By Johnny Black, Managing Partner
Every conversation is an opportunity. – Steve Cornblatt
You know how, over the course of your professional travels, some clients become friends? Well, I get to pull this quote from one of them.
Steve Cornblatt is well known in the Baltimore commercial real estate community. I’ve been fortunate to partner with Steve, Art Putzel, Rene Daniel, Jerry Trout, and others over the years. As those relationships have grown, our conversations have often gone beyond the day-to-day work that first brought us together.
During one of those conversations a few years ago, Steve said, “You have to remember, every conversation is an opportunity.”
It has stayed with me because there are so many ways to apply it.
Every conversation can teach you something. Someone might share an experience you haven’t had, offer context you were missing, or challenge an opinion you felt pretty confident about. But you have to be willing to listen. If you enter every conversation focused only on what you want to say, you can miss what the other person has to offer.
I also think about Steve’s words when we talk about helping younger professionals build their networks and grow their books of business. In the years since COVID changed how we work and interact, creating opportunities for conversation takes more intention. You can accomplish a lot through email and scheduled video calls, but there is value in the conversation that happens before the meeting starts, after an event ends, or when you pick up the phone and spend a few minutes catching up.
Those moments help people get to know you. They also give you the chance to understand what matters to them.
For someone early in their career, that can take some pressure off the idea of “networking.” You don’t need to walk into every room with a perfect pitch. Introduce yourself. Ask a question. Be curious about the answer. You may learn something about an industry, discover a shared interest, or meet someone you’ll stay connected with for years.
And while I think about this in the context of younger professionals, it applies just as much to those of us who have been doing it for a while. Experience doesn’t mean we’ve met everyone we should know or heard everything we need to hear.
Some conversations lead to business. Some lead to a useful introduction or a different perspective. Some, as I’ve been fortunate to experience with Steve and others, lead to friendship.
You rarely know where a conversation will go when it begins. That’s a good reason to make the time, pay attention, and give it a chance.
Did this quote resonate with you?
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