only one person per profes­
sion to join a chapter. The program is designed for business people to
develop long-term relationships, thereby creating a basis for trust and,
inevitably, referrals. The mission of BNI is to help members increase
their business through a structured, positive, and professional referral
marketing program that enables them to develop long-term, meaningful
relationships with quality business professionals.
To visit a chapter near you, contact BNI at [email protected] or visit
BNI’s international website at www.bni.com. 131
For copies of other books by Dr. Ivan Misner®

The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret

Building Your Business by Referral
by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., and Mike Macedonio

Masters of Sales
Secrets from Top Sales Professionals That Will Transform You
into a World Class Salesperson
by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., and Don Morgan, M.A.

Masters of Success
Proven Techniques for Achieving Success in Business and Life
by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., and Don Morgan, M.A.

Truth or Delusion?
Busting Networking’s Biggest Myths
by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., Mike Macedonio, and Mike Garrison

It’s in the Cards!

Getting the Biggest Impact from Your Smallest Ad
by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., Candace Bailly, and Dan Georgevich

The 29% Solution

52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies
by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., and Michelle R. Donovan

Networking Like a Pro

Turning Contacts into Connections
by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., David Alexander, and Brian Hilliard

Business Networking and Sex

(not what you think)
by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., Hazel M. Walker, and Frank J. De Raffele Jr.

Avoiding the Networking Disconnect

The Three R’s to Reconnect
by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., and Brennan Scanlon

www.bni.com
quantity discounts are available