“Reprinted with permission from The National NetWorker“
Published May 2007
I would like to introduce you to my friend Taimour Zaman who is the consummate networker. Taimour is the principle of the Access Group.
I first met Taimour in and around the turn of the century (2000). That was back in the Internet mania with frequent networking events in Toronto funded by all that capital raised during the stock market boom. There was a least one or two big events a week, with free liquor and hundreds of people showing up.
At the time I was developing my marketing reputation and running a company called 3dOnThe.Net. To help raise money for the venture, I worked on building my reputation by writing short articles (500 words) in the AIMS online newsletter about marketing and the Internet.
Taimour read my articles and then called me up. His approach was unusual; he said liked my articles and wanted to take me out for a beer and get to meet the fellow behind the articles. He did just that. He didn’t try to sell me anything or ask me for anything. He just paid for my beer. We have been friends ever since. Taimour’s approach to life is simple. He looks for how he can be selflessly of service to others. It’s an amazing approach to life. And it works. Taimour has developed his reputation to such a point he can call up CEO’s and executives of almost any major technology company in Toronto, and they will take his call and meet for lunch with him. Everybody who knows him is continuously amazed by his sincerity and selflessness.
The Access Group is his baby and it follows his approach to life. He focuses on helping solve the problems that keep CEO of large companies awake at night. Taimour then uses his networking skills to help these CEO’s and others solve their problem. His focus is on problems that are shared by many CEO’s in a specific sector.
This month (May) he’s helping Oil and Gas executives in Calgary and Manufacturing Executives in Ontario. The oil and gas executives are kept awake because they cannot hire enough people in Calgary to work. In fact, Calgary is suffering so badly for lack of people, they are expecting drop in economic growth. Manufacturing in Ontario is losing business on a daily to China and other foreign countries with lower people costs. It is getting so bad that manufacturing companies are folding and people are losing their jobs. These are problems that Taimour wants to help solve.
So how does the Access Group use networking to solve these problems? Since this article is for The National Networker, you can be rest assured that he solves it by networking.
Each of his events is peer-to-peer networking. It starts with a leadership round table at which industry leaders discuss the issue in a format reminiscent of a kitchen table conversation. These conversations are guided a moderator with experience of countless such round tables. The conversation is unscripted and creates a powerful sharing of ideas, experiences, and expertise. While no bread rolls have yet been thrown during a kitchen table conversation, conflicting approaches to the problem are encouraged. The results are strategic understanding of the problem and practical solutions.
Eavesdropping in on that conversation are 80 executives from the target industries, Oil and Gas in Calgary and Manufacturing in London. At different times in the event, the executives provide input and share their ideas with others around their own table.
In effect, 80 people are encouraged to talk and network about a common problem. This creates the basis for important relationships.
After the initial leadership discussion, the executives separate into breakout sessions with audience members to discuss the major ways to solve the problem. The knowledge from the break out sessions is shared and discussed with the entire group of executives.
After the event, a white paper is written and distributed to the industry through different trade groups.
Taimour fills the room with CxO and Vice-Presidents by bringing on different sponsors. There are corporate sponsors, universities, and trade associations. The Corporate sponsors love these events, because in several hours they are able to create relationships that normally take months to create. The Universities love the events, because they kept to be on the leading edge of business thinking on a specific problem. The Associations love the events, because they get to provide real value to their memberships. The white paper is distributed by all the sponsors. So even people who do not get to attend the event, get to understand the solutions discussed.
The Access Group and Taimour are a major force in creating solutions to major problems.
Take Care
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