The Father

William Randolph Hearst [From Wikipedia] (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher.^[1] Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father. Moving to New York City, he acquired The New York Journal and engaged in a bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer‘s New York World which led to the creation of yellow journalism—sensationalized stories of dubious veracity. Acquiring more newspapers, Hearst created a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He later expanded to magazines, creating the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world.

He was twice elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives, but ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of New York City in 1905 and 1909, for Governor of New York in 1906, and for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1910. Nonetheless, through his newspapers and magazines, he exercised enormous political influence, and is sometimes credited with pushing public opinion in the United States into a war with Spain in 1898.

His life story was a source of inspiration for the development of the lead character in Orson Welles‘ classic film Citizen Kane.^[2] His mansion, Hearst Castle, near San Simeon, California, on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, was donated by the Hearst Corporation to the state of California in 1957, and is now a State Historical Monument and a National Historic Landmark, open for public tours. Hearst formally named the estate La Cuesta Encantada (“The Enchanted Slope”), but he usually just called it “the ranch”.

The Son

William Randolph Hearst Jr., [From Wikipedia] attended the University of California, Berkeley and was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.

He was instrumental in restoring some measure of family control to the Hearst Corporation, which under his father’s will is (and will continue to be while any grandchild alive at William Randolph Hearst Sr.’s death in 1951 is still living) controlled by a board of thirteen trustees, five from the Hearst family and eight Hearst executives. When tax laws changed to prevent the foundations his father had established from continuing to own the corporation, he arranged for the family trust (with the same trustees) to buy the shares and for longtime chief executive Richard E. Berlin, who was going senile, to be eased out to become chairman of the trustees for a period. Later William Randolph Hearst Jr. himself headed the trust and served as chairman of the executive committee of the corporation. Today his branch of the family is represented on the trustees by his son William Randolph Hearst III.

The Grandson

William Randolph Hearst III [From Wikipedia] (born June 18, 1949) became president of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation in early 2003. Son of William Randolph Hearst, Jr. and grandson of William Randolph Hearst, Hearst is also director of the Hearst Corporation.

Hearst has a son, William Dedalus Hearst, and three daughters, Adelaide, Caroline and Eliza.

Hearst graduated from Harvard University in 1972 with an AB degree in mathematics. He spent years as an employee of the Hearst Corporation, eventually as editor and publisher of the San Francisco Examiner. His grandfather had also headed that paper, though his father had been publisher of the New York Journal American. In some television commercials Hearst III was shown having a conversation with his grandfather’s portrait. (In fact, he was only two when his grandfather died.)

In 1976 he left the company to become the managing editor of Outside magazine which was then being started by the Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner. Hearst returned to the company and newspaper work in 1980.

In 1992 he again left his job at the company, remaining on the board of directors. The following year he succeeded his father as a trustee of the trust that controls the company and chooses the directors.

In 1996 Hearst was a co-founder of the @Home Network Broadband Internet service with Milo Medin, cable companies TCI, Comcast and Cox Cable where he served as the company’s first Chief Executive Officer.^[1]

In 1995 Hearst was named partner at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,^[2] where he continues to serve today. He sits on several Boards of Directors of companies in which the firm has investments, including Hearst-Argyle Television.^[3] He served as a member of the Board of Directors of Juniper Networks until May 2008.

Summary

So what do you think when you look at this interesting lineage? Lines like “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” springs to my mind. By looking at the influence each father had on his son you can see the possibility of a future for William Dedalus Hearst, born 05 02 1979, William Randolph Hearst III’s son . . . or not. Will he follow in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great grandfather? Only time will tell, but just looking at the network for these “men of words” I believe we will continue to see the Hearsts connected to digital networks.

Related articles

• Hearst Lives (possil.wordpress.com)
• Hearst Acts Like Venture Capitalist in New Media Marketplace (nyconvergence.com)
• Tea for Two: Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California (photographerwilltravel.wordpress.com)

7.    How do you use networking to support the success of others? When you use the word “connector” that’s what I am. I connect people. I sent out emails today to three people I met on Friday connecting them to others I believe can help them. I even talk with the people I am connecting to make sure I know how they want to connect. It is not about me but about what I can do for others.

8.    What are your top values? – That’s a hard question for me to answer. I have hired a life coach myself to help me identify what they are; I think I know what they are but I want to really get some clarity in understanding. I want to help others but what ultimately I want out of my life? What is the piece that drives me?

9.    What attributes do you bring to the job as a leader that are related to the skill of networking? – eg.1. creativity, 2. innovation, 3. team building. – I try to find creative ways to build my network. I created a mastermind group to that end. I just got a testimonial from one member who is part of the group, who at first did not know if she would get something out of the group. She said she has learned so much and has made life-time relationships.

10.    What public figure has raised in your eyes the standard of performance of networking? I would say that two people here that I know would be, first, the president of our chamber in Gilbert and the vice president of one of our local hospitals.

11.    What is your number one strategy for success? Mine is just sticking with what goal you have set. This is from the  Disney movie “Finding Nemo” which is funny but in that movie there is a little blue fish called Dori. She says at some point to Nemo’s dad, ”Just keep swimming.” There will always be roadblocks but you need to “just keep swimming.”

12.    What role does social responsibility play in your life as a “Linkable Leader”? – I guess we each have a responsibility if we are going to be a connector that we understand that role. I went to a meeting at the chamber for a committee I am on and we were talking about why people don’t renew their memberships. They go to one event and if they don’t get a client they give up. They need to understand that you are going to events to open relationship possibilities and from that come clients.

13.    What is something you have not done as a leader you would still like to do? The one thing I would like to do is write a book. I have shared that with you and I do believe that it is one thing that is part of being a leader is giving back. I would also like to speak more.

14.    Please name the best networker you know and why. Besides you (Melissa Giovagnoli), there is Kathy, the president of the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce.

Now refocus your attention to your existing network and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Who in your network will play to your strengths?

2. Who will cover your weaknesses?

3. What one person would you like to meet if you could network with anyone in the world? What qualities does that person have? List them and then look for people who have similar qualities.

4. What top three industry leaders does your network listen to the most?

5. What top three leaders in all other industries do they most admire?

6. What if the network you had comprised of only top performers? What qualities would they have? What qualities do you have to would complement theirs?

7. How can you listen better every day? Top-performing networkers are top listeners.

8. Who is one person you know who helps others in the organization above and beyond his or her own work responsibilities?

9. What one thing would you like to be doing or do differently that you are not doing now. (e.g. have great meetings that lead to new business or design a program that comes in under budget and on time).

10. What would it look, sound, feel like to be more successful in your networking?

Any of these questions can be used to get you thinking in ways that will help you take your networking to “the next level.” Please feel free to offer up some answers here. I will also be sharing these with my Networlding Group on LinkedIn. Please join the discussion there also by clicking here.

I have been working with executives on LinkedIn since its beginning and have found, again and again, that people need help figuring out how to leverage its power for their job search. With the statistic floating out there that 86% of the way people get jobs is through networking a tool like LinkedIn that has over 40 million professionals on it with the average age between 40-42, one would have to pay attention to this tool. But what’s the 20% focus you should have to yielf an 80% return. That’s where you start.

First, make sure your profile is as strong as it can be. It should have key words that hiring professionals would use. One of the best ways to figure out what these words would be is to do a key word search by clicking on the “People” page of LinkedIn (top left-hand corner in the navigational bar on the site). Search for keywords you would think would be used in searching for your job but also think out of the box. For example, since leadership is something that many employers search for in a candidate, if you are seeking a management position, put a keyword search in that includes some variation of that keyword. I just searched on the keywords “leader” and “marketing” with the title of Sr. VP of Marketing. I found 16,356 people referenced with those closest in my network listed first. I then reviewed a number of the profiles to see how they were constructed. There were hundreds of great models to emulate.

Second, explore the Company pages of LinkedIn to further compare your profile with others at the targeted companies you have chosen and to identify the right “Tipping Point” of connections you can make into those organizations. Again, let’s take the terms marketing and leader at the Sr. VP level. This time I search through organizations like Intuit, a top software company out of San Francisco. I found they currently have the following number of employees on LinkedIn:

* San Francisco Bay Area (500+)
* Greater San Diego Area (500+)
* Tucson, Arizona Area (500+)
* Greater Los Angeles Area (500+)
* Dallas/Fort Worth Area (500+)
* Reno, Nevada Area (278)

I was able to get a great snapshot of the organization. I found this company has thousands of active employees on LinkedIn. This means that I should be able to gather deep wisdom about what that company wants in an employee and, further, to connect with enough people who can help me network my way into the organization.

Third, get yourself a support group with whom you can share your job search experiences. I always say the best group to start is your own. This could look like a weekly call with others who are in a job search mode or a face-to-face meeting where you keep sharing your search techniques. My clients are constantly telling me how tough it is to face the daily loneliness they feel during a job search. But you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out and connect.

There are so many strategies you can use to accelerate your job search. I’ll over more in upcoming weeks. The important thing is that you do have a process and you do have a support network who will help you with direction and connection. So many of my clients find that they are able to learn and master networking when they have a sound framework that is tailored to their unique backgrounds. Finally, the best news about learning how to network better and to use all the new low-cost no-cost, online tools is that networking is something they can always use in their new positions to grow their careers. In other words, networking is a skill you never want to have get rusty. It can always be useful.

Bonus Point: If you who purchase the program I created that contains the comprehensive tools–the combination of the networking process and LinkedIn strategies and basic and advanced usage training (all for the low price of $79) you will receive a free coaching session with me to even further tailor your job search. However, this offer is good for only a limited time, so if you are interested, visit http://budurl.com/6figurejobsearch.

Career Coaching Experience

Helped over 4000 people on their LinkedIn Profiles
18+ Years of Experience
Specializing in Senior Managers and C-Level Professionals
6 Figure Jobs – partnership as “The Networking Coach” for more than six years

Kevin’s ebook details the market transformation of a bottled water company, from a me-too player to a tribe-focused brand.  Insights are drawn from Accelteon’s expertise in strategy & analytics and Torque’s expertise in market execution.

Kevin is offering his free co-authored  e-book and you can get it by clicking here.

How Xbox’s Social Strategy Could Change Gaming Forever
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The FASTForward Blog » Launching Social Networks for the …
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I recently spoke with Anne Berkowitch, CEO at SelectMinds, a provider of corporate social networking solutions about her experiences in creating and hosting online social networks for large brands such as IBM, Dow Chemical and Deloitte. …. Among the topics discussed between host Jerry Michalski and the speakers, panelists, attendees, and contributors to this blog: enterprise 2.0, search, the user revolution, the future of content, and much, much more. …
The FASTForward Blog – http://www.fastforwardblog.com/

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MrWebMarketing – Motivational Speaker | Guest Speaker | Keynote Speakers – Internet, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging. Keynote Speakers, Motivational Speakers, Seminar Speakers, Conference Speakers … Twitter is a social networking website that is based around mini blogs. A blog is a way to share information on the Internet. Full length blogs can be found all across the Internet on websites by using popular blogging sites such as blogger.com wordpress.com. …

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MrWebMarketing – Motivational… – http://www.mrwebmarketing.com/ What Is an Online Social Media Conversation? – Liz Strauss at …
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… thread to take in a direction the the speaker wants to go. In online social media experiences, conversation is often input via keyboard within the context of a blog comment box, a Twitterstream or a social networking site thread. …
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog – http://www.successful-blog.com/ Busuu.com is a language learning site driven by the community …

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Busuu.com is an online community for learning languages in a social networking setting. Users can learn English, Spanish, German or French using the site, which. … Learn from native speakers: Learn directly from native speakers of the busuu.com community via our integrated video-chat application! By doing so you can practice your language skills in a live conversation. Learn with our material: We have prepared over 150 learning units covering diverse topic areas and …
Great Sites To Visit – http://www.greatsitestovisit.com

Part I: The Best of the Best

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that social networking (otherwise known as Web 2.0) has revolutionized the way every industry thinks about their marketing and advertising.  People who are buying are buying online—and from companies they have formed a connection with through their social networks. Thousands of networking sites have cropped up hoping to be the next MySpace or Facebook, luring people by the millions to build profiles and create virtual communities that are ripe for savvy marketers to infiltrate.

One of the most interesting things about these different communities is how each of them has its own unique environment that is almost tangible.  In the same way that real life locations have their own ambiance, so do these cyber hangouts.  Spending a few minutes on these sites, you’ll see huge differences in demographics, communication styles, professionalism, and usability.  The key then, is not simply putting in time building a network, but building a network on a site that is going to be most receptive to your marketing style and/or product.

In this four-part series, I’ll discuss some of the ways to identify the best social networks, and give you the readers the opportunity to vote on the overall BEST social networking sites from your perspective.  I’ve entitled it “Going for the Gold:  The Best of Social Marketing Online.”  Inspired by the Olympics, where only the best compete and the best of the best gets the gold, we will bestow our own “Gold Medal” on the overall best social networking site.  Naturally, since there are so many excellent sites out there to choose from, we’ll have a “Silver” and “Bronze” category, too.   Join me tomorrow for Part II:  “Choose Wisely.”